Restoring David Othen’s Files

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Introduction My friend David Othen passed away in September 2016 after a short battle with lung cancer. He and his wife Pat were very kind to me when we were all volunteering at the Salem and Hillsborough Railroad, and David and I corresponded over the years with exchanges of information and photos. For your information, … Read more

Playing Leapfrog

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I had the good fortune to follow an empty grain train down the CP Glenboro subdivision recently. I mentioned at the end of a recent post, Chasing an Oil Train, that I found something more interesting to chase and this was it. Aside: We railfans often talk about “chasing” trains. In some cases we are … Read more

2 UP

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When I was younger, I used to drink 7 UP a lot. That lemon-lime flavoured drink was a favourite pop of mine. These days, when I drink pop (and I do, too much) I drink Diet Pepsi or Pepsi MAX. I find 7 UP too sweet now, plus I like caffeine. Anyway, I found two … Read more

Engage!

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Fellow blogger Eric Gagnon wrote an editorial on reader engagement and social media versus blogging. He was inspired by Chris and Connie’s Facebook post about declining engagement at BIGDoer’s web site and Facebook page. C&C have noted that their traffic is strong, in terms of page views, but the number of comments on their site … Read more

Chasing an Oil Train

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There once was a man from the prairie,Who admired the work of Mark Perry,He chased an oil trainAcross the open plainWas he up early? Very! – me I had the opportunity to do a little railfanning early in the morning after dropping my in-laws off at the airport. Since CP has been cranking out SD90 … Read more

Noise and Confusion

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I was watching the progress of VIA Rail’s westbound Canadian (VIA 1) as it rolled through Ontario one Thursday morning, with growing interest. Under the current schedule, VIA 1 is due into Winnipeg at 7:30 PM, which in November after the time change is well after sunset. However, the Canadian on November 7th was running … Read more

Book Review: Self-Propelled Cars of the CNR

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I recently read the book “Self-Propelled Cars of the CNR: Endurance, Economy and speed” by Anthony Clegg. This book says it is “an illustrated history of the vehicles that helped to keep railway passenger service alive”. Background Passenger service used to be a large part of railways’ business. They went to great lengths to provide … Read more

Morning Light

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In the previous post, Dark to Light, I covered my trip from Winnipeg to Dacotah along the CN Rivers subdivision. As the sky was starting to get bright, I arrived at Elie. Elie I’ve been to Elie’s grain elevator many times. It’s adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway and has been featured in many of my … Read more

Dark to Light

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I went railfanning early in the morning of October 20th, 2019. I had set my alarm for my usual weekday 6 AM wakeup, but I ended up waking up at 5:10 AM, so I started out earlier than expected. I had no particular destination. This is usually not a good idea for me, as I … Read more

Fallen Flags at Lorette

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I had a little time to railfan recently, so I went out along the Sprague subdivision to try to catch a train. Rumour had it that this line – which goes southeast from Winnipeg to Rainy River, Ontario with a brief detour into the USA – was very busy recently, so I figured there was … Read more