Vestibule View of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1986

Aboard VIA train No. 4 east from Vancouver following SteamExpo86, we're arriving in the west end of Edmonton on May 30. Riding in coach, passing the Alberta Terminals Limited's 134-silo elevator at 127th Ave. at 130th St NW. Built in 1924 for government use, to the provincial government in 1978 then then sold to Cargill in 1991, it still stands. You won't find all those cylindricals there today, and even if you did find a gaggle of them, it would be a graffiti'd gaggle.

Speaking of Expo, right outside my window I was lucky to catch EXPO86-painted CN 5334, along with 5122 and 5438 at the Calder (since renamed Walker) Yard locomotive shop (above). Also on the ready tracks were CN switcher 7949 and 9101, one of CN's blind mice:

Heading east, we meet this westbound freight 5096-9598-4216 at the west end of Clover Bar Yard. Ahead in our train is VIA 6512-6621-9668-5483-5748-3224 and I'm in the vestibule of Skyline 502. To the rear are Chateau Papineau-Endeavour-Escuminac. I remained in the vestibule from Edmonton to Holden and Bruce. Interestingly, the year before, I'd been in the dome photographing elevators from Holden east to Landis, SK. This following year, I resumed photography at Biggar, so both posts cover almost the whole trip from Edmonton to Saskatoon. Covering the route again last June, I did some grain elevator photography from the dome, but it just wasn't the same. Watch for an upcoming post.

The air conditioning in my coach didn't work between Vancouver and Kamloops the day before, though I did have two seats to myself to stretch out to sleep overnight! Meeting VIA No 3 at speed with 6519 in the lead with 7 cars at 1420, possibly Tofield:

Out on the Wainwright Sub, at Mi. 226.2 we're passing through Tofield:

Tofield had three Alberta Wheat Pool elevators (above and below):

Shonts' privately-owned  Killean Farms brown-painted elevator (above and below):

Another westbound freight near Ryley with 9453 and two more locomotives. My note-taking was taking a real hit on this trip! A probable reason is suggested at the end of this post.

Tail end passing Ryley 214.7, also three AWP elevators, though the passing train must have made their photography quite difficult:

National elevator, privately-owned. Location not noted, but I believe it's at Poe, AB:

Holden, at Mi 205.9 had an AWP fertilizer elevator, as well as United Grain Growers, Cargill and two AWP. On paralleling Highway 14, we met a Versatile 895 tractor. 

Holden elevator row up close:

At Mi. 196.7, we reached Bruce. AWP #1:

Very shortly thereafter, Bruce AWP #2:

No more photos until BIGgar, SK. The dome had been busy departing Edmonton, but after Bruce I found room and even napped a little. Coach A/C was acting up again, so it was back in the vestibule at Mi 0.0 Wainwright Sub, Mi 247.3 Watrous Sub, we're meeting westbound with three units, newish CN 5416 in the lead:

Biggar Pioneer and UGG elevators. The Pioneer elevator burned June 7, 1988 after a lightning strike, with the fire endangering the town. A $3 million dollar value of grain and elevator. Twenty years old, the elevator was upgraded 1986-87, in fact fresh excavation can be seen in my photo:

A news clipping of the aftermath:

Biggar Cargill and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in the gathering dusk:

SWP sunset: two photos at Leney, Mi 227.6 Watrous Sub (above and below):

Kinley B at Mi 222.1. Near here, a fast moving deer bolted out of the tall grass!

We were running 90 minutes late. That lateness, combined with the time of year and the nicer evening weather, allowed some more easterly elevator photography than the year before. Asquith A at Mi 212.5:

Then it was back to my seat to get ready to disembark at Saskatoon for the night, before heading out for elevator exploration the next morning. Apparently a long ride in from the non-central station, sharing a taxi with a 'weird couple' to the Parktown Motor Hotel with a pleasant view of the South Saskatchewan River. Located on Spadina Crescent, just a few blocks from the Bessborough Hotel, if I'd visited the lobby, I might have found some Spadina Shops! I was running short of film and money. This, in the era before widespread digital photography and credit or debit card use.

Running extra...

