A Geologist went on the Railway

 The annual family trek to Manitoba allowed for some time to railfan around Winnipeg and the western part of the province.  Some of the highlights below.   The first pair of repainted GP38-2 I have seen, running light engine southbound behind our hotel in Winnipeg on August 4th 2025 VIA Hudson Bay near the Highway 16 crossing at Gladstone MB on July 29, 2025 VIA Hudson Bay at Gladstone July 29, 2025 Some interesting stuff at the Keystone Pioneers Museum in Roblin MB The history of the locomotive boiler explosion at Millwood MB in 1899. Diamond MB action while waiting for the kids to finish shopping at the Outlet Mall down the road on August 3rd, 2025 Timing is everything Catching the VIA Hudson Bay at Diamond was a nice surprise An eastbound to round out the afternoon DPU Herzog ballast train at Newdale MB - we always seem to find a train there while driving to points west. August 4th, 2025 Who would have thought catching an SD40-2 on the prairies would be an uncommo...

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 ...