Super Saturday Surprise

If you wish to follow along in Google Earth to see my stops and travels, here is the kmz file for download.

May 3rd, 2008

I had wanted to get up bright and early to try and maybe catch a couple of trains in the early morning sun. Unfortunately, I only woke up at around 7:30. By the time I got my coffee and bagel at Tim Horton’s in Okotoks, it was 8:30. I still had not made up my mind as to where I wanted to go at this point. I was about to turn south to head towards Vulcan and suddenly changed my mind and head towards Shepard. CPR has an intermodal yard in Shepard, so I figured I would try to catch some eastbound trains.

I drove north on Highway 2, east on 22x and then north on Shepard Road. As I arrived in Shepard at about 9:20, an Eastbound was already on it’s way out. I decided not to chase this one down and head for the intermodal yard. I turned west on 114th Ave, parked my car at the corner of 68th and 112th Ave and walked the rest of the way up the dirt lane. I took a couple of minutes to take a picture of some ducks in a pond. Notice some of the Canadian Tire containers in the background. There was probably close to two hundred of them there at the depot.

I took a few pictures looking down into the yard and also looking towards Shepard. There were 5 trains waiting to be unloaded and an auto carrier train in the distance.

As I was taking my pictures, when one of the yard workers drove by on a quad and stopped. At that point I thought I was in trouble, cause I was a little further up on the access road to get a good view for my photographs. We exchanged greetings and then to my absolute surprise he asked me if I was looking for the “steam train”. I was unaware that 2816 was going to be out and about that day. He told me that 2816 was going to leave Alyth yard at approximately 13:00.

This was absolutely great news!

Since I had a few hours to spare, I decided to go roaming around the Shepard Industrial Park area for a bit. The track coming from Ogden Shops follows the irrigation canal and into Shepard Yard. I ended up at a grade crossing on Shepard Road just off of Barlow Trail. I took some pictures of the double tracks heading to Shepard Yard and also heading towards Ogden Shops and Alyth Yard. I was also snapping some pictures of a switch on a spur leading past a chain link fence gate to an unknown industry. I was trying to be creative with the shots of the switch, you know, practicing a bit.

Has I was snapping my pictures, I heard the distinct sound of a train horn. I managed to catch a container train lead by 8893 followed by 9122 heading East at 10:25 with 8758 on the push. The pictures are a bit blurry.

CN was also at work on the other side of the irrigation canal. Unfortunately I was not able to get the engine numbers.

I made my way to a spot along Alyth Yard just off of Blackfoot Trail. A freight train led by 8534 and 9525, rolled by at 10:50 heading southbound towards Lethbridge. A couple GP9’s came by at 11:20 heading downtown. At 11:35, a container train left heading west probably towards Vancouver. This was lead by 9615 and 9546. I didn’t get any pictures of these trains unfortunately as I was looking in my map books trying to figure out the best location to catch the steam train.

At around 12:00, I figured that I should start heading out and get into position. On my way out of town, I made a quick stop at Ogden Shop for a few minutes to see if there was anything interesting around the yard. I managed to see some rather old coaches on a siding, and I also caught a glimpse of a couple of F units in the yard. Both locomotives were in the tuscan & grey paint theme. The first was CP 1400 a FP7A and the second CP 1900 a F9B.

I knew there was an overpass on 22x over the tracks, and I knew that this was where I wanted to be. I arrived there at about quarter to one and shortly after my arrival as I started to pick the perfect spot on the hillside, a stack container train came rolling by. The power was 9117 in the front and 9107 close behind. Both locomotives are SD90MAC’s, and pretty grimy looking as well.

Then I waited, and waited, and I was getting hot, and also started getting thirsty.

Finally at 14:22, I could hear the whistle of 2816 in the distance near Shepard. Behind her tender was another FP7A locomotive CP 1401.

Here is the photograph I took of 2816 that day on RailPicture.Net.

The consist was:

1. CP 2816 "Empress" 4-6-4 Hudson
2. First Tender, 12,000 gals Water, 4,600 gals Diesel
3. Second Tender 23,000 gals Water
4. CP 1401 FP9A Diesel Locomotive
5. CP 29114 , A box car used as a tool car (CP cars all solid maroon color)
6. CP 96 Power Car
7. 2 CP Coach car of which I missed the identification marks
8. CP NSR9107 Baggage Express
9. 2 CP Coach car of which I missed the identification marks
10. 1 Business car of which I missed the identification marks

After they had gone by, I headed back to Alyth Yard to see if there was any action going on. There wasn’t very much happening except for an empty potash train coming in. The empties were led by locomotives CP 8886 and CP 8782 both being ES44AC’s. These trains are usually pretty long. If I can remember, next time I’ll have to take a car count.

One of CP’s tampers was on the same siding as the Sperry unit that usually hangs around there. There was also a ballast regulator behind the tamper but I didn't get its number. The number on the tamper was TP2760.

