Recent VIA's

Over the past few weeks I've been able to shoot a few VIA's mostly the eastbound Canadians. The first one is VIA 2 at the Kenaston overpass on Sunday July 31,

An interesting thing about this one is that it had a Coors light Silver bullet unit leading

The next VIA was Tuesdays eastbound Canadian this one was completely normal with no deadheads or wrapped units

The hard thing about shooting this train was that the sun was really bright.

The next VIA was "The Hudson Bay" at  16:06 on Aug 6 at the Kenaston overpass

This is the best shot I've ever gotten of this train

The next VIA was The eastbound Canadian on Sunday Aug 7 at 19:57

 The trailing unit was Loto Quebec

The next one is The Westbound Canadian on Saturday Aug 13 I hadn't seen The westbound for awhile so I really wanted to shoot it

The next day we went out to shoot VIA 693 leaving Winnipeg.

I kind of messed up on the shot because the engineer gave a horn blast which shocked me.

Then finally The Eastbound Canadian

Well that was nice to catch all those Via's

BNSF Staples sub July 19-22 part 2

On July 21 we headed out to shoot some more trains on The Staples sub around St Cloud.First we went to Minnesota road 301,I waited awhile and the signal turned green then a short eastbound coal train pulled a few cars past me,

Then we decided to head out,but just as we were crossing the tracks I saw a Westbound approaching.There was little time to set up and I wanted to get a picture an video so I put my video camera on my car and get the shot.

This was nice because I never see the blue and yellow Santa Fe locos that much anymore.Then when we were driving we saw a westbound empty coal train from Becker so we pulled into the driveway of a cement factory to shoot it.

Then after that we saw nothing and headed back to the house.Well that was a good day shooting trains

BNSF Staples sub July 19-22 part 1

From July 19-22 we were in Minnesota again but this time in The Central part around ST Cloud. On the first day we were busy doing other things so we could only go in the evening. When we went we saw an eastbound stopped on the far track ,Then we went to a country road and another eastbound showed up,

                   

Then after a little while later we went to Minnesota road 301 and shot an eastbound coal train  headed to The Becker Power Plant

Well two good trains for the start of our trip.

Stupid idiots

Well what else can I say this is the most dangerous thing involving railways on Youtube

These kids are ruining the fun of rail fanning and I bet are making the train crew really scared and nervous.I bet the engineer called railway police on them.I hope they got in trouble with law enforcement or got charged. Also read the comments this video has.

BNSF's Staples sub part 3 with a CP bonus

On July 7 we had our last filming day in Detroit Lakes and along The Staples sub. The first train we caught was a southbound CP train near Callaway,we first spotted it in our car along highway 59 and I took a grab shot

Then we set up on county road 260 to shoot it,it was going a bit fast so I didn't have enough time and had to set up quickly, heres the shot

I also saw a BNSF high rail truck

Then we headed to Verndale waited awhile then decided to head back. But just as we got to Wadena an eastbound showed up we chased it back to Verndale and was able to shoot it,

The sot turned out good with the Verdale sign.

After that a westbound intermodal went through

Then an eastbound coal train came through,probably bound for The Becker Power Plant in Becker Minnesota,

It also had a DPU unit on the tail end

Then the next train caught me by surprise,a westbound tank train,

One thing interesting about these long tank trains is that they each have one hopper car at the front behind the loco's and at the back, I think thats to protect the dangerous cargo.

BNSF's Staples sub part 2

On July 6 we headed to the staples sub to do more train filming. I stayed at The Amtrak depot in Detroit Lakes for awhile and nothing came.We then decided to head to the east. We eventually saw nothing but then I saw headlights so we pulled into county road 9 when a BNSF train rolled by

 9141 was in the lead

It also had BNSF 9831 as a DPU

As you can hear in the video the loco had a strange sounding horn.

After that something different showed up,a CSX train

It had something I've never seen,blinking ditch lights

Then a BNSF intermodal

After that we headed to Verndale along the way we saw a tank train

Once we got to Verndale an eastbound intermodal showed up

This train was going really fast probably about 50 or 60 KPH

then we headed back to Detroit Lakes their I caught to trains.First an eastbound mixed freight

 Then the westbound intermodal

Well that was another good day of filming trains on the Staples sub.

