Patience at Stony Beach

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool; Stony Beach, Sask.; August 26, 2013

Stony Beach, Sask.

There is no doubt that part of the allure of the Canadian prairies are the wooden grain elevators that appear on the horizon as you approach many towns. The number of the classic elevators has plummeted over the past two decades, with hundreds being torn down into the early 2000s. Over the past decade the carnage has slowed, as the surviving elevators have been purchased by towns or farmer co-ops for storage or to preserve the scales located inside.

The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool controlled hundreds of elevators in its namesake province, but about ten years ago began disposing of the few wooden elevators it still had, consolidating its operations at much larger high through-put (HTP) elevators. As the elevators were sold, the Pool painted over its logo, leaving just the words "Saskatchewan" and the town name (and in some rare cases, the Pool elevator number) on the building.

That brings us to Stony Beach, a small town (and calling it a "town" is being generous) on a Canadian National branch line located about halfway between Regina and Moose Jaw. The CN transcontinental route runs much farther to the north on its way to Saskatoon; the Canadian Pacific main line, however, is parallel to this branch just a few miles south. The elevator at Stony Beach is unusual for two reasons; first, it retains its Pool logo and, second, it's painted barn red and lacks the silver sheathing that most Pool elevators had.

Stony Beach, Sask,; August 26, 2013

On August 26, I arrived at Stony Beach at about 3:45 in the afternoon along with George Pitarys and my brother Bruce. We knew a local train worked the branch out of Regina in the afternoon, but beyond that we didn't know much more. With no one around, we set about photographing the elevator from a bunch of different angles; of all the elevators we had seen on the trip, this was about the best. The dirt grade crossing, despite our best efforts to tell, was inconclusive in determining if the train had come through or not. Just as we settled in to wait, a road grader pulled up and stopped. George quickly ran over to ask the operator if he had seen a train during the day. The reply did not make us happy; we had missed the train by about 15 minutes. Still, this was a stellar location and we still had a couple of days in the area; we would be back.

That chance came the next day. We had chased a Canadian Pacific train from Loreburn almost into Moose Jaw, with one of the highlights being another great Pool elevator, this one at Elbow. Unlike Stony Beach, Elbow was in the more traditional Pool silver; like Stony Beach, it retained its Pool logo. In fact this one was preserved as a museum.

Canadian Pacific; Elbow, Saskatchewan; August 27, 2013

Our chase ended at about 2:30 we were not far from Stony Beach and right in the window the train was due. Arriving at the elevator at about 3:30 we checked the dirt grade crossing; the flangeways were full of dirt and debris and we were 90 per cent sure the train had not run yet. With clear skies and great light on the elevator, we vowed to stay until the train came or the light gave out.

Dragon fly at Stony Beach

However, 3:30 became 4:30, then the clock moved to 5:30 and still no train. We amused ourselves by watching and photographing the numerous dragon flies that seemed to like our car's antenna. The sun was getting lower and lower, but there were no clouds; we'd have good light right down to the horizon. Finally at 6:30 the railroad radio had good news for us, as we heard our train leaving Regina 22 miles to the east. With a track speed of 25 m.p.h., it would take just about an hour for the train to get to us. And the sun was getting lower and lower. With the flat terrain and straight track we saw the headlight in about 30 minutes; still, the train was close to ten miles away still -- another half hour -- and the sun was getting lower and lower. But the headlight got closer, the sun stayed above the horizon, and at 7:30 the three of us stood at the grade crossing and pushed the shutters of our cameras -- pretty much simultaneously -- and got the shot we had waited four hours to get! Success!

Canadian National; Stony Beach, Saskatchewan; August 27, 2013

Into the setting sun at Stony Beach

This was really closer than we wanted it to be; the sun hit the horizon less than five minutes after the train's passage, and another two minutes after that the light had dimmed considerably. But what a way to finish the day! Our tradition for the trip was to pick "the shot of the day" at the conclusion of each day and "the shot of the trip" when everything wrapped up. We were hard-pressed to pick one for this day, however, as both the shots at Elbow and at Stony Beach were outstanding; in fact, they were hands down the two best shots of the trip. But there is no doubt the time spent at Stony Beach will make it the story we will continue to tell when the topic of this trip comes up. And the best part of any trip is the stories that we tell later.

Photos from the first day at Stony Beach and the rest of that day can be found here. Photos from the second day, including the chase on the CPR, can be found here.

Cool Chromes -- Passenger Trains Canadian Style

Cool Chromes is a regular feature that looks at some recent slides that have passed through the scanner.

