Yeah. It’s corny, but I’m leaving the caboose photo till the end. And that’s not me there – and I don’t know who the woman is. Honest. The museum has made up a couple of short trains that are completely accessible just outside the back door. I say ‘back door’ but it’s really the entrance… Continue reading »
Highway 40 stretches west of Biggar Saskatchewan to the Alberta border where it turns into 14 through Wainwright and then on to Edmonton. I wanted to photograph the CN main line here, and now, for two reasons. One was the knowledge that small town Prairie is fast becoming history and September is just about guaranteed… Continue reading »
Not all my time was spent chasing trains. Authentic buildings are my passion. No kits please. The prairie is a treasure trove of originals and even the most “up to date” layout can’t be honest with itself without an abandoned building or two – or more. South of Scott, covered in a previous Proto-file, we… Continue reading »
Not all my time was spent chasing trains. Authentic buildings are my passion. No kits please. The prairie is a treasure trove of originals and even the most “up to date” layout can’t be honest with itself without an abandoned building or two – or more. South of Scott, covered in a previous Proto-file, we… Continue reading »
The chickens had a window. And heat and air-conditioning as well. The smallest structure on the farm was this sturdy little building at the end of a row of three similar sheds. While two were quite spartan, with a simple door and no heat or light, this building had been fitted with a small stove… Continue reading »
Rain continued to soak the long stretch of the Canadian West between Biggar SK and Viking AB and the cold had found it’s way deep into what ever I was wearing. It had been that way for days. I hadn’t dressed for this when I left home and I had nothing suitable packed away in… Continue reading »
The clouds are still heavy and the ground is still soaking wet but this train guy soldiers on ever ready for that one great shot. No need here to find the sun at my back – or better still – at that excellent angle that shows off the details I’m looking for. Quite the contrary…. Continue reading »
The CN facility in Biggar Saskatchewan is worth a visit. The big city facilities in Saskatoon and Regina, and even Moose Jaw, are very large and well cordoned off making them pretty much inaccessible to the average train buff. Restrict your touring to Melville, Swift Current, Wayburn and Estevan and you can still get up… Continue reading »
As one of those omni-present stack trains glides through on the station track I get a chance to get a closer look at one of the last Canadian style Safety Cabs. I was never a fan of the SD60’s but I’m a huge fan of ‘The Stripes’ and the 4-window design. It takes me back… Continue reading »
My home in Peachland is not a hub of railway activity so from time to time I need a trains fix by either going ‘over the top’ into the Ashcroft/Cashe Creek area or by spending a summers weekend in Didsbury Alberta. Of course the real high for a CN railfan is the Thompson River Canyon… Continue reading »
They don’t call them road switchers for nothing. Looking north now while sitting in my car at the crossing of highway 582. Three engines; 8506, 9706 and a now leading and unidentified GE unit have parted ways with their south-bound consist and are working their way back through the Y about ½ a kilometer from… Continue reading »
A little farther north of that crossing there is a small facility with two sidings, each about ½ a km long. On another day two southbound locos, 8909 and 9504, pause, break the train, and spot 6 tank cars on one of the sidings. The 4400’s are almost as prolific today as the SD40-2’s were… Continue reading »
The small yard in Didsbury consists of the main line and two long sidings that pretty much stretch, north – south, from one end of town to the other as well as a short spur used mostly for MofW equipment. On this day the second track was home for two old timers waiting work. 3029… Continue reading »
There may only be one train a day into Kelowna these days but the city still offers some easy to view switching for the local railfans. There are powers that want to see and end to even that in order to have all freight in and out of here handled by big trucks. What are… Continue reading »
The Hungry Hound Café is at home on the corner of Richter St and Recreation Avenue and if you don’t feel like going inside you can find a seat outside in the sun and watch engine 2632 work the spur at OK Ready Mix. This day found a pretty typical shipment being moved around. Bulkhead… Continue reading »
The Hungry Hound Café is at home on the corner of Richter St and Recreation Avenue and if you don’t feel like going inside you can find a seat outside in the sun and watch engine 2632 work the spur at OK Ready Mix. This day found a pretty typical shipment being moved around. Bulkhead… Continue reading »
While the engine idols at the Richter Street crossing, and the operator seemingly does nothing, the second man has walked the length of the train checking to be sure everything is properly connected and all the loads are secure. Nice job if you can get it on a sunny day deep in the Okanagan but… Continue reading »
…and there are stripes all over it. Wow! Don’t you just love the paint scheme? Often referred to as Sergeants stripes or Zebra stripes this paint scheme was the best result (IMHO) of reinventing the Super Continental back in 1961. It put a welcome end to the short 6 year experiment with the black and… Continue reading »