Thanks to the anonymous poster providing plethoric postcards of Montreal and Delson. No return address, so if it's you, many thanks!

Reading over this post, I was reminded that blogging is often equated with writing, "Oh, you're a blogger, you must be a writer!" Perhaps I'm more of a captioner. Imagine a blog post without the photos. Most of my posts would not be very interesting to read on their own. They ain't no essays, and essay is actually French for 'trying'!  However, a blog post without photos would be BORING and I'm much more of a visual guy, so photo-based it will remain. Very rarely do I have trouble finding photos for a post, as most posts stem from a set of photos. 

Watch for an upcoming post celebrating Trackside Treasure's Twelfth Anniversary. It will follow a Shakespearean theme, based on his Twelfth Night. "Journeys end in lovers meeting; Every wise man's son doth know". This is also the reason for my poor note-taking on this trip. Return home ended in me proposing marriage. Destination anticipation preoccupation! (I have unclasp'd to thee the book even of my secret soul.)

Dome View of Alberta and Saskatchewan, 1985

Arriving into Edmonton on September 26, 1985 one hour late from Prince Rupert, I left on VIA No 4 at 1423. The coach was packed - perhaps two were needed. My seatmate was a Dutch traveller who rarely took her gaze from the window as she surveyed our wide-open country and followed along carefully on her map. Holden (top photo), Mi 205.9 CN Wainwright Sub was named for a member of the Alberta Legislature, and we passed through Bruce, named for a manager of the Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) Telegraph Co. at 1529 at Mi. 196.7:

Viking, at Mi 184.5 at 1535, named for the area's Scandinavian settlers, had a significant elevator row, though each had only a three- or four-car spot. Inadequate by today's loop track High-Through-Put (HTP) elevator standards! 

A second track has been added for the large concrete elevator, pioneered by Cargill at the genesis of the HTP era. 

Irma was named in honour of a daughter of W. Wainwright, GTP manager.

CN boarding cars are in the west end of the elevator track. We're at Mi 157.7:

The scenic highlight of this part of the country was the Fabyan bridge. Interestingly, Fabyan is named after a place in New Hampshire! Crops are being harvested as we look down at Mi 149.4 at 1608:

An especially clean shot of the Fabyan Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP) elevator at Mi. 146.6.

Meeting a westbound three unit freight at Wainwright, a vice-president of the GTP. It's 1620 and we're at Mi 140.1. Wainwright has an AWP and two United Grain Growers (UGG) elevators:

The cloudiness continues, as we pass through Edgerton at 1655, Mi 121.2 where there are two AWP elevators, one UGG and one Pioneer. It's 1655 - suppertime? My Dutch seatmate secured a berth for the night. If sleeper space was available, the sleeping car conductor would make his way through the coach, charging the additional fare to coach passengers so they could stretch out for the night. In my case, this resulted in two coach seats for me to stretch out on for the night!

I had to clear some standing covered hoppers on the adjoining track to get a shot of elevator row from the east end.

Ribstone at 1703. Look at that classic old Federal elevator, operated at this time by AWP:

Chauvin at Mi 106.9 is named for GTP director George von Chauvin, just two minutes east of Ribstone.

Nearing the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, AWP's Butze elevator is barely holding on:

While on the other side of the border, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool (SWP) elevator at Artland, Mi 96.5, is no longer operating. Reflections on tray-tables!

Unity's SWP and Cargill elevators each had 11-car spots. Interestingly, Unity was the name of the Wisconsin home of some of the first settlers. It's 1755. This Federal-lettered elevator is operated by Cargill:

SWP's two elevators at Mi 57.9 bracket the SWP's seed plant.

Check out those 20-foot ISO containers in use by section forces (above) and Cargill's newly-enlarged, open-top elevators with a classic annex:

Lots to photograph here, including a westbound freight:

Raining at Scott, Mi 42.7 at 1810. Frank Scott was a GTP treasurer back east in Montreal. Remember next time you're baking a cake to Use Pool Co-Op Flour!

Six short minutes later, we're passing Reford's recently-enlarged SWP elevator, with its 10-hopper car spot. This photo proves that Alberta cars did NOT have to be loaded in Alberta!

