Winnipeg to Vancouver on VIA's Canadian, Oct. 1980

Before departing Winnipeg after arriving from Toronto, a quick tour of East Yard revealed rusting CN dome Fraser in need of repair, and VIA sleeper Greenwood with wreck damage:

Wascana, an ex-CP diner was added to our train. Once again aboard VIA No 1, departing Winnipeg at 1330 October 26, we met a four-unit CP Rail freight at Brandon with 30 stock cars, open auto racks of Datsuns and TOFC. The next morning, during the 0830-1200 Calgary station stop, a power swap was made. Old power at left, with CP 1413, CP 1964, and VIA 1418 at right:

Drew Makepeace photo showing the new locomotive consist:

VIA 1418 promptly died and was replaced after a 30-minute delay with a CP Geep, making it a completely CP power consist. Two CP freights eased by: 5601 - 5585 - 8613 - 5649 - 5778 with an eastbound at 0930, and 8424 - 8821 with a 61-car westbound at 0945:

West of Calgary, a smudge of exhaust shows that our power consist is working hard as it pulls us into the foothills of the Rockies. We met an eastbound freight with 5673 - 5791 - 5720 - 5566.

At Banff station, sleeping car passengers prepare to board:

At 1645, we passed a manned pusher station, with three units on the siding and five on the wye. Passing over the bottom portal of the lower Spiral Tunnel, our train will soon follow the track below westward at Cathedral, 45 feet below:

Very soon afterwards, leaning out the open Dutch door, two VIA stainless steel cars are entering the top portal of the lower Spiral Tunnel:

As light fades and mist descends on the mountain valley, our train exits a tunnel bearing the date 1908, as we approach Field, British Columbia, arriving in Vancouver the next morning.

CP Rail Consist at Chapleau, October 1980

Here is the consist of the CP Rail freight that pulled by us at Chapleau in the previous post. Unless otherwise noted, most cars are CP boxcars of various types, other car types are shown as originally noted:

5748
5547
5656
4233
CP 166076
CPAA 207321
CP 166191
CP 313517 flat
CP 204201
CP 58461
CP 352212 (a string of brand-new bathtub gons)
CP 352213
CP 352214
CP 352211
CP 352208
CP 352228
CP 352232
CP 352233
CP 352234
CP 352229
CP 352230
CP 352231
CP 56151 boxcar
CP 51652
CP 51150
CP 54684
CP 57472
CP 165082
CP 330709 gondola
CP 330701 gondola
CP 344701
CP 344736
CP 315234 flatcar
CP 315106
CP 315038
CP 315281
CP 336701
BCOL 5554 boxcar
CP 345369 gondola
CP 54335
CP 201111
UNPX 122331 covered hopper
UTLX 41326
CGTX 20523
CGTX 20618
CP 200025
CP 166156
CN 568474 boxcar
CP 52448
CP 202267
CP 166508
CP 143050
CP 205084
CP 205200
ACFX 90887
CP 56835
CP 167004
CP 165018
CP 55795
CP 57812
UTLX 99315 tankcar
CP 166142
CP 71027
CP 165066
CP 70134
CGTX 29213 tankcar
CGTX 20118 tankcar
CP 344285 gondola
CP 286086
CP 251060
CP 291582
CP 298081
CP 261288
CP 268820
CP 205083
CP 118179
CP 23801
CP 115333
CP 260922
CP 57457
CP 205385
CP 301943 (a string of 14 bulkhead flatcars)
BCR 866020
CP 317182
CP 317452
CP 317502
BCR 866022
BCR 866064
BCR 866017
CP 317030
CP 317197
CP 317111
CP 317425
CP 317461
CP 317440
CP 341271 gondola
CP 337262
CP 336760
CP 316421 bulkhead flatcar
THB 2691 gondola
CP 330717
CP 81162 newsprint boxcar
CP 380885 covered hopper
CP 383952 covered hopper
CP 291601
CP 434314 van

Toronto to Winnipeg on VIA's Canadian, Oct. 1980

Riding VIA Train No 5, in roomette 9 of ex-CP Chateau Rouville, we departed Toronto Union on the evening of October 24. We joined VIA Train No 1 out of Montreal and adopted that train number at Sudbury. (Due to the change from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time, VIA No 1 would operate west of Thunder Bay as Passenger Extra 1432 West. Train orders received in Thunder Bay showed regular CP trains 401, 956, 405 and VIA Nos 1 and 2 annulled due to the time change.)

