Lyon Valley Northern: October 2013

Fall Railfan Afternoon Near Cornwall

In 2 Oct 2013 I was going to Cornwall to give a clinic to the Moccasin Model Railroad Cub and I decided o do some railfanning since it was a nice fall colour day. So just west of Cornwall at CN milepost 72.30 I set up to stick my line in the water and see what I old catch. A nice spot on a level crossing there was a place to park the car near the bird pond south of the tracks. It was not a busy afternoon but I did manage to see five trains. One as I was getting out of my car to head track side.....And one VIA heading east so it was trailing away from the camera. The others three were heading toward the sun so the photos were more typical.

The first were elephant style. VIA F-40PH-2 and P42-DC.

These second had VIA F-40PH-2. The sun was getting pow in the sky thus the bad reflection sorry.

The engineer of this mixed freight hit the throttle as it approached the crossing giving me a nice puff of smoke for the shot. The lead unit is a C40-8W numbered CN2172.

I used my sports setting on my Canon T3i for this sequence... to try it out. The sun had quite an effect compared to shots taken earlier in th day.

The sun was lower and warm colours prevailed. Nice in the autumn leaves. All in all not a bad afternoon for the fall. Short sleaves and all.

Friday Night Group Oct 2013

Here are the gang once again kabitzing as they operate the Lyon Valley Northern. The video's are broken down by crews. Enjoy

Railfanning West Day 2

On the way back from BC, I stopped trackside to photograph this spiker

Road construction had us wait for a period of time, so I climbed the ledge and looked into the valley and saw this eastbound lumber train.

It was moving slowly on the north main with lights off. It must be meeting a westbound.

You can see the damage the spruce bud worm is doing to the trees.

I could hear the westbound coming up the valley out of Jasper. This is a congested area and crew change point. So the trains really have to do the dance.

At this point the train had slowed to a crawl.

Closer examination shows a GE ES44DC in the lead.

The train reaches the signals. This is going to be an excellent meet with lots of railroad stuff in the shot.

Sure enough a SD70M-2 roars westward at the signals.

What a great meet. Fate of the road construction can really pay off in terms of railfanning opportunities.

Reaching Jasper VIA Canadian number 2 is sitting at the station. The "Old Man" is looking prominent in the overcast sky.

An east bound SD60F sits at the crew change point.

What an awesome day with great catches.

September: Railfanning West Day 1

As you know for me "every day is train day" And this was no exception. Travelling west for my Neice's wedding we were going through jasper.

Arriving in the morning in Jasper Alberta, the first train I saw was the Skeena waiting east of the station. The engineer was just getting ready to move the train forward to the platform for loading.

On track 2 a coal drag had just pulled in for the crew change which is located at the building west of the station.

As I walked up an east bound pulled into track three. what a great way to start the day.

Here you can see both sets of power with the "Old Man" clearly visible in the morning sun.

Behind the crew change point a spare F40PH and passenger car sit idle.

The coal drag pulls out westbound. Interesting to try and do back lit photos in the shade of the trees on a bright day. It was fun.

Here you can see the train departing through the only grade crossing in town. In the background is Whistler Mountain with the cable station on top.

Right behind this train a second coal drag but only one locomotive (SD70M-2) in the lead

Went to the other side of the facility to get a good sun angle.

we left town and at Moose lake we quickly pulled over to catch this grain empty heading east at speed.

Arriving at Blue River a Westbound Mixed Freight approached the east end and pulled into the siding to meet an east bound. Both trains stopped for a switch of crews for their return trip to Jasper and Kamloops..