Sam and I headed out once again this morning into a beautiful sunny day. The hunt for grain elevators continued. As I always do on these trips I keep the scanner on just in case. Today as we were following an abandoned Canadian National branch I heard a Canadian Pacific grain tramp obtain a clearance onto the Arcola Subdivision. Whoa, this is a rare occassion. I made the decision to forego the grain elevators and find the grain tramp. On the way to Schwitzer, the beginning of the Arcola Subdivision, I discovered a former CSX GP15 at a grain elevator.
Very soon after joining the Arcola Subdvision I found the grain tramp.
Considering the rarity of the train and the 30 mph speed limit we gave chase. Next stop was just six miles farther west.
And then we arrived at the destination for the grain cars, Redvers, Saskatchewan. This is also now the end of steel. The track has all been removed beyond Redvers.
We watched the crew spotting the cars in two tracks at the elevators and then they headed back to Brandon, Manitoba with light power.
That was great. I've wanted to chase a grain tramp on a branch line for a long time. Today I got lucky. After fueling up both the car and our stomachs we continued hunting for grain elevators. No more trains were to be found this day but I did find a Canadian Pacific caboose parked near an old water tower and the grain elevator in Glenboro, Manitoba.
This morning in Regina Sam and I looked out the window and witnessed bright blue skies and perfect weather. We gathered ourselves, had a bite to eat, and trekked onward. Our original plan was to visit Moose Jaw before turning southward. However, we discovered in the news that Canadian Pacific derailed a dangerous car in their yard and had evacuated the area. Scratch that idea. Because of the situation there were a number of northbound trains parked along the Weyburn Subdivision. However, none were worth photographing because the sun was directly behind them. Oh well. The first photograph worthy scene was found in Estevan.
At this point our trip began to head back east again and ran into a Canadian Pacific westbound along Highway 18 in Bienfait.
And that was the last train we saw for the day. That evening once again found us staying in Regina.
We awoke in Yorkton, Saskatchewan to an overcast morning but that wasn't going to stop us. Ever onward we continued to follow the rail lines in search of grain elevators. While exploring the stunning beauty of the Qu'Appelle Valley I heard a Canadian National train on the scanner. Amazingly we managed to time it just right to find train 423 north on the Qu'Appelle Subdivision.
We continued the tour westward along the Canadian Pacific Bulyea Subdivision and then north along the Lanigan Subdivision when we met a southbound grain train.
As we weaved around Saskatchewan following the rail lines we found ourselves in Regina for the evening. After a great day Sam and I rested to see what the following day would bring.
This morning Sam and I awoke to bright blue skies and the prospect of photographing some more grain elevators. The first railway photo I took was of a Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo gondola parked in Neepawa, Manitoba. It seemed out of place so I took a shot.
Still on the hunt for elevators we found ourselves in Minnedosa, Manitoba. There are no elevators left but they do have a Canadian Pacific FP7 and caboose parked at the heritage park.
Following the Canadian Pacific Bredenbury Subdivision we discovered a westbound freight.
Since we were heading the same direction we gave chase and photographed the train again at the Newdale elevator.
Continuing westward we heard another westbound on the scanner which we caught up to and photographed at the border between Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Once again we were headed in the same direction so we drove ahead and photographed the train at the Langenburg, Saskatchewan grain elevator.
Our destination for the night was Yorkton, Saskatchewan. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Canadian National coming into town shortly after we arrived.
And with that our day was done. We found a place to stay, ate, and rested.
A few hours and a couple subdivisions later we were photographing the elevators at Lake Lenore on Canadian National's Saint Brieux Subdivision when we heard a northbound on the way. A grain tramp was stopping to drop cars at the Pioneer elevator.
After running the Saint Brieux Subdivision we concluded our elevator hunt. We had some time to kill before meeting Matt for dinner in Saskatoon so I decided to see if we could find some trains. While driving south toward the mainlines the Canadian Pacific dispatcher mentioned that several trains were converging on Lanigan. Well, I was sold.
I was happy to see train 670 since it is an interesting unit train. It was getting on so we drove back to Saskatoon where we got a room at the Best Western and met Matt for dinner. It was a great trip and I was sad it was over.
Grain train 853 left Canora while I was photographing the parked power so we decided to give chase.
The sun was getting low and it was getting late so we called it quits. We decided to stay the night in Wadena.
We continued our quest for elevators that eventually led us to Arborfield on Thunder Rail.
We continued our eastward trek toward Hudson Bay where we found a Canadian National southbound switching. We also heard talk of a northbound grain train on the way.
Further travels took us to Preeceville but no more trains were to be found.
We decided to stay the night in Tisdale so we chased the train back.
The light was waning so we checked into a motel for the evening.
A crew had just arrived to take the train north to Meadow Lake. I drove ahead to photograph it again on the Big River Subdivision.
The rest of the day was spent driving across the prairies photographing elevators and stations.
That was the only train we saw.
This was the last day of the elevator portion of my trip. I was headed back to Calgary although my trip was not over since I'd be taking a two day trip to Revelstoke and back. However, for this day I managed to find one train. I followed the CN Rosetown and Oyen Subdivisions back to Calgary. I spent the better part of a day following this line and only heard from one train all day. I managed to photograph it in Kindersley.
This was an interesting train so I chased it west and photographed it again.
After searching for more elevators I heard some trains on the nearby CP Wynyard Subdivision. I headed down to try to catch a GP38-2 which I ultimately missed. Actually, had I stayed in Wadena I would have seen it. Little did I know that it was actually going to work the branch line. Doh! While on the CP Wynyard Subdivision I heard that a second local was working on the same branch. Double doh!!! Oh well, I did find out that there was a westbound on the Wynyard subdivision so I went to find it and chase it.
After that excitement I continued looking for elevators all the way back to Saskatoon.
Later in the day I wound up in Unity which is on CN's mainline. I saw two trains there.
At that point it was getting very dark so I headed to the hotel in Saskatoon.
