A Manitoba Sojourn Part 2



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 CN 3865 and 3972 (ex CITX leaser) leading a westbound stack train with a cut of hopper cars tacked on the rear of the train.  The sun was starting to set so I wasn't sure how much light I would have left to shoot in.  






Shortly after an eastbound mixed train of potash, lumber and mixed freight cars arrived, led by another former lease unit (CN 2789). It had CN 2701 as a mid train unit.  The light was fading so after this train passed I headed back to the city.  Of course while I was driving back another westbound ran past; such is luck. 









After spending the better part of a week in and around Winnipeg it was time to head off to see family in western Manitoba.  This involved driving along Highway 16 towards the Saskatchewan border.  Much of the route parallels Canadian Pacific's Minnedosa and Bredenbury Subdivisions.  

There wasn't much activity until we got to Newdale, a small town west of Minnedosa.  Newdale still has a pair of privately owned elevators as a backdrop to the trains running on CP.  There was a meet between an eastbound and westbound there; we arrived just a bit too late to catch the meet so I had to be satisfied with catching the westbound train leaving the siding.  Two GE's and an ex SOO Line SD60 led the train of mixed freight, pulling an eclectic mix of lumber, potash, grain and tank cars. The potash cars were heavily weathered and in desperate need of a paint job.  





We also caught the train passing the P&H elevator at Glossop.  These elevators used to be owned by Patterson Grain and were painted in their striking orange and yellow paint scheme; subsequently P&H bought the elevators and repainted them in their black and white paint scheme.  The orange and yellow are starting to show through the weathering P&H paint, suggesting it is time to repaint these elevators. 

The rest of the trip didn't involve railfanning but did have lots of fishing, boating and watching the northern lights.  It was a most enjoyable sojourn.

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