On Monday, September 16, 1985 I left Montreal aboard VIA No 1, arriving at Winnipeg on the evening of September 17. During servicing, I was out wandering around East Yard and up at track level, under the Winnipeg depot train shed was No 93 to Churchill, No 7 from Capreol and my No 1, and mosquitoes:
Arriving after dark, over an hour late at Portage's CN station, there was an RCMP cruiser in the parking lot! We made their leisurely drive around Portage seeing some nighttime combining, then I enjoyed a nightcap Coke and sandwich at their house. I spent until Friday night with my aunt and uncle who lent me their car during the day. I saw many trains, out to Poplar Point and High Bluff to photograph elevators, also the new continuous-pour elevator east of Portage at Tucker. I had a [reduced from other years] three days' train watching in Portage.
My whole 1985 trip is told in a three-post series, starting with this post - a travelogue before and after Portage. I'm finally getting around to publishing these Portage train-watching photos - it's been 40 years since these photos were taken! In my defence, I've already blogged every other aspect of this trip in the panoply of previously-published posts. (Though I hate to publish the same photos twice, a few in this post appeared in posts on grain cars, for instance.) The first of these plethoric 1985 posts were shared way back in the first month of Trackside Treasure's ever-lengthening 16-year lifespan! Here's my entire 1985 trip, in date order of publication:
- Thunder Bay and Sudbury on the way home
- CN's Lewvan Subdivision
- Vestibule View heading west to Winnipeg
- CP's Loose Caboose
- CP ballast train on the Minnedosa Subdivision
- Railfanning Regina
- CP's Carberry Subdivision east of Portage
- Across Canada by Train Order - Westward
- Across Canada by Train Order - Eastward
- Riding Montreal to North Bay
- Postscript - Sudbury
- Dome View of Alberta and Saskatchewan
- CN's Glenavon Subdivision
- CP's Tyvan Subdivision
- CP's Portal Subdivision (Part 1 of 2)
That's a lot of Trackside Treasure posts spawned by one trip! But let's get back to the heart of the trip and my time trackside during those Three Days in Portage. Trains are shown by time, direction, railway, locomotive numbers and remarks.
September 18, 1985
I was allowed to use my aunt and uncle's car and spent the cloudy morning at the tracks from 0930-1200. Then we were off to the Portage Co-op restaurant for my signature club sandwich before returning to the stations for an hour after lunch.
0930 W CP 5923-5742 45 cars of ballast and Jordan spreader CP 402892 to Minnedosa Sub 434526 (top photo, linked post above). Then I headed to East Tower - a lot faster driving Trenton Avenue than it had been on foot in previous years!
1045 W CN 1067-1012 with 15 grain cars likely lifted from the elevators east of Portage (more on CN 1012-1067 in this post on GMD-1's).
1035 E CP 5591-5787-6003-8813 434581. A westbound freight is departing at left:
The eastbound approaches the yard lead switch, the trainman lines the high-target switch for the units and cars to head into the yard as a Canadian Forces Kiowa flies overhead from nearby CFB Portage/Southport.The power backs down the north side of the train into the yard.
After picking up 3 MPA and one CP boxcar and a tank car, the units return to the head end, with the train broken at the Stephens Avenue crossing:The trainman makes the joint and connects the air hoses.
1103 E CN 5216-5091 with caboose 79222 past East Tower:
Before lunch, 1012-1067 return from the Oakland line.
The units pull the boxcars into the yard, then attached the covered hoppers brought into Portage before heading east:
1330 W CP 5996-8701 30 ballast, 90 grain empties to Carberry Sub at West Tower with van 434448:
My aunt and uncle and I spent the rest of the day in Winnipeg, enjoying a hotel restaurant supper and getting home by 2200.
A rainy day; I photographed elevators on CP east of Portage. We enjoyed lunch at the May May Restaurant, and I headed back to the tracks in the rain until supper time.
