Diana, Can't You See You Drive Me Wild?

So sang Canada's Bryan Adams. He was not singing about this Diana. But this one drove me wild. I drove right up to it, in fact! I was on a two-day elevator tour south of Regina in a chilly September-end in 1985. This shipping point was completely unexpected and was not marked on my map, though it was marked on this 1924 Saskatchewan Wheat Pool schematic 

Now I'm moving from Manitoba into Saskatchewan as I document my two-day sojourn there in 1985. In Saskatchewan, CN's Glenavon and Lewvan Subdivisions and CP's Tyvan and Portal Subdivisions yielded some good photography opportunities if not good weather! In fact, there were snowflakes and grasshoppers in the air.

Looking back through my photos which will be included in this project, I'm surprised at the number of elevator rows that are utterly and completely....gone. 

Look up, look way up.

Eric 

Just Observed!

Just finished! Portage la Prairie! It only took thirty-some years, but I collected and collated my trackside observations from Portage. There are GMD1s, CP F-units on freight (above), grain train consists, lumber trains, VIA trains and so much neat stuff!

I've got dates, times, locomotive consists, car counts, caboose numbers. Organized. These will fit very nicely in this upcoming project, accompanied by photos.

Look up, look way up.

Eric

Grain Cars!

Canada's unique grain car fleet. Often-photographed but seldom written-about.

Tired, old 60-ton boxcars to more modern, cylindrical Coke can covered hoppers (both shown at Westbourne, Manitoba in 1984 - above photo) these steel servants purveyed Canada's golden grain harvest away and abroad.

The 1970's and 1980's saw the end to destitute denizens of elevator tracks across the West. Desperate for cars, the Government of Canada entered the market with cylindricals in brown, yellow and aluminum. I can remember when grain trains were unbroken strings of cylindricals. I'm now compiling some consists, reviewing some rosters and preparing to peruse some photos. 

One simply can't separate grain elevators from Prairie branchlines from the grain car fleet. They were inter-dependent and interesting. At least they are to the ten people that are going to 'get' this project. Okay, maybe eleven. Could one of them be you?

Look up, look way up.

Eric