I’ve always loved playing chess. When I was in school, I joined the chess club. I used to check chess books out of the library and study them. Spassky, Fischer, Lasker, Kasparov… names I knew well.
I tried playing chess with my kids. It was hard to throttle back and not go for checkmate every time! As they grew older, I’d spot them a queen or a rook to even the field and they would win some.
One chess move that most people don’t use is “en passant“. That’s a tricky little pawn move where you capture an opposing pawn “in passing”.
I was headed to the Prairie Dog Central Railway one Sunday morning when I captured a few trains “en passant”.
Pawn to King ONE
As I drove around the Perimeter Highway, I noticed an eastbound container train approaching the city. I exited the highway and pulled down a side road, and ran over to put a canola field between me and the train. I love canola, both for photography and as a cooking oil.
Knight to King’s Rook 9822
As I arrived at the CP Carberry subdivision, I noticed that the signal lights over at the west end of Makwa siding were lit – red. I drove west and looked at the west-facing side – flashing yellow over red. Promising!
Within a few minutes, it switched to green over red and I saw a headlight far to the west.
It turned out to be CP 9822 East leading a general freight train.
I wasn’t thrilled with the approach shot – a generic “wedgie” – but I thought the going away shot with the elevator and signals had more potential.
Here’s the video of that CP train.
Queen Side Castle
I saw an eastbound CP tank train as I was driving away from the Prairie Dog Central’s shops at Inkster Junction. It had boring red locomotives at both ends so I decided to focus on the canola again.
I’m glad that the crops are finally growing here in Manitoba after such a wet spring. Word is that they are a little sparse; hopefully the rest of the growing season is ideal and the farmers can get a decent crop. The world needs food.
Endgame
I’ve been trying Kindle Unlimited on my iPad for reading books. Currently they have a 2 month free trial and I’ve used that to read several books, including Leopard Tanks in Action and Tiny Habits. I just read The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis… more chess! (Great book, by the way)
If you purchase something from Amazon using my links, I get a small commission at no additional cost to you.
You can read books on your computer with Kindle, too; you don’t need a tablet, although I like holding a tablet a lot more than holding a laptop…
By the way, I was able to get a third month free by trying to cancel at the end of the two month period…