Prototype Corner - Late to the Party

George's day got off to a good start when he saw this westbound CP freight at Adelaide St. in London, Ontario on Feb. 27, 2020.  If any of you modellers elect to recreate this scene, I hope you include the abandoned grocery cart visible on the left side of the photo!

By Peter Mumby.

Go railfanning on the snowiest, blowiest day of the winter?  I doubt it!  Oh,....well,....maybe!  George was on the phone.  He was downtown and had stopped to check out a westbound CP freight that was doubling onto its train at Adelaide St.  Nothing unusual in that, except that the lead unit was the 7013.  He thought that might pique my interest.

CP 7000-7029 is a group of model SD70 ACu locomotives rebuilt by Progress Rail and delivered in the last half of 2019.  These units had originally been constructed in 1998/1999 as SD9043 MAC units in the 9100 series.  7013 began life as 9126, one of the locomotives assembled at CP's Ogden shops in Calgary.  As an added inducement to railfan interest, 7010-7019 were released in a CP heritage tuscan red and grey paint scheme.  These engines had been plying CP rails for several months now, but neither George nor I had seen one yet.  We were definitely late to the party, but at least now we had received an invitation.

When I fielded George's call, I was still at the breakfast table, working up the ambition to get the snowblower out.  I decided to head outside with the scanner in my pocket.  Luckily I heard that the train was expected to head towards my end of town in about 20 minutes - just enough time to clear the driveway and grab the camera.  I headed west towards Komoka and was able to find a spot to safely park the car on Coldstream Road.  I elected to shoot from the north side of the track - the view was more open on this side, and it was overcast enough that the light would be fairly even.  Besides, with a strong wind blowing from the north, I would avoid a face full (and a lense full) of blowing snow.

By the time the train arrived at my location, it was about an hour after I had heard the first message on the scanner - but the lead unit was as promised!  I stood and watched the entire train pass.  There actually were a few breaks in the cloud cover, and the dramatic light encouraged me to photograph a few pieces of passing rolling stock as well.

As I started to roll down Coldstream Road toward home a CN freight passed overhead with one of the CN 100 units in the lead.  These had been on the scene for months, but I had yet to see one.  Late to the party again!  I was able to scoot ahead and grab a shot at Komoka.  Not much of a photo, perhaps, but at least I was now on the score sheet.

The locomotive I had been looking for was finally approaching the Coldstream Road.

A paint scheme right out of the 1960s!

A few breaks in the clouds created some dramatic lighting and made an excuse to shoot some rolling stock on 7013's train.  RCPE 49211 was a likely candidate, displaying the history not only of the car, but the rail line itself.  Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern is a Genesee and Wyoming Company property which operates the west end of CP's former Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern.  Any railway which incorporates the name "Pierre" in its title is alright by me!

It must be a rule that all the good stuff runs on a stormy day!

One of the party favours that CN brought to the (coffee) table late last year was this 100 CN volume.  This is not a history book as such, but more a collection of 100 stories about various aspects of the company's past.  As far as I know, the volume is only being made available to employees.