A high speed east bound container train lead by three of my all time favourate zebras somewhere between Rivers and Portage la Prairie in the summer of ‘88. Just one of a hundred + pictures I took on a photo trip out of Winnipeg. Roles of film filled my pockets. New on the right –… Continue reading »
Down Ontario way, as well as other points east, the motive power got more varied but the stripes remained the same. This HR616 number 2107 is at Belleville Station on a sunny winter day in 1986. My three years teaching in Trenton were outstanding not only because of the job (I really loved it) but… Continue reading »
In the hotel was on a hill above the harbour in North Sydney the early risers were gawking out the window during breakfast. The ferry had pulled in during the night and people were anxious to see those big blue Marine Atlantic logos. Even as we edged our car into a line and waited for… Continue reading »
January 2015 Working Winter Valley The sun gets up suddenly and in it’s full regalia in Winter Valley. It quietly creeps up behind the hills and then ‘bang’ it’s daytime and life below is buzzing around in every which direction. Down at the station we prefer some order in all things. Trains arrive, drop off… Continue reading »
January 2014 The Family Album Photos by Friedhelm Weidelich In early 2005 I had the pleasure of being visited by Friedhelm Weidelich on behalf of the glossy German model railway magazine Gartenbahm profi.Friedhelm is an excellent model photographer, a fine writer and he has a deep background in the European garden railway world. His publication… Continue reading »
November 2013 The Fleet Is In Repowering the Winter Valley Over the years that I’ve been a part of the Winter Valley family there have been projects that have taken a great deal of time and money to get right. Rebuilding the station at Pearson was one such project. Being classified as a heritage building… Continue reading »
May 2013 Playing With the Light. A little light sometimes sneaks into the basement. The wharf jutting out into the stream at Hudson’s Mill attracts a small crowd at all times of the day in all seasons of the year. Ice fishing and skating start early in these parts and the short summers fill with… Continue reading »
March 2013 Looking back just a little. I hope I’m forgiven for doing nothing newsworthy on the layout since finishing off the scenery in the corner. https://wvrr.ca.htm All of my efforts have been dedicated to installing AirWire and Phoenix in the motive power, rebuilding a USAT extended vision caboose and chopping the nose on a… Continue reading »
September 2012 Summer’s over so it’s time to start again I know. I’ve been away this summer. Loving the out of doors though. Last fall I bought myself a beautiful Mustang convertible and darn it anyway, I used it. My last day at work was the 1st of May and so I chased trains and… Continue reading »
May 2012 Building a Canadian cylindrical hopper in 1/29th scale. One of the things on my bucket list was to build a ‘Trudeau hopper’ in 1/29th scale but it was a crazy great gift from my son that convinced me it was possible. Finding a foundation that was the right length – and had great… Continue reading »
April 2012 Wireless Control for the Winter Valley It was a long time coming and it will be a while before it’s all done but eventually all 9 of my diesel engines will be equipped with ‘radio control” by AirWire and controlled by the new T5000 wireless throttles. Wireless thinking started a few years… Continue reading »
Nov 2011 Returning a favour – Leasing power to the NAR Part 2. I greeted the world with a massive headache and I couldn’t even find my watch. I’d leased a taxi to get me to McLennan and had no idea if I was late or early. A call to the desk set me straight. … Continue reading »
October 2011 A Brief Visit From the Past. There wasn’t anything unusual about this September day. It broke as early as it usually dose at this time of year and by 7 AM it was light enough so I could see my way down the path that lead past the park and into the small… Continue reading »
July 2011 Returning a favour – Leasing power to the NAR Part 1. Over the past few years, with the boom in the oil and lumber industries, the Winter Valley Regional Railway has had to lease seasonal power wherever they could find it. This power was logged in using a complex horsepower – hours –… Continue reading »
February 2011 A Party For Reagan I run into ‘Train Nuts” in my line of work, hell I’m one myself, and they’re particularly prevalent and around the Winter Valley. This modern short line railway offers friendly access to people and property; we run ‘traditional’ LTC (less that carload) trains rather than those boring unit… Continue reading »
October 20 2005 A few new friends in Winter Valley It may have started out to be just another day but something special was about to happen. We waited in the shade down at the old freight shed and talked excitedly about what our first sighting of 5006 would be like. The 7 th SD40-2… Continue reading »
15 July 2005 Climbing out of a sleeping bag at 0630 on a coolish fall morning isn’t normally a big deal but after hiking up this far, just the day before, the thinner air and the smell of an early frost makes a nice warm pocket a hard place to leave. Photo 1 An old… Continue reading »
10 March, 2005 A trip into the high country. The main line north of Winter Valley climes slowly and steadily towards High Pass (the highest elevation on the WVRR) before dropping slowly into the mining country around Colder. This is not Rogers Pass, or even the Yellowhead, but it’s high enough to rate it’s own… Continue reading »