We departed Sudbury at an eye-rubbing 0710 October 25. While the Montreal section was being combined with ours, coach 5506 and Dayniter 5721 were on the next track. At 1140, beneath an overcast sky near Woman River, VIA 1432, CP 8515, an ex-CN baggage car and coach, ex-CP coach, CP Skyline and Dayniter 5731 were visible ahead:

Looking toward the tail-end, VIA Aylmer Manor (added at Sudbury), Chateau Rouville, Belle River, diner 1370, Erwood, (CN Exeter was removed at Sudbury) Chateau Jolliet and CP Assiniboine Park (both added at Sudbury) round out the train:

Arriving in Chapleau, the CP Rail auxiliary train is a few tracks over, in the yard. Three cars in the centre of this photo are: 411692, 412517, and 411281:

A four-unit CP Rail freight followed us into Chapleau from Sudbury, engines 5748 - 5547 - 5656 - 4233. (Watch for the consist of this train in a future post.) CP 8735 was working the Speno rail grinding train near Wayland. At Dalton, we took the siding for a four-unit eastbound hotshot, engines 4735 - 4743 - 4730 - 5561, with many auto racks filled with new Datsuns. Algoma Central Geeps 167 and 101 were working at Franz:

On October 26, we hit flat prairie at 0820, and entered Winnipeg at 0915:

During the 0945-1330 station stop, three CN freights passed, including this westbound with 5272 - 5079 - 5157 - 5173 at 1240:

Fellow traveller Drew Makepeace took a photo of the train from a slightly different viewpoint:

At the west end of the Winnipeg trainshed, newly-painted ex-CN 6505 is ready to pull the Super Continental to Edmonton. 1432 and 8515 are taken off for servicing.

Fellow traveler Drew Makepeace took a photo of the two trains showing the second unit, CP 8515:

There's more in the second part of the trip, from Winnipeg-Vancouver here.

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. 

2026 update: on my brother Dave's Rolly Martin Country blog.

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

Postscript: Kingston Derailment August 1986

Here's a different perspective on the August 26, 1986 derailment, as written in the BRS Branchline, January 1987 edition, by Rolland O. Lafleur. The article tells the story of the author departing Ottawa on August 25 for Toronto aboard VIA No 49/59, then passing the scene of the derailment in my Retro Railfan Account. Here's the excerpt:

"After a little detention, the train proceeded to inch westward. As I peered out curiously, I noticed how much brighter it got outisde, as if we were approaching a wayside shopping plaza. In reality, powerful floodlights from an auxiliary provided a whiteway for a wrecking crew at work. Luckliy, my accommodation on the fireman/helper's side gave me a vantage point in full view of a derailment.

Cars were strewn along the right-of-way. At one point, we came alongisde an enclosed automobile carrier, lying on its side, with one end down the embankment and the other - jagged and minus its truck - pointing upward obliquely, and closing in on our passage to something short of a two-foot clearance. The sight was awesome. A little further along stood the auxiliary train, in the clear. Our train moved at medium speed, making a station stop shortly afterward. The sign board read Kingston."

Thunder Bay and Sudbury, Ontario September-October 1985

I departed Regina on September 29, 1985 on VIA No 2 heading east, and arrived in Thunder Bay for a stop-over. There was a derailment of 35 cars of a CP freight west of Thunder Bay, so the following day's No 2 passengers were bussed to Thunder Bay, and VIA No 1's consist was turned to head east October 1 as No 2. We boarded about 2200 hours once the bussed passengers arrived, but earlier in the day, the consist was parked at the CP station: 6312 - 6618 - 6787 - 9656 - 100 - 3207 - 503 - 5716 - Thompson Manor - Christie Manor - Burton Manor - Emerald - Englee - Evelyn - Tweedsmuir Park.

