At CP's Smiths Falls station, two RS18u's have brought a 60-car military extra in for a crew change. On the head-end, 1837-1820 have paused west of the station on July 17, 1993.
These photos, by L.C. Gagnon, show a complete train of Canadian Forces engineer vehicles as well as force protection vehicles. Taken every 3 or 4 cars, the photos show vehicles painted mostly in the overall white of a UN peacekeeping mission. Bulldozers (top) followed by a Steyr Heavy Logistics Vehicle Wheeled (HLVW) with trailer (above) then heavy-lift cranes:
The train comprises 60-foot OTTX Trailer-Train flats, these with road graders showing rusted blades:
These vehicles are from 2 Combat Engineer Regiment stationed at CFB Petawawa, likely deployed to Somalia as part of UNITAF and UNOSOM, trans-loaded from ship to CP at the Port of Montreal.
Another HLVW, one of the heavier wheeled vehicles that the Canadian Forces moved by rail
Dude, where's 6453? The last yellow-nosed VIA F40PH-2 is being tracked daily by VIAphiles as it awaits its trip in to the shop for rebuilding. It's not so easy being green - 6400, the prototype rebuilt unit was later wrecked at St Charles de Bellechasse, Quebec in February, 2010.
Where's Skrillex? The Grammy-award winning DJ announced he would be touring Canada on a private passenger train in July. One problem - the tour's proposed schedule makes intercity travel by train impossible or should I say, impossishizzle.
Union Station floods due to backed-up sewers caused by heavy rainfall today in Toronto. Commuter chaos as TTC tries to replace subway service with shuttle buses. This would have never happened in Winnipeg because they don't have a subway...yet.
9 comments:
It's odd to see seemingly ordinary tanker trailers loaded without piggyback hitches. This has to be the most "street-legal" looking military convoy I've seen. Did this train have any sort of caboose or rider car on the end of it?
Good to see those red CP trailers, too. I've been particularly interested in them lately.
Nice shots! That large MLVW is a field kitchen....
Hi Elijah and phoenix'd,
Thanks for your comments - added the field kitchen detail to the post...thanks!
My dad didn't make it to the end of the long parked train, so I'm not sure if there was a van. It's entirely possible - I would think there would be some riders escorting the movement. Some of those military vehicles are decidedly as road-worthy as the CP Rail trailers. The tank trailers look to be chained down without actual trailer hitches.
The classic Bombardier-built MLVW was based on the earlier US M35 design. An interesting page here:
http://militarytrucks.ca/mlvw.htm
Eric
The p la p overview with the cp vans-l980s was a real way-back image. Today one never see the CP section car sheds as these were gone by the early l990s. I also have views from the Tupper st overpass. The photos of the mil. movements were of interest. Cp often sent extras to Camp Suffield-Cdn army and British army on joint exercises, and West Germany to camp Shilo in Manitoba, as I have photos of both of these trains in action. The British army often sent observers with the mil extra in cp vans, and did I ever get the evil eye from the mp. As always, most exciting to comm with Eric via cyber-land from Winnipeg, from your favorite photo pal, found several images of Bergen and Portage of the mid l980s,...Eric how about views of MLWs-Via 6700s at Port jct or Union station in my home town? schuff.
Brian, Trackside Treasure is all about 'real way-back' images! Or, as I sometimes refer to it, retro railfanning. Tupper Street overpass in Portage was definitely the place to be. Once I railfanned Portage by car, I spent less time up there, but it was a good place to avoid being blocked during multiple movements on both railways simultaneously.
Your suggestion about 6700's in Winnipeg and subsequent photographic proof will stun those who adhere to the no-MLW's-west rule. I'll be sure to include some in my next VIA book (multi-tasking on right now!), as the photographic proof-of-the-pudding.
Thanks for your successfully-transmitted cyber-comments!
Eric
How does the Military handle those Manouvers now that there is no rail service into Petawawa? Do they load the stuff on the Quebec side and send it through Toronto and out west?
I remember seing this about 2 times a year when the C.P. use to ship the equipment out to Wainwright, Alberta an then back again on the same routing through Northern Ontario back to Petawawa back in the bdays when I was working at Franz. Reg. Fitzpatrick- Bracebridge, Ontario.
That's a good question Reg, and I think the last military extra has arrived at CFB Petawawa. Maintaining railheads at some bases does not seem to have been a priority, such as CFB Borden, CFB Gagetown, and here at CFB Kingston. Across the border, the US Army's Fort Drum near Watertown NY has a good rail link.
I doubt that the CF can do much to keep rail lines open, once proposed for abandonment by the railways, so more searching will have to be done to see how these moves will be handled by CFB Petawawa. In the meantime, here's an interesting video showing the loading of 3RCR in 2009, apparently 10 years after the previous move out of Pet.
http://www.army.dnd.ca/land-terre/news-nouvelles/story-reportage-eng.asp?id=3969
Thanks for your question and your information,
Eric
It is odd that there is protection on any of the vehicle windows. Any rail movements that we (U.S. Army)do require protectingthe glass from breakage while in transit. Either from vandalism or damage while in movement. It is part of our responsibility before turning the vehicle over to the RR at the rail head. JK, SGM/USA
Guess not, JK. I guess there were not many rock-throwers trackside in eastern Canada in 1992? There was a lot of vandalism to CF vehicles and bases in Somalia, though. Protecting the glass from vandalism or damage while transporting does seem like good procedure.
Thanks for your comment,
Eric
Post a Comment