First Visits to Portage la Prairie!

My first memories of being trackside on the Prairies were formed on a sunlit evening trackside in Portage, during that 'golden hour'. The last of the day's sunrays glinted off CNWX-lettered Government of Canada aluminum covered hoppers, in the shadows of Portage's towering elevators. The calm of the evening was descending. GMD-1's chanted. The nearness and number of long freight trains on CN and CP made a huge impression on me. It was 1976. Was I the only one who felt instantly impressed with Portage? Apparently not. 

Now, with 2018 laid out before us, I am really looking forward to sharing my observations and photographs of years of railfanning at Portage in my upcoming project Trains and Grains. Photo editing continues apace. Proceeding through the years' visits from 1976, I just made it to my photos taken in 1984! So much neat stuff:

I relived those first days of excitement vicariously through the eyes of Winnipeg rail enthusiast and photographer Jack Hykaway, when he recently posted his first visit to Portage. It appears he was under a similar spell during his first visit in 2010 - thirty-four years after mine. Jack was 11, and I was 12! Jack kindly shared his account and photos which are presented here in italics:

I remember my very first railfan trip like it was yesterday. It was fall 2010, and I had recommended visiting Portage La Prairie for some railfanning to my dad. He was all for the idea, and we made plans to go on the next nice day. I wanted to visit PlaP because of an article I had read earlier that week in "Railfan Canada" magazine. A group of railfans traveled out to PlaP for the day, travelling to/from Winnipeg on VIA trains 1 and 2. Even though they were only in town for a few hours, they caught a huge amount of trains.

So, that weekend, we were off. The whole family piled into the car, though I'm not sure everyone wanted to...the hours that lay ahead were full of promise - I was hoping to catch an endless parade of trains, just like the railfans who wrote the article in RFC had.

Arriving in Portage, I had my camera ready. That was lucky - I stepped out of the car just as the 3rd St. Crossing was activated by a CP train. It had 3 GP38-2's leading. Soon after the train's passing, my mom and sister had already had enough of the railfanning experience, and went to find a thrift shop along Saskatchewan Avenue.

My dad and I decided to leave the car, and we walked down Pacific Avenue until we saw another headlight on the eastern horizon. It was VIA No 1, running right on time. The train stopped briefly at the station, oddly on the north track, then pulled forward to the signals near 8th Street. The train stopped, and waited on an eastbound CN freight to clear the line, before continuing west.

The engineer in lead unit 6404 kindly invited Jack up into the cab, resulting in the view westward at Kearns (above).

Just as No 1 was pulling out, a westbound CP train came through, heading north-west out of town on the Minnedosa Sub. Both trains were moving - I didn't know where to point the camera!

Walking back to the station, it was CN's turn again. A Westbound Intermodal sped through town, with two GEVO's leading. Moving from the station to the Tupper Street overpass, I made it on the bridge with only seconds to spare to film another Westbound Intermodal, led by a single Dash-9. An SD70M-2 was the rear DPU.

It was getting late, so dad and I moved back towards the car to head home. Just before setting off, CP ran another train through town: Intermodal/Autorack traffic heading to Winnipeg.

When the tail end disappeared around the corner, we went to pick up my sister and mom (who were still busy in the thrift shop) and we headed home.That railfanning trip to PlaP is one of my favourite railfanning memories. I have to thank my family for that. 

My thanks to Jack for sharing his early Portage experiences. Jack's words, "I didn't know where to point the camera..." resonated with me. When things happen at Portage, they are fast and furious! Recently, while scanning photo prints for Trains & Grains, I came across photos my Dad took of me during our first visit to Portage in 1976 (top and below). I was not yet old enough to take my own photos...

At the CP station (above) while the platform was still in place for CP's Canadian as S-3 6569 idled:

CN's train from Gladstone is eastbound past CN's station mid-morning. We were firmly in the pre-VIA era. I get some of my first consist observations on paper:

Running extra...

We have not seen the last of Jack's photography! In fact, his equipment and skills have produced some amazing images in the intervening years since 2010. Consider these two varying views of Winnipeg wow factor along the Seine River, that Jack took in 2016. One of shoreline, foliage and colour; the other contrasting view of vintage, slug and smoke: