Shortline Profile, Episode 1: Stewart Southern Railway

After starting the Abandoned Rails series, I decided that I would do something similar, only for currently active shortlines.

The first profile will be that of the Stewart Southern Railway (SSR) which operates 132 km over the former Canadian Pacific Tyvan Subdivision.

GMTX 2219, and 2222 head south into Stoughton, May 2, 2015

The SSR began operations in 2010, when Blair Stewart and an investors group purchased the Tyvan Sub after CP put it up for abandonment.

Built in 1904, the Tyvan Sub was at one point the longest stretch of straight railway track in the world. It is now second only to a stretch of track in Australia

Prior to the purchase (not sure if this has changed since), the last major upgrade to the subdivision was in the 1980's when the line had 100 pound rail installed. Today it is still jointed track  from start to finish. And as you can tell in the below video, leads to some rocky trains.

MOW equipment working on the SSR in May 2015

Originally, the main commodity to be shipped on the Stewart Southern was grain, with potential for other customers to come on-line in the future. That didn't take long, as the oil sector growth in Stoughton, and surrounding areas grew quickly in the years following start-up.

In 2012, the Stoughton Oil Trans-loading facility opened, and began shipping by rail via the Stewart Southern. The oil is loaded into rail cars in Stoughton, shipped north-west to Regina, interchanged to CP, and then onto the final destination from there. I've heard that CP runs some of this oil east over the top of the Great Lakes on trains 550 (formerly 608), and returns them on 551 (formerly 609).

SSR power sits idle at the Stoughton Oil trans-loading facility.

As you can see in two of the above photos, Stewart Southern has mainly been operating with leased GMTX power. I've seen three pairs of units in operation. The first being 2222, and 2219. Second being 2237, and 2213. And thirdly 2212 paired with a number I haven't yet had the chance to see.

SSR is also home to some older power. SSR 1010, 4255, and 1009. These three units are old GE B23-7s. One of which still sports a Santa Fe paint scheme. Below they are seen sitting on the wye at Stoughton, which is the location of the former junction between Canadian Pacific's Tyvan, and the Kisbey Subs.

I have yet to see these units in action. Not sure if they do see any any more.

In May I did a quick trip from Stoughton to Francis on the SSR, snapping a few pictures of the elevators along the way.

Cars parked in Creelman. A cloud decided to pop up as I pulled in here for a shot.

Fillmore Seeds Inc. at Fillmore, SK

Another shot at Fillmore.

And finally the elevator at Francis

At just about every crossing, Stewart Southern likes to remind drivers that any time is train time,

Before our parting remarks, an interesting read from Pipeline News Suggested that perhaps Stoughton could one day be connected to Northgate, SK where Ceres Global Ag. is in the process of building a large trans-load facility for both grain products, and oil. The site is also connected directly to the BNSF for easy access to the U.S. The main reason the question is asked is because Ceres holds a 25 percent stake in the Stewart Southern. I may have  misread the article, but they seem to think that the old right of way runs directly from Northgate to Stoughton, but there is a gap of about 21 miles between the former Kisby Sub trackage south of Stoughton, and the former Northgate Spur at Lampman. I have shown this in the picture below. You can read the story here.

That's it for the Stewart Southern Railway for now, but expect to see more on them in the future, as they are only a 30 minute drive from Weyburn.


Sources:

Ceres Global
The Western Producer

A Journey to Lloydminster

On May 8, 2015 I found myself taking a trip to Lloydminster to meet up with some friends, and play a few rounds of golf.

On this trip I would be travelling alone, so I decided to take the "scenic route". The scenic route took me from Weyburn to Aylesbury, Saskatoon, Keppel, Biggar(didn't see any trains here), North Battleford, and onto Lloydminster

Departing Weyburn at around 11:00, it wasn't long before I came across a train.

As I drove north-west on highway 39, I passed a busy MOW crew working to the south-east of Yellow Grass. Shortly after, the scanner came to life, and told me that a work train would be coming south with CP 3104 in the lead. I made a quick stop in Yellow Grass, and waited for the work train which I could see coming in the distance, and it wasn't long before they rolled past me with five ballast cars in tow.

Later in the day, I learned that this train, and the MOW crew were working on repairing the tracks after a train had derailed overnight. Obviously it was not a serious derailment, as there was no sign of any derailment when I drove past, aside from the working crews.

Continuing on my way, the next stop was Aylesbury, which is located between Regina, and Saskatoon on highway 11.

Aylesbury is also home to the shops of the Last Mountain Railway (LMR), which is part of the MobilGrain family. The LMR runs from Regina to Davidson, and is home to some interesting power. Luckily for me, some of their units were parked in Aylesbury on this day. Below are some shots of the power.

M&ET 608

CP 5491, and 5493

MobilGrain 6901, and M&ET 604

It was a quick stop here, before I was on my way again. The next stop was to be CN near Saskatoon, since it had been awhile since I last shot a CN train!

Arriving at the CN crossing at Range Road 3051 just to the south of Saskatoon, I noticed lights in the distance to the east! A quick set up of the video camera was needed, and resulted in a decent shot of CN 2681, and BCOL 4650. Not a bad first catch of CN in a few months. I was in for a surprise though! As the tail end of CN 2681 west cleared, I heard a horn from the west. It was IC 2701 (in CN paint) leading an eastbound. Trailing IC 2701 was CN 5544, and acting as DPU was CN 8851.

It was starting to get a bit later in the day, and the main spot I wanted to get to was Keppel, so I hopped back in the car and headed west.

Keppel is located about 80 kilometres west of Saskatoon, and is also where the CN Watrous Sub parallels the CP Wilkie Sub.

I was lucky in that the ground was dry, as I wouldn't try and get into Keppel in my Ford Focus otherwise. The road to access Keppel is a narrow farmers road, and if wet, would likely be quite muddy and sticky. Below is a screen shot of the area.

As I arrived on scene, I grabbed my bag and tripods out of the car. As I was doing so, a horn echoed in the distance! I ran up the hill, did another quick set up, and within a few seconds CN 2123, and 2429 lead a potash train past me heading east. Bringing up the rear of the train as DPU was IC 2725.

CN is single track here, so I knew it would be a little while before a CN train would come west, and I had the scanner handy to get a heads up.

I also knew that it would be awhile before a CP train came along, as the drive from Saskatoon follows the CP Wilkie Sub for a good portion of the way, and there were no trains to be seen.

After waiting about an hour or so, the next train began to make its presence known with its distant horn. This time I would be prepared, and have the camcorder's rolling, and the camera ready.

A few minutes later, CN 2303 came rolling around the corner heading for points west. Trailing was CN 5406. Below is the picture, but you can watch the video here.

After the 2303 and its train passed, the signal on the right went green for a while, but changed back to red meaning a train was approaching.

I figured it would likely be CN 2681 again, and it was! This time I was ready for the shot, and believe it or not, had another perfect timing with CP 9739 west rounding the curve just as 2861 cleared view. (Video Here)

By the time CP 9739 had rolled past, I was getting hungry and decided to run into Biggar for something to eat, and then head north to CN's Prairie North Line (PNL).

North Battleford was the first stop on the PNL, which is a divisional point between the Aberdeen (to the east), and Blackfoot (to the west) Subs.

As I was driving into town, I heard 452 getting a clearance to head east. Unfortunately, I didn't want to head east because the ultimate destination was west. Fortunately, they were restricted to just out of town, where 453 would be meeting them. So, I quickly found a spot and waited for 453 to slowly roll into the yard with units 5546, and 5523 on the head-end (Video).

Now it was time to head for Lloydminster. I wasn't expecting to see any more trains, but would keep an eye out for some as the highway from North Battleford to Lloydminster parallels the CN Blackfoot Sub the majority of the way.

Sure enough, I got just to where the road and rail start to follow each other and along came IC 2718 (in CN paint) with 2243 trailing on a short eastbound train near Delmas.

I screwed up by not tightening the nob on my tripod, and it slowly tilted and messed up the video a bit. I managed to save the video by straightening it out as the tripod slowly leans. You may notice a bit of a shake when I noticed the problem just after the head end passes by.

As I got back on the road, I heard over the scanner that another train had given IC 2718 a roll-by inspection! Awesome!

So, I kept an eye out for this other train, and before I knew it I could see its tail-end. By time I got to the other side of Delmas, I was ahead of them and had set up and waited.

This is probably my favourite catch on the day, as well as the last.

Hope you enjoyed following along on this adventure. It was a great day out for sure.

The Drive: Part III (Minneapolis - Weyburn)

After a quick overnight stay in Minneapolis, we continued on our way. This is the final, and longest leg of the trip to Weyburn from Ottawa.

The day, wasn't the best weather wise, as we drove through a snow storm from Minneapolis until almost to Fargo. After the storm cleared, the winds were roaring at what must have been at least 80 kilometres per hour. Not the best for railfanning, or driving to say the least.

Once we were west of Fargo, the BNSF northern mainline was within view of I-94, but the weather still wasn't favourable, and we wanted to make good time on the day, so that left me waiting to catch some trains (from the car) until we met the CP mainline near Carrington, North Dakota.

Once in Carrington, we did a quick driver swap, so that I could rest from driving, and take some pictures. It just so happened that where we pulled over to switch, ILSX 1328 was in view.

ISLX is the abbreviation of Independent Locomotive Services, and 1328 is an SD38 that now acts as the switcher for Central City Grain in Carrington. Prior to ISLX purchase, 1328 was PC 6935.

After snapping the above shot, we quickly got back on the road, and continued on.

It wasn't long until we came across some CP trains. The first was CP 198 parked just north of Harvey. 198 was lead by CP 9597, and had a mid train DPU in the form of CP 9823.

As we approached the tail end of 198, it was clear that there was an oil train sitting in the siding, waiting to move north, and was being lead by a BNSF unit!

BNSF 4672 on the head end of a northbound oil train. Harvey, ND

The next train was CP 6016 in the siding at Drake. 6016 in the "Pac-Man" scheme, was in control of a local train of a whole 2 cars.

Once north of Drake, we found out why 6016 was in the siding. They were waiting on CP 8738 south. 8738 was accompanied by 9677, and at this point the wind was kicking up quite a bit of snow and blowing it around as seen in one of the below shots.

That was the it for awhile, but not the last train on the day.

A few hours later, as we were beginning to get closer to the border crossing at Portal, I spotted a train parked in the distance. Using the digital zoom to its maximum (resulting in a not so great picture), a Norfolk Southern unit sits with another unknown unit. I could be wrong, but I am fairly sure these units were parked on the Western Sub of the Dakota, Missouri Valley, and Western Railway.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the border crossing back into Canada at Portal.

At this point, it was starting to get dark, but we got lucky with catching a northbound just as we were crossing over the CP Weyburn Sub at Estevan. CP 9814, CSX 4837, and CP 8857 were leading a northbound mixed freight. Not a bad catch for my first train in Saskatchewan!

That was it for trains that I could catch in picture form. We passed two other trains between Estevan, and Weyburn, but it was too dark to get pictures or numbers.

Our trip finally came to an end late on March 3, 2015. It was an interesting trip. Wish we had more time, but I am glad that I got to see what I did.

Abandoned Rails: CN Turtleford Sub

This is first instalment of "Abandoned Rails" on the Going Trackside Blog, and will feature the former CN Turtleford Sub in St. Walburg area, as I had visited some friends there in April 2015.

Former CN Station at St. walburg

The Turtleford Subdivision was a line that ran 77 miles from North Battleford to St. Walburg, Saskatchewan. Today, all that remains are 10 miles of track from North Battleford to Hamlin.

Lets start with a bit of history about the Turtleford Sub.

In 1919, the Canadian Northern Railway planned to extend into North Eastern Saskatchewan, but the planned routing took it 5 miles from the 1919 location of St. Walburg. The residents, knowing the value of having a railway in their town, packed up and moved to the present day town location. 1921 saw the completion of the railway into St. Walburg, and it became known as the Turtleford Sub.

Former routing of the Turtleford Sub (red). Current CN operations marked in orange

According to this article by Sean Pratt of the Western Producer, the Turtleford Sub hadn't seen a train since August of 2000, and April 2, 2002 marked the first train in nearly 2 years. The only reason that the line did see a train was because of farmers loading railway cars on their own. They did this because they felt that they shouldn't have to ship directly to the new concrete elevators to the south.

Prior to abandonment, the main customers shipping on the line were from the numerous grain elevators. After many of the elevators on the line closed, CN abandoned north of mile 10 in 2005. July of 2008 marked the end as CN began pulling up the rails no longer in use. A good source of pictures from the 2008 work is this website, showing the rail train at work.

Milepost 69

If you drive from North Battleford to St. Walburg, as I did in April, you will follow along the old right of way for the majority of the trip. It is interesting to note that although CN has torn up all the rails and ties, they left the old milepost markers in place. The highest marker that was within view of the road was mile 69 just north of Spruce Lake (photo on left).

As mentioned before, the subdivisions main customer was the numerous grain elevators. St. Walburg alone had three still standing in April. Below we will have a look at those three.

The first was the former Pioneer elevator which was the most northern on the line, and was located directly off of Railway Ave. This elevator wears the classic Pioneer orange, as seen on the right.

Also located on Railway Ave. was the next elevator in the form of the former Searle/Federal Elevator. The old circled S was still visible when I visited (as seen on the left). Here is a better view of the old elevator from 2008.

Finally, we come to the ex. Sask Pool elevator. The Sask Pool logo had been painted over, and just below where it used to be now showed "St. Walburg Agro Ltd.". This elevator looked as though it may still see some use, but at the time no one was around. Below is a shot from the former railway crossing on  highway 26.

After scouting out the areas elevators, I went back to the old railway station which I had past earlier in the day. 

This old building located on Railway Ave. was built in 1922, and closed in 1982. It is now a municipal heritage building, and used as a "chuckwagon interpretive centre". When I was there, the building wasn't open to see inside, so I took a walk around and got the shots below of the front (left), and west side (right) of the building.