GO Transit and VIA Rail Canada; Toronto, Ontario; September 1986

In this edition of Cool Chromes we'll head to the Great White North for a look at some passenger trains in the Toronto-Montreal corridor. Our first stop is on the Bathurst Street bridge in Toronto (also a great place to watch streetcars) in September 1986 as two trains you won't see anymore head out of Union Station (both trains are going away in this shot). On the left is a GO Transit commuter train, complete with a de-motored F-unit as a cab car. On the right is a VIA Rail Canada train made up of Rail Diesel Cars. Today VIA only uses RDC's on some remote services.

Canadian National; Junction De L"Est, Montreal, Quebec; June 1989

Next we'll head over to Montreal. It's June 1989 and the ancient electric locomotives hauling passenger cars between Gare Central and Deux Montagnes are on short time. In just a few years the line would be upgraded and the locomotive-hauled trains that passed through the Mont Royal tunnel would be replaced by new multiple unit electric cars. I had thought I only shot these in bad weather, so it was indeed a pleasure to discover I actually spent a sunny day along the line.

VIA Rail Canada; Sainte Anne de Bellevue, Quebec; June 1989

From that same trip in 1989 we find a VIA Rail Canada train using the LRC equipment (Light Rapid Comfortable) built by the Montreal Locomotive Works for high speed service. The low-slung cars allowed for faster speeds on curves; indeed, long after the sleek locomotives were retired, the cars continued in service behind conventional passenger diesels and still retained their higher speed limits. Here we see a complete LRC trainset with locomotives at both ends racing along the Canadian National away from Montreal.

Societe de transport de Montreal; Dorion, Quebec; September 6, 1987

We finish off our quick visit to Canada just a few miles from and two years before the previous shot. Now we're at the layover yard for the commuter service provided by Societe de transport de Montreal between Dorion and Montreal. An annoying yard light was making this shot difficult (this was lit using old fashioned giant No. 2 flashbulbs) and a worker graciously turned off the light, leaving teh yard mostly dark for the flash work. Today the F-units are gone. As are the LRC's in the shot previous. As are the electrics before them. As are the RDC's and the F-unit cab car in the first photo. A lot has changed in the Canadian passenger scene in 25 years.

Land O' Corn - Part 5

This is Part 5 of what started out as a four-part entry on a trip to the Midwest to visit Kansas City and St. Louis before heading on to the convention of the National Railway Historical Society in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. However, the week of the NRHS Convention produced so many great photos that we gave it its own entry and made this a five-part story. In Part 1 we headed west towards Kansas City and in Part 2 we took a look around K.C. In Part 3 we spent a day in St. Louis and then headed up to Chicagoland. In Part 4 we attended the NRHS Convention in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In this part we'll look at a few other highlights of rail activity in Iowa, then head home.

Union Pacific; Clarence, Iowa; June 17, 2012

After chasing the NRHS Convention inbound trip on June 17 and getting it at Geneva and Nelson, Ill., (see last post) and once again at Calamus, Iowa, we broke off the chase in favor of hanging out on the Union Pacific (ex-Chicago & North Western) main line. An eastbound stack train came out of the setting sun at Clarence, but it had a Distributed Power Unit (helper locomotive) on the rear which we shot passing the Land O' Lakes Feeds elevator in Clarence. From there we headed into Cedar Rapids to check in for the convention.

The first day of the NRHS Convention went to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, to visit the Midwest Central Railroad and the Midwest Electric Railway. Mount Pleasant is on the route served by Amtrak's California Zephyr and during a break in the action we headed to the station in town to shoot the CZ as it made its stop.

Amtrak; Mount Pleasant, Iowa; June 18, 2012

As the events in Mount Pleasant wound down, we (my brother Bruce, Mike Burkhart and Frank Ferguson) headed east to Burlington, Iowa, where we found a lot of other photographers who had left the NRHS Convention trip to do the same thing we were doing -- waiting for the westbound California Zephyr to come snaking through the old industrial buildings not far from the Mississippi River.

Amtrak; Burlington, Iowa; June 18, 2012

Tuesday, June 19, was a busy day at the Convention, and we spent all day with activities there. But on Wednesday, June 20, the NRHS trip was running against the sun for most of the day so we chose to head out and do regular service trains on the Union Pacific. One of several trains we got included an eastbound stack train passing the elevators at Norway, Iowa.