Three GP38-2’s numbered CP 3033, CP 3023 and CP 3034 had returned from turning around on the wye and were in the process of switching onto the idling track.

Other than that, there was a slew of idle units hanging around. The closest to me were CP 9679 and CP 8503, both of which are AC4400CW’s which they later turned them around on the wye and moved them toward the diesel shop at Alyth.

Three SD40-2’s numbered as CP 5910, CP 5981 and CP 5965 were sitting on the usual idling track, as were three GP38-2’s numbered CP 3062, CP 3093 and CP 3046.

Shortly after the hump came out I left cause it was pretty long and slow. The power was CP 5495 an SD40m-2 and CP 6603 an SD40-2.

Although I never did catch as many container trains as I had initially wanted to, the day was a great success. I finally found my way to my oasis for a cold brown brew.

Goggle Earth kmz file.

Cheers,

CP 2816, Lethbridge To Calgary - The Chase Part 3

This is Part 3 of 3 and the final chapter of my chase of 2816 from Lethbridge to Calgary. If you wish to follow my adventure along in Google Earth to see my stops and travels, here is the part 3 kmz file for download.

October 09, 2008

I drove into Calgary on Highway 2, which turns into Deerfoot Trail within the city limits. When I arrived in Calgary, I headed for the wye near Alyth just off of Blackfoot Trail as I knew it would be coming from the McLeod Sub and head straight into downtown. It was just after 14:00 when I left Okotoks, and it only took me 40 minutes to get to where I wanted to be. I knew that I didn't want to go downtown as I would have to deal with rush hour traffic later on. About an hour later at 15:40, 2816 came rolling by on through the north leg of the wye.

After she went by, I got to talking with another guy who was there watching. He was trying to explain to me a good spot along the tracks to watch 2816 go into Ogden Yard. I had confused myself with another location near by. He graciously drove me to the location as I was following in my own car and pointed it out to me. It happened to be an old level crossing that had been blocked. to tell you the truth I never gave it a second thought before this. Fortunately the trek was not too far out of his way, and I thanked him for showing this new discovery to me. I will have to make use of this location more often in the future.

When I pulled up there happen to be another railfan there that I knew from hanging around Alyth Yard and another drove up not too long afterward. As we waited, there were several trains that went by. The first was a four engine mixed freight with a "red barn" as part of the power went by at 16:36. The power were all GMD being SD40 CP 5527, SD40-2F CP 9016, GP38-2 CP 3130 and GP38-2 CP 3030.

Shortly after at 16:45, a Railpower Genset or "Green Goat" teamed with another CP unit made an appearance and did some shunting into the Ogden Yard. The power units were RPRX 5407 and GP9 CP 1638.

More information on the Railpower unit can be found on Genset Locomotive Rosters.

A few minutes later, 16:57, a grain train rolled by heading into Alyth. The power was CP 9666, CP 9754 and CP 8642 pushing. All three locomotives are AC4400CW's.

Finally at 17:29, CPR 2816 made an appearance coming around the bend in reverse giving us a picture opportunity of Cedar Rapids and the Superdome.

She would go down a bit further and then switch onto the middle track.

Then she came back up and past the bend and switch to the far track to get to the switch leading into Ogden Shops Yard.

As 2816 was up past the bend, another unit in the tuscan paint theme made an appearance at about 17:40 with two other regular CP locomotives for power. They were pulling several auto racks into Alyth. The power was a GP38-2 CP 3084, a GP35 CP 1125 and a GP38-2 CP 3035.

I did manage to catch a few shot of 2816 going by from between two auto racks.

After that I whipped over to the other side of Ogden Shops Yard to grab a few more shots. While I was in the area, I figured I try and snoop around a bit to see if I could find something interesting amongst everything else on the tracks. I did manage to snap some pictures of a unit hiding behind some trailers. The number appears to be 7009 and later found it to be a Fairbanks-Morse H-16-66 locomotive in the tuscan paint theme. There Really are not very many of these left around. I found the information on North East Rails. If anyone can provide more information on this locomotive, I would appreciate it. I also took a picture of a trailer painted in tuscan.

After grabbing a few last shots of 2816 getting ready for hibernation, I headed to my watering hole for cold beer.

Soon after these last few shots, my batteries died. The one sort of good battery lasted a great deal of time considering I would turn off my camera after almost every shot. Also earlier in the morning when it was pretty cold, I would take it out and put it my pocket to warm up. One thing I learned is that next time I will make sure that my batteries are fully charged. Other than that I had pretty well prepared for the trip the day before. Besides the batteries, all in all the trip was a good one and pretty enjoyable. I really enjoyed my little adventure and look forward to doing this again in the future.

This is the end of part 3 of the chase and I hope that you have enjoyed the adventure. I do apologize for the long spread between postings of this adventure, but sometimes life gets in the way.

Goggle Earth kmz file.

Cheers,