ABOVE: A westbound CN stack train rolls past the stand of elevators at Allan, Saskatchewan, on August 24. RIGHT: Another westbound stack train heads past the elevator at Oakville, Manitoba, on August 29.
pull a load from the elevator. We arrived at about 0900, almost si- multaneously
with the
power. We
watched them assemble the 112 loads, and split the power, placing one of the two toasters 56 deep. We spoke with the crew, and found they would have work at Eyebrow where they would lift 38 more loads, giving them 150 loads and no empties, nearly 20,000 tons ! Eventually they left the large grain elevator and we gave chase getting them at the wooden elevators at Lore- burn, and the beautiful one at Elbow. Next we drove across the dam over the Qu’Appelle River and found a nice view point. From there we came back to the paved road and got the train several more times, including elevators at Eye- brow and Tuxford.
We broke off at Tuxford, and beat feet for the CN at Stony Beach. There is a beautiful pool elevator there, and since we missed the train at the same location the previous day, we were hoping we might get a second chance. We arrived at 1545, and we all decided that we were staying put until the train came or the sun set. Today, we had no access to a CN lineup, so we had to sit “blind.” We got elated when at 1815 local time, we heard the train get fixed up in Regina; we were 22 miles out. Finally after much pacing, and gnashing of
38 DECEMBER 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM
teeth, the train rolled into view ten minutes before the sun would have touched the horizon.
Wednesday, August 28: With a plan
to go track down the CN GMD1s as- signed to Regina, we were able to lay in bed half the day and get up at 0600. After our usual breakfast we were off to the CN yard where indeed we found a pair of GMD’s together and another single coupled with a GP9m. However they weren’t moving, and they were deep inside the engine facility which was clearly intended to be off limits. We finagled a couple of shots over the fence, and finally in frustration I went in and asked the yardmaster if they would be going anywhere; he said not before 1600.
Now a new plan needed to be made,
so we headed north to the Mobil Grain operation at Bethune again. Chatting with an employee, we asked if he might start up the former Modesto & Empire Traction 70-Tonner, and maybe turn the headlight on for us. Not only did he do that, but he coupled onto a cut of cars so we could get proper photos. Then we still had to make a plan, and
we talked about chasing the Stewart Southern to Stoughton; a phone call re- vealed they would leave Regina at noon. It was still only 0930, so we head- ed back to Regina where we found the GMD1/geep combo switching, albeit be- hind a chain link fence. We got a couple of so-so shots when we heard the SSR leaving an hour early. We raced across town and picked them up, and the chase was on. We were all disappointed to find a boxy GP15D leading; we’d
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