CP 2816, Lethbridge To Calgary - The Chase Part 2

This is Part 2 of 3 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 2 kmz file for download.

October 09, 2008

Shortly after the crew had finished with their maintenance in Champion at around 11:48, 2816 started chugging steam and was on her way once again headed for Calgary. So of course I couldn’t resist the urge to get back in my car and happily continue the chase.

About 8 km out of Champion, I saw a few people standing on top of a hill on the East side of the tracks. I figured this would be a good spot to get a higher vantage point but not so high as to be on it’s way to being an overhead shot. I was able to catch a few shots of Cedar Rapids after they went by. I also wanted to know if it was worth coming back to this spot for possible future railfanning trips.

When I got back on the highway, I saw the dark smoke and figured she must have had a speed restriction going through Kirkcaldy, which gave time to catch up quickly. I snapped some shots of 2816 will I was driving down Highway 23. I wasn’t actually looking through the camera. I leaned it on my arm and aim blindly then snapped a few consecutive shots. Some turned out not too bad, but a few are not so great. Some were of only half the train one way or the other as I would aim to far ahead or to far back.

Not long after having passed Kirkcaldy she was starting to speed up again. I then stopped on the side of the highway where the tracks were coming back to parallel the highway and caught a couple shots. She went by at about 12:09. This was just before arriving in Vulcan.

I quickly jumped back in my car and booted it to Vulcan snapping a few more free aimed shots from the car. These would be the last ones until I would arrive in Blackie as I didn’t make into position in time at Vulcan. So I turned my car around, got back on Highway 23 and headed for Blackie.

I could barely see 2816 going cross country when I was on Highway 23 which turns east about 18 kilometers north of Vulcan. If you continue north it turns into Highway 24. I arrived in Blackie about 10 minutes before 2816 did and was greeted by a freight train waiting on the west side of the crossing for 2816 to arrive and take a siding in the yard at Blackie. The power was CP 9570, 9700 and 5946, two AC4400CW and a SD40-2.

Once 2816 arrived at 13:02, they started on their way through and 2816 soon followed.

Only one more stop before heading for Calgary and that was the steel truss bridge in Okotoks.

A I was leaving Blackie another railfan, by the name of George, asked if he could follow me into Okotoks as he wanted to photograph 2816 crossing the bridge as well. I had met him back in Champion, and at one of my stops along Highway 23 before Kirkcaldy. We also bumped into each other in Vulcan. He was a very nice guy and works for a Historic State Park as a Railroad Restoration Worker for Railtown 1897 in Jamestown, California. I’ll have go there someday.

We arrived in Okotoks about 15 to 20 minutes before 2816 did. I had never walked to the bridge before so we parked our vehicles in a car wash parking lot on the corner of North Railway Street and 370 Ave. We walked along the tracks for 5 minutes and were there. I took my shot from near the north end of the bridge and he went on the sand spit in the Sheep River. I think that I should have gone with him as I probably would have had a better shot. I’ll have to remember that next time when they supposedly take her back out in 2010, but I will blog about this another time. After they went by I ran up the bank to catch a rear view of Cedar Rapids.

As we were leaving town, I noticed from between the buildings that they had stopped in town along Daggatt Street. I stopped for a quick snap, George continued on, and then I headed to Calgary.

This is the end of part 2. I hope you are enjoying the adventure so far. I will be pretty busy next weekend, but I will do my best to have the conclusion of this adventure posted.

Goggle Earth kmz file.

Cheers,

Snow Storm Saturday Train

I braved last Saturday’s snow storm to go to Okotoks and fill up my car with gas before going to a company function later tonight. But first, I grabbed a coffee and bagel at Tim Hortons. After I left the Shell station, instead of turning right onto Riverside Gate to head back home, for some reason I decided to keep going east on South Railway Street up to Centre Avenue and probably east on Elizabeth Street to see how close I could get to the steel truss bridge, and then head home.

As I crossed over the grade crossing on Centre, I glanced down the tracks and as luck would have it, there was a train coming in from the west just before the crossing on Northridge Drive. Fast thinking had me turn down Daggatt Street to snap a shot of this train just after what I think used to be a small grain elevator in the past. To my surprise, this was a really short train. As I don’t yet own a scanner, I couldn’t monitor which train this was or where it was heading. Two power units, CP 9513 & 9808, and a bulkhead flatcar with a load of pipes went by at about 13:20. But where is the rest of the train? Before I get to that, back to finding out about the bridge.

I headed east on Daggatt, turned right onto, take a guess at what this street is called, North Railway Street and drove to the end. The bridge is still about a quarter mile down the tracks and the only way to get to it is to walk there. But with the snowy weather conditions, and the fact that I wasn’t prepared to go trudging through the snow, the shot from where I was would not have turned out. Now to go find the rest of the train!

I headed back west toward Highway 549 by way of Lineham Drive, South Railway Street and Northridge Drive in search of this “lost” train. I wasn’t sure how far it would be, but I was prepared to go as far as De Winton about 20 km north. As I came to the crossing on 549, I noticed the butt end of a gondola car. I arrived at another crossing not too far down the road and noticed that 7 cars were separated from the rest of the train to allow passage through the crossing. I went through the crossing and turned around. I grabbed a few photos of some of the cars here.

All I could do now was sit and wait until the power for this train came back to grab the rest of his load. So I grabbed a coffee at Tim Hortons and parked my car in the driveway of truck and RV wash bay that is right beside the tracks on Elizabeth Street. I reviewed my 2008 Calgary & Southern Alberta Street Guide Atlas to see if I could pick out some good locations in Calgary and other towns and read through some of the user guide for my new camera and proceeded to wait. Elizabeth turns into Highway 549 further down the road. I knew where I wanted to try my next couple shots, which was just down the road from me. The snow was still coming down pretty good.

Finally at about 15:30 I heard the horns blowing at another crossing further up. Time to move to my third location and get into position. This location is pretty nice as there are plenty of trees in the back you can get close proximity to the tracks and there is place to park you car across the road. There is also a hillside across the road which would be nice to get a higher angle, but it unfortunately fenced off. The train blew by at 15:35.

I drove back to my second location to grab some shots of the train hooking up the separated train back together and this is where the brown stuff hit the fan! As I was turning around as I did earlier, I drove ahead too far and my right front tire went over the edge just enough to say that I was good and stuck. Fortunately there was guy driving by on the main road that noticed I was stuck. His name was Nick and he was more than happy to pull me out just so he could test his new tow rope. Thank you Nick. The unfortunate part of this whole incident is that I was caught on the wrong side of the tracks and couldn’t get ahead of the train to grab a few snap shots down by the steel truss bridge in Okotoks. Oh well, better luck next time.

I was wondering if that load of pipe went to Alderside so I headed out that way. As I was driving down Highway 7, I saw the lights of a westbound train coming from Alderside. I pulled a u-turn in the middle of the highway and made my way back to my third location just west of Okotoks. CP engines 8521 and 5746, an AC4400CW and an SD40-2, passed by at 16:36. I then proceeded to make my way back toward Alderside.

Once I arrived at the crossing in Alderside, I noticed bulk flat car pipe load on the north side along with a cattle car on a siding. Further down the track to the south, some other cars on another siding. After taking some pictures here, I figured it was time to head back home as it was getting late and the light was failing. The salt melted roads were starting to freeze and would most like get very slippery. Needless to say, I didn’t go to my company function due to the worsening road conditions.

Google Earth kmz file.

Cheers,