Trains and Such

East Meets West

So 30 minutes earlier I was up over the hill in the distance just beyond Strangmuir siding on the Brooks sub waiting on 8895 the lead locomotive of this loaded grain train to put in an appearance.
I had picked a spot overlooking a cut in a small hill that gave me a roof level view of the train as it passed by my location. In fact the spot I was standing at, had an interesting long abandoned syphon about two feet in diameter that passed down under the two tracks and up the other side. I will check it out further one day.

As the grain train arrived from the direction of Gleichen AB, and as it approached the double track section, the train took the south track and slowed to a stop after it was all tucked in along side of me. I realized that it was waiting for another train to arrive, and upon returning to my truck, I heard exactly that on my scanner.

After some thought as to the best location to observe and photograph this meet, I realized I should be on the north side of the track to make that happen. I drove a mile east to where an underpass allowed me to drive around to the north side, then I worked my way west and crossed back over the single track about a mile west from where the grain train was stopped.

I soon heard the eastbound stack train get clearance to proceed through Carsland AB, and 5 minutes later it came in to view off in the distance to the west. I shot a number of photos as it approached, and then switched directions and shot photos of the stack train approaching mile 130.6 where the grain train was parked waiting on the south track.

Once the stack train cleared the switch, the grain train proceeded to get back on the main track and started working its way west once more.

In the end this is the photo of the meet at mile 130.6 that appealed to me the most.

Expand the photo for a closer look.....

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