0900 W CP 5923-5742 ballast cars 434526 (unphotographed)
1111 E CN 9585-9625-9528 hotshot with caboose 79328, east of Portage:
More on intermodal traffic in this post.
1448 W CN 4243-4324 grain empties with caboose 79414 crossing Eighth St. N.W. to the Gladstone Sub:1615 W CP 5852-8657 (second photo below).
1628 E CP 5928-5904 100 grain loads and van 434341:
CP 5852-8657 in the yard visible just above my aunt and uncle's car, seen in line with the semaphore mast.
After setting out a car of rail in the yard, 5852-8657 pause beside the ballast train at left. It has backed into Portage yard. The westbound added the ballast train's power, 5923 and 5742, to their power consist before continuing westward.
1635 W CN 5293-5067 lumber empties and caboose 79751:In the evening, we watched the [now] Patrick Swayze 1984 cult-classic Red Dawn on VCR.
In Part 2, it's time to profile another prolific Portage day trackside.
Running extra...
Wolverines! Charlie Sheen played Patrick Swayze's younger brother though his name is strangely absent from the film's credits?! Anyway, nothing livens up a high school history class like Russians landing just outside the window and watching your teacher go out to inquire of the heavily-armed and Spetsnazzy-camouflage jumpsuited Russian paratroops, "What's going on here, my friend?", before he himself becomes history. Forty years later, 'Colorado school shooting' has another grisly meaning, but in 1984 it was all fur caps 'n' Golden Arches! "Would you like fries with that....comrade?"
TV celebrity buys house to get model railway in basement! The original news story courtesy of The Montgomery News, the very professional Pacific Southern webpage including the layout's history and coming soon to the house the celebrity's wife's candle business, sounding suspiciously like a locomotive number: No. 95 Candles. An amazing story all around!
It's weird when your trip to RONA includes a NOVA. As in this Novabus charging itself at Gardiners Road Canadian Tire store (above). Toronto Transit Commission 6600-6735 are Nova Bus LFSe+ buses built in 2024. They are the first battery-electric buses ordered from Nova Bus by the TTC.
First past the post...
Thanks to Associated Railroaders of Kingston executive members Andrew Chisholm, Dave Cook and Michael Pasch who served up Pizza Pizza pizza and light refreshments at last night's May ARK meeting. ARK member Kurt Vollenwyder gave us a glimpse into mountain railroading in Switzerland with the remarkable Gotthard Tunnels. Imagine 260 freight trains daily through a mountain!
6 comments:
Eric,, spectacular photos and description of your trip. Two things stand out for me. One, all those cars, boxcars, grain cars, you name it cars and no graffiti! Another is the CNR "Serves All Canada" on one boxcar. Am I correct that the car was built before the CN "noodle" appeared and the car had not been repainted? Again, thanks for this.
Thanks, Joseph. Yes, a lot of those maple leaf-adorned CN boxcars went through Transcona shops for refurbishing under a government-funded program and nary a drop of paint in the process. True rolling museums.
It really is my pleasure (long-procrastinated) to see these photos again, and to be able to share them!
Eric
What strikes me more than anything is the lack of graffiti on the cars. A simpler time.
Very true, Michael. What little graffiti there was was of the chalk variety. After that, the next most prevalent was occasional 'GRAD 85' paint for small-town high-school graduations. Cylindricals were a big canvas for those kids!
Thanks for your comment,
Eric
Those dozen, or so, red government hoppers would have been new when they rolled into Portage in 1985, Eric. Perhaps they had yet to even be uncoupled from each other after leaving the car builder’s plant.
It’s also interesting how that carload of poles is marshalled right behind the locomotive. That car doesn’t have bulkheads and there isn’t a buffer car between it and the locomotive. Car handling rules were different then, I guess.
Hi Brian,
Indeed. Those 'Coke can' cars were very photogenic to me at the time. There are some knowledgeable Manitoba modellers who have mentioned where those poles were from/to.
Thanks for your comment, and stay tuned for part two.
Eric
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