BY GEORGE PITARYS/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
0
MILES km
0 50 100 150 200 The Pas SASKATCHEWAN MANITOBA SASKATOON Allan Gardiner Dam Nokomis
Moose Jaw Eyebrow Elbow
Davidson Blucher Lanigan
Punnichy Wynyard
Bulyea Bethune Regina Kronau Stoughton
Illustration by Steve Barry and Otto M. Vondrak. Not all stations shown. Not an official map. ©2013 Carstens Publications, Inc.
at the motel, and began the long trek north toward Cranberry Portage. We hoped to intercept the last real mixed train on the continent, Keewatin Rail- way’s No 290. We didn’t expect to see many trains en route on the 450 mile drive, although when we got to Swan River we caught the CN “local” with SD70M-2 8880 in the lead.
As we approached The Pas, we heard CN No. 420 coming and we got him at MP
76 and again at MP 73. In The Pas we got a shot of a Keewatin Railway unit at the shop, and then some scenes with several Hudson Bay Railway (HBRY) units and dead line junk at their shop. Then it was time for the main event.
We began scouting the line north from The Pas, figuring to being at Cranberry Portage well ahead of the train’s 1700 arrival time. We found a few shots, and even cleared some brush by hand. As
Canora Kamsack
Otthon Melville
Dauphin McCreary Gladstone
Saturday, August 24: We got up at 0530, quickly dined and hit the road south from The Pas with no hard target in mind, other than to get to the CN main line as quickly as possible. Short- ly after a quick check at Swan River I began to wonder if we might actually beat No. 692, VIA’s Hudson Bay train, into Canora, Saskatchewan. As the idea gelled, we began plotting a course for Kamsack, a little east of Canora and more direct for us. We could not get through to VIA via cell for an update on No. 692’s progress until we could see Kamsack. As Bruce was finally getting an answer, the detector at MP 105 sounded off, which sent us into mild panic — Kamsack is located at MP 101! We screeched to a halt and could hear the train whistling; moments later we nailed it passing the town’s elevator. We were very pleased at the serendipity of our timing.
35 Swan River
CP- Canadian Pacific CN- Canadian National HBRY- Hudson Bay Railway KR- Keewatin Railway LWR- Last Mountain Railway SSR- Stewartstown Southern Railway
50
100
150
Cranberry Portage
we drifted by the one mile sign for Cranberry Portage we saw a headlight, and there was No. 290, an hour and nine minutes early! He had a scrungy ex-CN GP40-2W leading an HBRY let- tered GP40-2W, four freight cars, four ex-VIA passenger cars, and two more freight cars all in beautiful sunlight! Naturally, we wheeled about and began the chase, catching him five more times before some shots around the station at The Pas. We had our primary goal for the trip — the rest was now gravy.
Portage la Prairie Oakville
Minnedosa Brandon
Redvers
Sinclair
CP
CN
WINNIPEG
SSR (CP)
CP
CN
HBRY (CN)
CP
CN
LMR (CN)
HBRY/KR (CN)
KR (CN)
CP
CP
CN
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