A Geologist went on the Railway

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 ...

A work trip took me to northern Manitoba in April - May 2000.  At this time the gold mining industry was going through a rough patch, with depressed prices and many companies cutting staff and shutting down mining operations.  The project I was running at the time had been shut down and I was at loose ends.   My boss "strongly suggested" that I get out of the office for an extended period as having someone not actively working on a project was likely to get unwelcome attention from the company in the form of a pink slip.  So I quickly came up with a trip to review gold projects in the cheapest way possible in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.  There was a mining conference in Thunder Bay and I knew people in Flin Flon and Thompson that I could couch surf with.  I arranged a few mine tours and meetings with several companies and prospectors to review their gold projects.   Overall I think I budgeted around $2000 for the trip including car ren...

There are few better places to take in a sunset than at the beach in Mazatlan I visited Mazatlan Mexico on a couple of occasions, both for work and for a beach vacation.  Both times I managed to sneak down to the Ferromex shops and get access to the facility.  I even got to ride around with the hostler while he switched units around in the facility.   On my 1998 foray to the shops, one of the security guards was quite friendly, chatting with me and telling me what areas to avoid so I wouldn't get robbed.  Always good to heed local advice.  Another guard hassled me for a tip so he wouldn't arrest me.  I gave him 5 pesos to go away; he wasn't pleased that the gringo only had small amounts of cash.  Since I had permission from the Ferromex local manager he didn't press me for more.   On my second visit in 2000 myself and a coworker walked into the shops and wandered at our leisure with no questions from the security. The Ferromex workers we...