SWP's Landis 'A' elevator had a fifteen-hopper car spot. Remember that flour!

The other end of Landis at Mi 22.6, showing UGG's impressive plant and SWP's two:

From here it was on into Winnipeg for a 13-hour layover, then west to the Regina area for more grain elevator photography. An uneventful overnight coach ride to Regina, except for a guy telling a young woman all his hard-luck romance stories, and keeping the seat light on!

Running extra...

Watch for an upcoming post on the 2020 Front Porch Layout! S is for...Switching, S-3 and Squirrels. While working on the layout, I have continued to try to match wits with squirrels and their feeling of entitlement to our birdfeeder's bird seed. You know, seed for birds? Anyway, I don't mind adding to the  squirrels' caloric intake, but if I wanted to feed squirrels, I would just throw seed on the ground for them! So if you're reading this, squirrels, I will win. You see'd it here first.

I'm no neurologist. I'm no numerologist. But I dabble in both, and at the 1:14 minute mark of this video, you'll see uberVIAphile and soon-to-be-dad Mark Sampson say the car number "114". (If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there are three kinds of people in this world...those who can count and those who, um, can't.)

Our region of Ontario moved to Phase III of the COVID precautions. 

This is excellent news for our daughter and son-in-law's upcoming wedding. 

I hope things are as good or better where you are. 

By all pulling in the same direction, it's possible to hold this virus at bay.

-Eric

Vestibule View of Saskatchewan and Alberta, 1986 - Part 2

In Part 1, we went west from Piapot, SK to Bassano, AB. As our westward trip aboard VIA No 1 continues in May 1986, we're meeting an eastbound freight, displaying green signals with CP 5831-5731. We entered a siding west of Bassano at 1515. Both trains kept moving, and we reached the west switch as the freight had already cleared it with van CP 434626. Ten minutes later we met our eastbound counterpart, VIA No 2 with Eng 6304, two B-units and about 12 cars at speed:

Cluny, AB was named for a trading post owner in 1884. It is located at Mi 117.2  CP Brooks Sub:

 Check out those Service cars and the attendant gandy dancer vehicles parked nearby.

Gleichen has a train-order board and I was in contact with CP operator Tony Bonogofsky a year earlier. Tony kindly mailed me some train orders - watch for an upcoming post. Gleichen is named for a baron and CPR stockholder. Give us money and we'll name a town after you!

The rain was stopped and I was happy to be back in the vestibule. At 1545, Gleichen got the full Kodak treatment:

Approaching Carseland, there is still snow visible in ditches after a recent late spring snowstorm. This is where I dropped my lenscap down onto the right-of-way. Oh well, no sense pulling the air from the vestibule, I ended up purchasing a two-pack in Calgary!

Carseland, Mi 144.6:

Dalemead, Mi 152.5

Indus, with cars in the elevator track, Mi 158.5, is named for the river in India.

This photo left unlevelled, just to get third elevator in the frame:

Continue the vestibular vacation here as we enter Calgary!

Interestingly, in my Trains & Grains books, I did not include Alberta grain elevators. Watch for an upcoming post of CN's Wainwright Subdivision, including elevators on the northern CN route from the same year.

Running extra...

VIA has slowed down its sending of stainless steel cars down CN's Kingston Sub after Part 1 was published. Stay tuned, Budd! There will be more. But first, we're diverting to Alberta. Why? Because cold weather forced me in off the patio and it was time to heft the scanner up to the soft chairs to do some long-delayed scanning of some long-languishing prolific photo-prints.

This is not normally a political space. But it is a space to share optimism and to celebrate justice flowing like a river and righteousness as a mighty stream! Can't sit on my hands at this crossroads of history.

Blogger's new interface? I jumped before I was pushed. So far I haven't hit too many of the wrong buttons (hey, where did my draft post on the folly of using X2F couplers go to?) and perhaps it hints at the longevity of this social media platform. Blogger says it optimizes blogging on smartphones. What about on dumblaptops though - my preferred cyberspace Claymore, my nunchuk of nostalgia, my flyswatter of fotos.