Minnesota-BNSF Staples subdivision part 1 with CP

Last tuesday we went for a three day trip to Minnesota to shoot parts of BNSF's Staples sub from Detroit Lakes To Staples.After we checked into our hotel we headed to the amtrak station in Detroit Lakes. At around 17:35 I heard horn blasts to the west and then soon enough a BNSF came through pulling a medium sized train. Here it is about a hundred or more feet away

 Heres the Official head end shot.

After that we headed east I then shot another eastbound at 18:20 near the edge of town, Heres a shot of it rounding the bend

This train was going a bit slower I think about 20 to40 MPH

Next we went to the west side I kept hearing train horns coming from the CP so we went to the CP tracks south of the city there we got two CP's .First the Northbound

 Then Southbound intermodal

Well that was a nice first day of filming trains in Minnesota.

VIA 1 blocked by CN

On Thursday June 30 we went to The Saint James Junction to shoot some trains I mainly wanted to catch "The Canadian" at noon but things didn't go exactly how I planned. My mom parked on the north side of the tracks and I went on the south side,At around twelve I saw headlights to the east but then the train stopped short of Waverly street,Then came an eastbound it went slow and eventually stopped by Waverly street too. Heres the picture

  After it had stopped I notice bright headlights to the east I was hoping these belonged to the westbound freight but they were VIA's. It was switching from the south to the north track I was so mad. Why couldn't the westbound have been on the north track and VIA on the south ,or no meet at all or have my mom be on my side of the tracks and we could of went to Kenaston. Out of frustration I noticed the gap between the two intermodal cars I had the urge to climb through them but  stayed safe and didn't,VIA was getting closer so I decided to go right by the gap and film the train through it heres the result

















What really mad me mad was this could of been a great picture since Loto Quebec loco 6414 was leading.
Well at least I came up with a good idea,From now on I'm always going to havce the car parked on the south side. I guess this just happens to every railfan having a good shot blocked.

A CP meet on The Carberry sub.

On June 29 we went out to The CP Carberry sub to shoot some trains. When we first got there an eastbound intermodal was approaching so I had to set up quickly. Heres the shot

After that the signals turned off but then turned on again at 21:00. First they were all red then the top on turned green meaning an eastbound train. Then I saw the eastbound's headlights but then a westbound's headlights. The westbound had grain and other interesting things on it it came first

Then came the eastbound,

I turned the camera around at 1:36 in the video to shoot the eastbound. Well that was a nice evening on the Carberry sub in Woodman.

A long CN 532 on June 26

On Sunday I wanted to catch CN 532 heading south out of Winnipeg. So we went to The Waller street crossing to shoot it. On the way there I saw it sitting in Fort Rouge probably waiting for clearance. When we got to Waller street I waited for a little bit then I saw The headlights to the north. Heres a pic of it a little ways from me

It took about 2 minutes for them to reach me.

Sunday's 532 was long it had to of had over 100 cars and was going pretty slow as you can see in the video. I've always wanted to see this train before and I finally have.

CN 1501 RDC Budd car on The Letellier sub

On Saturday June 25 I wanted to see CN 532 on The Letellier sub. We headed out at about 10:30 to try and catch it. But at 11:20 I saw something coming from the north it wasn't 532 but I noticed it was a RDC. It was interesting because I've never seen one of these before.

 I'm guessing it was headed out to do some work on the tracks.

I hope this is going to be in Winnipeg for awhile so I can shoot it again. CN 1501 was the number.

VIA rail "The Canadian on Saturday June 11

On Saturday June 11 we went out to shoot "The Canadian" a The Saint James Junction. we went to Union station to see if it was there and sure enough there it was heres a shot of it in the station.

After that we headed out to The Saint James Junction to shoot it.When we crossed Waverly street a westbound intermodal went by but I was too late to shoot it. Right after that another CN was starting up heres the shot,

When we got to the diamond I waited awhile for VIA to show up. While I was waiting a couple of other railfans also showed up. I talked to them while we waited for VIA. The at 12:30 VIA showed up. There was nothing special on the train just the plain "Canadian".