Hand brake......what hand brake?

Just had to post this video clip of a group of Norfolk Southern locomotive going past a level grade crossing in the dark. Can you spot the problem? Video clip by unknown.

Why they mark cars with rotary couplers?

The answer is so they avoid an accident like the following that happened at dumper 31 Westshore property at Roberts Bank. A snafu, first coal car behind locomotive must have a rotary drawbar next to locomotive. Photos by unknown.

SD40-2 working the waterfront

Well once again the rail barge is in from Alaska so I managed to get a couple of quick shots of SD40-2 number 5293 pulling the cars to be load on the barge out of the Rupert yard. With a wave to the engineer I got him to crack the throttle in hopes of getting a cloud of black smoke out the exhaust to photograph but the weather beaten unit just roared and discharged nothing but heat waves into the air.

Did you say Train or Grain

Well not much going on today along the waterfront so I decided to go visit some longshoreman friends of mine out at Prince Rupert Grain where the vessel GREAT LEADER was taking a load of Number 1 grade grain. Prince Rupert Grain has 3 loading towers (Alice, Bob and Charlie), the first photos are from the middle tower (Bob) of the chute pouring grain into number three hold. No that isn't Bib the Michelin man......the grain is so dusty even after being cleaned, workers wear disposable coveralls to stay clean. A group of uninvited guests stopped by for a little light lunch on top of the number 4 hatch cover.

This just Blows! Part 1

I have no idea who took these photos but I had to post them.

Note: No revenue loads attached to the plow. South Saskatchewan short line railways take note!!!!!!!
These photos were taken on the Bellwood Subdivision, between Seward and David City, Nebraska on the BNSF Ry. Seward is about 25 miles west of Lincoln, on the Ravenna Sub. A few blizzards and sub zero temperatures coupled with moderate winds made for a beautiful, but, flash frozen environment. A freight train was snowed in at David City and a rotary snow plow was sent to clear the track of drifts that varied from 6ft or less up to 12ft in spots!! The photos were taken on Jan. 8th through Jan. 10th.

This just Blows! Part 2

I couldn't resist posting these photos along with the following caption.

Note: No revenue loads attached to the plow. South Saskatchewan short line railways take note!!!!!!!

These photos were taken on the Bellwood Subdivision, between Seward and David City, Nebraska on the BNSF Ry. Seward is about 25 miles west of Lincoln, on the Ravenna Sub. A few blizzards and sub zero temperatures coupled with moderate winds made for a beautiful, but, flash frozen environment. A freight train was snowed in at David City and a rotary snow plow was sent to clear the track of drifts that varied from 6ft or less up to 12ft in spots!! The photos were taken on Jan. 8th through Jan. 10th.

Hockey weekend gone bad!

Well as you already know my son Garrett and I were in Smithers over the weekend for Hockey. Unfortunately his weekend was ended early during the second period on Saturday night when he slid into the end boards on a break away. The end result was a trip to the hospital by ambulance where we found out he had broken his right tibia finishing his hockey season. I have to tell you he`s one tough kid...... not a tear! The crappy thing is he`s now in a cast from his toes to the mid thigh.

Heavy Coal along the Skeena river

Sunday morning Jan 17 Garrett and I headed home for Smithers after a disappointing hockey weekend (more on that later). About 35 miles East of Terrace there is a pull off right on the edge of the Skeena where you can look across at the CN mainline on the North side. I`ve passed by this point to many times to remember without ever seeing a train but today was my lucky day. 5791 and 2414 were leading a coal train loaded for the coast so I managed to get a couple of pick photos.

8853 in Smithers heading West

Well another weekend hockey trip to Smithers with Garrett so we made a quick trip to the rail yard where 8853 and 2583 waited to depart for Prince Rupert approximately 3:00 pm with about 10,000 feet of well cars in tow.

BC Rail 1862 still in service

Well it's not very often to see a caboose in service due to the use of "FRED's" but every now and then one shows up in maintenance service. When CN assumed control of BC Rail I recall seeing a large number of them for sale through a CN asset sale. BC Rail 1862 was in the Smithers yard with a string of Difco dump cars Saturday Jan 16 where it was photographed.