A CN Intermission
After all the aurora fun earlier in the morning, I ended up at Marquette on the CP main line. I decided to head south to Elie, on the CN main line.
That’ll Do, Pig
As I get older, my sleep is less regular and more interrupted. I hear that’s pretty normal for us “old folks” but it’s a bit frustrating. Recently I woke up at about 4 AM, and it was clear that I wasn’t going to get back to sleep. The night before, I had been considering going … Read more
Excerpt from When Trains Ruled the Kootenays
I recently reviewed the excellent book When Trains Ruled the Kootenays (RMB, 2022) by Terry Gainer. You can read my review here. Please enjoy this 10 page excerpt, provided by the publisher. THE BATTLE BEGINS: RAILS TO THE WEST KOOTENAYS Daniel Chase Corbin built the first American railway into the Kootenays. Fully cognizant of the … Read more
Seasons of Interest
I haven’t really been interested in railfanning for the past year or so. I’m not feeling it. For someone who has been actively railfanning for over 20 years (yikes), it’s been more than a little unsettling to feel this way. As I mentioned in my Let’s Talk post, I think I’m depressed. I am taking … Read more
Book Review: When Trains Ruled the Kootenays
Terry Gainer has done it again with another great story of trains in British Columbia. This time he focused on southeastern BC and the fight between CP and the Great Northern Railway for control of the area. British Columbia always felt isolated at the west end of the continent as a colony of the Empire. … Read more
Celebrate
I’m not good at celebrating successes.
As a Canadian I am turned off by self-aggrandizement. We aren’t the boasting types, in general. Quiet and self-confident, that’s us.
Rail Park Finally Getting Built?
The CBC reported that Focus Equities Inc. has been engaged to build the Canada Rail Park. Winnipeg’s CentrePort is billed as a multi-model transport hub, located on the northwest edge of Winnipeg near the James Richardson airport. It has access to major highways, the airport, and three railways via CP’s Glenboro subdivision and through interswitching, CN and BNSF.
A Glimpse of the SEMTA
I occasionally buy slides off a popular online auction site. OK, it’s eBay. I have a few favourite sellers that I follow, and one in particular sells a lot of Canadian slides at reasonable prices. I bid on whatever interests me – Manitoba and Maritime content in particular – and occasionally something odd catches my … Read more
Industrial Landscape: Book Review
I really enjoy reading the Railroad Heritage magazine from the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. This quarterly magazine is top quality and features many thought-provoking articles and lots of good information. The spring 2022 edition featured a tribute to photographer David Plowden, along with an interview with him. I admit that I had no … Read more
Creative Writing
I mentioned a while ago that I was doing some creative writing exercises. I was following the exercises in The Creative Writing Workbook (by Matthew Branton) to explore some writing ideas. I’m dumping a subset of the my writing here for my own reference and perhaps for your enjoyment. Warning – there are a few … Read more