A Geologist went on the Railway

Diamond on Google Earth One spot that I haven't been to in quite some time is Diamond, just west of Winnipeg on Highway 427 which is the western extension of Wilkes Avenue.  At this location a CP branch line crosses the CN mainline at grade. It is a popular spot among local railfans (it even has a Mayor!) so I wanted to pop in to see what was happening. I had some time on the evening of August 4th between family events to venture out to (hopefully) do some railfanning there. I arrived to find that I was the sole resident of Diamond on this evening. Initially it wasn't looking too promising as there was no indication of anything coming in either direction.  Fortunately I had a good book so I parked so I could see in both directions and started reading, occasionally checking to see if there was anything coming.  Such is the life of casual railfanning without a radio scanner.   My patience was rewarded with a headlight to the east.  I set myself up and caught ...

Recently my family and I traveled to Manitoba for a summer vacation. Beyond visiting family and friends, I managed to squeeze in some railfanning while in the Keystone province.  Beyond the majors (CN and CPKC) there are a number of smaller regional railways that operate in Winnipeg and area.  I managed to see a few of these smaller operations around the city.  I didn't manage to catch the GWWD this go around but hopefully will on another trip.     Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (Manitoba) The BNSF operates the former Midland Railway of Manitoba in Winnipeg.  Historically they ran to the Canada/US border but now they operate a switching and transfer operation between CN and CP on the central/western part of the city.  Midland #2 was a GP9 that was used for decades in this operation.  It was retired and donated to the Prairie Dog Central.  Now a variety of BNSF 4 axle units hold down the assignment.  Currently a GP38-2 is worki...

Not the best shot but you take what you can get in low light conditions... Canadian Pacific had a sizeable fleet of MLW C630, M630 and M636 locomotives.  These were railfan favourites (not so much for the crews) for many years.  Initially they ran across the CP system, but when CP standardized on the SD40 and SD40-2 during the 1970's these units migrated to eastern Canada.  Some would make it as far west as Winnipeg, and a few even went west of there on occasion.   Growing up in western Canada these units were a rarity by the time I became more aware of what was running on the railways.  I saw the occasional C424, S-2 or S-3, but the "Big Alcos" were not something I can recall seeing prior to moving to Winnipeg for university.  These quickly became a favourite, and I was quite happy to see them lurking around the city.   CP retired these units in the early 1990's but reactivated a few when traffic levels required more motive power.  The ...