Union Pacific; Norway, Iowa; June 20, 2012

Canadian National; Cedar Rapids, Iowa

A busy schedule of meetings the next couple of days kept me close to Cedar Rapids for the next couple of days, but there was a lot to see. Various industrial areas, mostly revolving around Iowa's prime export of corn, are located in and around Cedar Rapids. Down by the waterfront, near the sprawling Quaker Oats plant, one can find Union Pacific, Canadian National and Iowa Northern working the yards there, while nearby the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City and Iowa Interstate also work. Of special interest was CN, which had an SD38-2 from the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern working the yard (the EJ&E was merged into CN in 2009). We caught the unit working near the power plant on June 21.

While the Quaker Oats plant is large, even larger is the Archer Daniels Midland plant just south of Cedar Rapids. Served by the Cedar Rapids & Iowa City (CRANDIC), the plant also boasts its own small fleet of switchers. Unfortunately, ADM is pretty much off-limits to anyone -- especially photographers -- but fortunately the elevated right-of-way of U.S. 30 provides a nice view over the fences. The early morning of June 22 found us on the shoulder of the Lincoln Highway getting the elusive shot.

Archer Daniels Midland; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; June 22, 2012

We noticed the Quaker Oats plant was nicely illuminated at night, with the lights reflecting off the Cedar River. This made for a nice diversion for a night shot. Rail access is from the bridge at the left.

Quaker Oats; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; June 22, 2012

And, of course, that EJ&E locomotive was still hanging around on Canadian National over in the CN yard. Hard to let an opportunity like that slip by, so a quick visit to the yard was in order.

Canadian National; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; June 22, 2012

The rest of the Convention didn't allow for any non-Convention shooting, and soon it was time to head home. After shooting the outbound Convention trip between Cedar Rapids and Chicago at Morrison, Ill., (photo in last installment) on June 25 we took a more leisurely pace home and paused at the Rochelle Railroad Park in Rochelle, Ill. The ex-Chicago & North Western crosses the ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy on a diamond in the middle of town, and the city has established a park for train watching, complete with a pavilion, rest rooms and gift shop. A Union Pacific westbound train passed the park on the ex-C&NW.

Union Pacific; Rochelle, Ill.; June 25, 2012

The gift shop has a screen with ATCS Monitor running, which allows viewers to see what the railroad dispatchers are seeing on their screens. Thus, it was easy to anticipate which railroad would be running a train over the diamonds next, allowing for easy movement between the two railroads. BNSF Railway provided action on the ex-CB&Q, including a westbound passing under Rochelle's (non-railroad) water tower.

BNSF Railway; Rochelle, Ill.; June 25, 2012

Upon leaving Rochelle, we bypassed downtown Chicago and instead headed for the suburbs on the Indiana side of the Windy City. Our next stop would be at the Hammond-Whiting Amtrak station in Hammond, Ind. Here, in addition to Amtrak, Norfolk Southern has a heavy presence. Thus, we were a bit surprised when Canadian Pacific came westward under the signal bridge in the late afternoon light.

Canadian Pacific; Hammond, Ind.; June 25, 2012

The final day of the trip was Tuesday, June 26. With 4000 miles under our belts, the last blast home would feature a quick look at Cleveland. Norfolk Southern has two lines through the city, both crossing the Cuyahoga River on lift bridges. Our first train of the day was on the former Nickel Plate Road just east of the Cuyahoga River. Cleveland's famed Terminal Tower at the left was the main train station for the city.

Norfolk Southern; Cleveland, Ohio; June 26, 2012

We tried to find a few other angles of the ex-Nickel Plate bridge, but new highway construction had made the area into a battle zone of sorts. We heard a westbound train on the radio, and found an overhead bridge to shoot from. The bridge had a high chain link fence, but there was a small concrete wall under the chain linking that you could stand on if you grabbed the chain link and hoisted yourself up (then used your elbows at the top of the fence to anchor yourself). As the train appeared, the four of us grabbed the chain link fence and lifted ourselves up onto the wall. When we turned around, a Cleveland city cop was standing there. Fortunately he was more amused than anything else.

Norfolk Southern; Cleveland, Ohio; June 26, 2012

We stuck around on the same bridge for one final shot of Cleveland's light rail, which runs parallel to the ex-Nickel Plate in many places. After getting the last shot, we got into the car and started the final ten-hour segment of the trip back to New Jersey. From Kansas City to St. Louis to Iowa to Cleveland, this was one ambitious trip that turned out pretty good! (Oh, and in five days we'd be back in the car for a trip to the Norfolk Southern heritage unit Family Portrait in Spencer, N.C., but that's our next story).

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