Next it was on to Canora where we
shot the local power, as well as both el- evators in town, before striking south toward Melville via Yorkton. We heard CN 553 get permission from a foreman, and after about an hour wait we got him at Otthon, and then got to Melville and headed west on the Watrous Sub (which is the CN transcontinental main line). Once on the CN we got an eastbound, and then picked up westbound train 347, chasing him for several miles. Eventually we got him at Punnichy, which turned out to be the shot of the day. As the day wound down we set up at Allan, where there are four elevators standing (a fairly common thing years ago, but now quite rare). The sun was perfect
for a westbound, and sure enough we lucked out again when CN 315 showed up, and we got the shot. Then things got quiet for a little while and we passed the time chatting with some locals. The quiet was due to No. 316 having a busted knuckle in Saskatoon, and trains started backing up. Unfortunately, the dam broke a lit- tle too late, although we did manage a couple of glinters right at sunset. It was tough to know a lot of traffic was com- ing and we were out of daylight. It was off to Saskatoon for rest and grub.
RIGHT: A mixed manifest heads west on the CN’s main line passing the former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator at Pun- nichy on August 24. BELOW: The Stewart Southern has a GP15 D on the point — great visibility for the crew, but marginally ugly for photographers — as it heads south past the former Pool elevator at Sedley on August 28.
Sunday, August 25: Once again the alarm rang at 0530, and were off in rou- tine fashion. Today we headed from Saskatoon back to Allan, about 30 miles to the east, hoping for an early morning eastbound passing the four el- evators. We got the train and had the sun but, alas, we got “cloud-zapped” when the train finally passed. As a con- solation prize we got a nice backlit westbound, and then moved west. We next set up at the elevator at Bradwell where we got CN trains No. 186 and No. 118 before VIA’s No. 2 ar- rived. With our fill here (and despite knowing more trains were coming) we moved over to the Canadian Pacific just to the north for some variety. We heard a job get fixed east out of Sutherland (near Saskatoon), so we nipped over to Blucher, waited for a while and got the
wayfreight with a pair of SD40-2s, a pleasant diversion from the CP’s usual diet of widecab “toasters.” They worked at Elstow and then dropped their entire train and ran light to Guernsey, where they went into the potash plant. Scanner traffic revealed that CP No.
298 was ready to leave Sutherland and would meet the returning wayfreight we had just chased at Noranda Potash. Since our returning train would consist of only light units, we doubled back to Blucher and picked up No. 298, chasing him all the way into Wynyard. We got several nice views, including the rear DPU in “going away” mode to take ad- vantage of the light.
At Wynyard, he met the yard job making up a train for the Tisdale Sub with trio of GP38s in splendid light. We hoped he’d turn west, but he didn’t,
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