Yes, that third unit is an MLW. They did occasionally operate west of Toronto. Switching the grain terminals were CP 8122, 1694, 1212, 1573, and 8110.

Upon arrival in Sudbury the next morning, I had time to walk over to CP Rail's shop. There I found an interesting collection of motive power, cars for repair and snow removal equipment.
Front and rear views of single-track plow 401005:

A subsequent post shows more of the plows and cars that I encountered that day.

Double-track plow 400823 was coupled to two wood-chip service boxcars, with 31550 closest and three ore cars, including 376217 in the Canadian Pacific script scheme. Plows 401018 and 400777 were lettered CP Rail and spreader 402851 was also present.

Power on hand included switchers 7099, 6595 and 6588, plus 7090, 6594, Centuries 4704 and 4709, and C-424's 4214 and 4218, coupled to Conrail lease unit 7765. CP Rail was leasing 25 Conrail units and some Chessie System units in late 1985. The 6500's were being retired, so it's likely that some of these old switchers were very close to the end of their careers.

Kingston, Ontario August-September 1986

                

 Local newspaper Kingston This Week covered the derailment in its August 27 edition:

August 26, 1986:

Westbound CN freight No 399 derailed at least eight cars just east of Montreal Street, around Mi. 172 Kingston Sub. Four auto racks (two open, two enclosed), four covered hoppers, and a CN boxcar left the north track, and ended up straddling the Hanley Spur and swamp alongside the Cataraqui River. Power on the train was all MLW: 2555, 2027 and 2322. To facilitate cleanup, the headend of 399 backed into the trackage on the former mainline alignment into the outer station on Montreal Street. (see Top Photo)

An eastbound intermodal was held on Queens track 4, also all MLW-powered: 2000, 2319 and 2569. Late in the afternoon, the Toronto Auxiliary arrived. (see Middle Photo)

The consist was:

5312 - 5194 - 661622 flatcar with panel track - 59110 tie gondola - 57945 flat car with rail - 163747 gondola with ties - 57551 flat car - 50397 auxiliary crane - 59012 crane idler car - 60337 tool/cable baggage car - 57948 hazardous materials equipment boxcar - 43621 generator boxcar - 72909, 59345, 59215 crew accommodation coaches - 78338 end-cupola caboose.

Check out this post on the derailment on my brother's Rolly Martin Country site.

Throughout August and September, VIA corridor consists were varied, including GM and MLW cab units, LRC locomotives and coaches. Here are some sample consists:

August 29:

1932 W

6918 - 5536 - 3242 - 5589 - 612

1943 E

6765 - 9642 - 3248 - 5503 - 5443 - 5513

2044 E

6920 - 3473 - 3341 - 3318 - 3360 - 3475 - 3305 - 3304 - 3302 - 3310 - 3468 - 6916

September 1:

1933 E

6784 - 9613 - ex-CP coach - 2 VIA coaches

1935 W

6918 - Prince Albert Park (deadheading backwards) - 5558 - 5443 - 5503 - 3248 - 9642

September 3:

1944 W

6530 (newly-painted) - 3252 - 5562 - 610

Some typical CN freights from August 29, 1986:

1923 E No 208

2113 - 2310 - 2339 - intermodal - caboose 79870

2037 E No 202

9408 - 9448 - 9425 - 132 cars including CN 672002 depressed-centre flat car - 79525

2106 W No 305

9410 - 2334 - general freight and intermodal - 79700

September 13:

1910 E

4014 (chop-nosed GR-418b) - 3702 - 3128 - 2558 - 3720 - general freight

And locals switching the DuPont nylon plant on Front Road:

August 26

1355 - 79603

September 2

3720

September 29

3731