VIA's "The Canadian" on Saturday, CN grain train and CP switchers

On Saturday April 16th we went railfanning to catch "The Canadian" at noon.We left at about 10:30.First we went downtown to Union station to see if the train was there and sure enough it was parked in the siding at the station.After that we went to Saint Boniface to see what was up. I saw  two CP locos working at the Saint Boniface yard North of Plinguet street.Heres the grab shot.

Then we went to The Letellier sub nothing there. So we went to The Saint James junction to see stuff there.Right when I got up to the tracks I saw a CN grain train. I raced to the other side, the train was going quite fast so I was in a hurry to get everything ready. But everything was perfect timing.                                        

As you can hear and see in the video the engineer gave me a horn blast.I appreciated it but it really surprised me,since this is a no honking zone for CN,

After that i noted headlights on the CP tracks about five kilometers to the North. It turned out that the light was just two CP locos (1507 &8251)running light.

Then finally at about 12:12 I spotted the headlights of "The Canadian" at the bend at The Portage Junction.At exactly 12:16 the train rolled past me with 6451 in the lead and nine cars.                                                    

This is the second time I've seen "The Canadian" without a refurbished unit or a wrapped unit.

About ten minutes after that CP brought one grain car north .

Saturday wasn't the best day but hopefully tomorrow (April 17) I'll get more trains and good shots.