Manitoba's grain elevators glide by VIA's Canadian, 1980

Comfortably seated in the Skyline dome, enjoying a Toronto-Vancouver trip aboard VIA's Canadian in 1980, it was easy to see wooden grain elevators appear on the distant horizon, glide by, and recede into the distance.

While researching future posts about this trip, I found a list I'd made of these elevators. Including a Winnipeg stopover, the following represents a ten-hour journey across southern Manitoba on CP's Keewatin Sub, CN Rivers Sub from Winnipeg to Portage la Prairie, then CP's Carberry and Broadview Subs until darkess descended, before the Saskatchewan border.

At the time, Manitoba's main grain elevator companies were Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE), United Grain Growers (UGG), Cargill and Paterson. Some towns also had the smaller, turquoise elevators of Cominco Fertilizers (Elephant).

..... Whitemouth UGG
0900 Hazelridge MPE Pool 224
..... Oakbank MPE
1352 Mile 10.6 MPE
1410 Dacotah Paterson
1418 Elie MPE, UGG, Elephant
1423 Benard MPE
1433 Oakville MPE, UGG
1500 Portage la Prairie 2 MPE, 2 UGG, Elephant
1553 MacGregor MPE, Elephant
1559 Austin MPE
1620 Carberry UGG
1635 Douglas MPE
1710 Brandon 2 Cargill, 3 MPE, UGG
1731 Alexander MPE, Paterson
1741 Griswold 2 UGG
1750 Oak Lake MPE Pool 134
1820 Virden MPE Pool 129, UGG

Loaded grain trucks at Elie's elevators in 1984:

VIA's 12-car Canadian zings through MacGregor at 50 mph in 1984, behind 6504 - 6603.

Change on the horizon...an entire train of empty cylindrical covered hoppers heads west on CP Rail towards Brandon in 1986. In the distance is Burnside MPE, one of the last wooden grain elevators built. The high-throughput continuous-pour concrete elevators would soon make most of the wooden type listed above obsolete, thus numbering their days.

CN Train No 805 on the Rivers Sub, June 1978

Forty-foot grain boxcars were used to ship western Canada's grain, even after the advent of 100-ton cylindrical covered hopper cars.

The train journal of CN No 805 from Winnipeg to Rivers, Manitoba listed 65 empty CN boxcars to be placed at grain elevators along the Rivers Sub on June 21, 1978. Engines 9581 and 9472 left Winnipeg at 1100, and here's the information on 47 of those cars, and some views along the line taken in 1984. It's likely the first 18 cars were set out at MIle 10.6, Dacotah, or Elie.

At 1245, CN 420738 - 422884 - 420061 - 420288 - 485870 - 482424 were set out on track RV23, the siding at Benard.

At 1310, CN 425204 - 475868 - 423838 - 475418 - 478348 - 485450 were setout on track RV35, the United Grain Growers elevator at Oakville, and CN 474613 - 421763 - 480679 - 422310 - 423228 - 423346 were left on track RV29, the Manitoba Pool elevator.

No 805 set out cars at both of Portage la Prairie's four in-town elevators that CN served, between 1340 and 1400. Track RG54 United Grain Growers: CN 422874 - 483554 - 478515 - 425314 - 425104 - 425184 - 471867 - 420765, and track RG37 Manitoba Pool B: CN 422773 - 425757 - 420829.

The Portage Pool and UGG elevators are shown with trains passing on both the CP Rail (left) and CN (right) mainlines:

The westbound VIA Canadian passes the two elevators and grass-covered team track with work cars on it:

The remainder of the train went through to Rivers: CN 424079 - 424804 - 521093 - 482952 - 484168 - 420346 - 424764 - 420409 - 481128 - 424539 - 482798 - 422818 - 425941 - 422503 - 424719 - 425664 - 474123 - 423442 - caboose 79734.

UCRS Toronto to Gravenhurst behind 6060 September 29, 1979

CN's restored 4-8-2 6060 was a fantrip favourite. Occasionally, I saw it run light over the Kingston Sub between Montreal and Toronto, to be in position to pull a fantrip. Hearing a steam whistle and seeing a fast-moving light engine were unforgettable. One such fantrip operated by the Upper Canada Railway Society departed Toronto Union Station at 0800 under cloudy skies. The ten-car consist was: 6060 - 5734 - 5714 - 5573 - 5626 - 5487 - 5599 - 3 more VIA coaches - UCRS Cape Race.

Around Union Station, at departure time:
GO engines 710, 704, 705
GO train 706 - 2077 - 2023 - 2029 - 2010 - 2012 - 2062 - 2028 - 907
CN 5456, 5620, 5449, Club St-Denis, 9622, 9662, 5207, 5222, 5195, 5203
CN engines 4017, 4016, 4101, 4104, 8228, 8522, 8234, 8184, 8175, 8214
CN cabooses 79512, 76549
CN RDC 6101
VIA 5386, 5495, 3032, 5738, Thunder Bay, Edmunston, 5648, 5640, Green Harbour
VIA engines 6780, 6785
CN Tempo coaches 363, 361, 343
CN Tempo engines 3150, 3153
CP 8142 with end-cupola vans 437237 and 437139

A water stop was made at Bradford. Here is the rear of the UCRS' car 13, Cape Race, complete with marker lamps.

A runpast followed at Barrie, and another water stop at Orillia. Around noon, a runpast was made at Mi. 87.3 Newmarket Sub. Upon arrival at Gravenhurst, more water was taken on, and 6060 ran around the train. The consist was pulled in reverse through some vibrant fall colours to Washago. Looking through the solarium end-door of Cape Race, 6060's unlit headlight was right there!

Upon arrival at Washago, a runpast was staged with 6060 running tender-first.

Three CN freights ran through before the train returned to Gravenhurst:

1427 W

9576 - 3212 - 9442 - CN and CP gondolas, CN stock cars and reefers - 79641

1450 W No 375

9642 - 9639 - 4523 - 79806

1455 E No 304 (pictured)

9509 - 9564 - 9643 - Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and ACFX covered hoppers, Canfor all-door boxcar 20042 - 79649

We went to supper at Gravenhurst's KFC and returned around 1700 to find the train ready to return to Toronto. The return trip included a runpast at Mi. 95 and a water stop at Orillia. At Barrie, CN had snow-fighting equipment in the yard: plows 55206, 55368, 55406; flangers 56273, 56316, 56392, and 56444.

Back in Toronto, near Union Station:

VIA Enterprise, Alexandria Falls

CP engines 6523, 8777

CN engines 8512, 8513, 8517, 7026