Finally, a look back at the two elevators from the station, which are now sitting vacant, aside from the birds, mice, and old animals that likely now call them home

Extra content!

While exploring, I came across the former Bolney Spur which ran from Spruce Lake Junction to Paradise Hill, a length of 15.4 miles. The interesting point here is that the rails are still in place, and the road crossing has simply been paved over as seen in one of the pictures below. 

Looking east at highway 26

Looking west at highway 26

Sources:

St. Walburg Website

Canada's Historic Places

Tetracom

The Western Producer - Sean Pratt

The Drive: Part II (Chicago - Minneapolis)

After spending the night at Mile North Chicago, a very nice hotel downtown, we began the days trip to Minneapolis. Rather than taking the quickest route, we decided to go via La Crosse, Winona and the Mississippi River. We did this for the scenery, as well as to follow the Burlington Northern Santa Fe's St. Croix Subdivision.

Google Maps view of our drive from Chicago to Minneapolis

As our trip north began, we needed to get gas. This resulted in a stop at the North Shore Shell just off of Half Day Road in Bannockburn, Illinois. This was just a quick stop, but luckily for me, this gas station is located right next to the Canadian Pacific C&M Sub. While pumping my gas, not one, but two Metra trains passed. Both travelling in opposite directions.

After that, there was no more action until La Crosse, where we passed over the BNSF line for the first time.

In order to follow the BNSF line on the north shore of the Mississippi though, we had to cross over to Minnesota until Winona. This portion of the drive paralleled the CP River Sub.

Google Earth view of CP's River Sub, BNSF's St. Croix Sub, and our Route. Between La Crosse, and Winona.

Unfortunately for me, we did not see any trains on this CP line.

If you have the time, and know a train may be coming, this is a great stretch of track to shoot, as it curves along and hugs the river.

Pushing north and west, we crossed back over the river to once again enter Wisconsin, and follow the BNSF St. Croix Sub.

Luck however, still wasn't on my side. We stopped for about 25 minutes at the overpass into Merrick State Park, but to no avail. So, we continued on. About 10 minutes up the road, I finally spotted the first train, a southbound CN lead tank train, but too many trees in the way for pictures (an unfortunate trend that continues).

Not expecting another train for a bit, we didn't stop to wait. Bad choice. As near Nelson, WI (here) where the tracks split away from the road, I spotted another southbound train crossing the bridge in the distance. This time it was an intermodal train lead by a trio of BNSF units. Bad timing again lead to not enough time to grab the camera/trees getting in the way.

Finally, I caught a break near Stockholm, WI where we made a stop for a quick break at a lookout, and I heard a train horn close by. The race was on to grab the video camera, and quickly set up. Within 10 seconds of finding a clearish view and setting up the tripod, NS 8159 lead CSX 384, CSX 857, CSX 927,  and NS 8018 along the edge of the Mississippi River with an oil train in tow.

Once the train had cleared, the road called our names again.

The variety of power continued with the last train of the day as we neared Minneapolis, with a CP lead tank train. By now you know the deal, and why there is no picture to go along with this sighting.

Even though we only got one train on camera, it was still a great day.

I promise the final leg of the trip has a few more trains involved (with pictures).

The Drive: Part I (Ottawa - Chicago)

The trip that came along with moving to Saskatchewan involved a lengthy trip from Ontario, but to make it more interesting, we took a route through the United States by way of Chicago, and Minneapolis.

Google Maps image of our route

The original plan was to take our time and have a third stop somewhere in North Dakota. This would have given me more time to do some railfanning along the way. However, the moving company that had taken our stuff through Canada, arrived three days before before the earliest estimated delivery date. This threw a wrench our plans, and resulted in doing the whole 11 hours between Minneapolis, and Weyburn in one day.

Now this isn't to say that we didn't still see some trains along the way! I don't pictures of them all, but I aim to give some info to where we saw the ones that slipped past as we drove(there were quite a few).

The first leg of the trip was from Ottawa to Kitchener, where we would spend a night visiting relatives. The only sighting of the day came near the Pickering GO station as a westbound intermodal train was stopped after meeting an eastbound freight. This train was lead by a CN CSX combo. An interesting note was that there was a distributed breaking car right behind the units. Much like this one. I later learned that it was CN 107.

Leg 2 of the trip was Kitchener to Chicago via Sarnia. We had a few sightings in Michigan, but none were overly note worthy so, we continued onward.

Arriving in Indiana, we made a stop at Chesterton to hopefully catch a few trains. It was not to be though, as no trains came by in the 30 minutes we were there.

Chesterton is a railfan hotspot, as it is directly on the Norfolk Southern Chicago mainline. It is also home to the Chesterton Cam which many railfans throughout North America enjoy to watch.

Waiting a train that never came

After coming up empty at Chesterton, we began the drive into Chicago for an overnight pit stop. If you drive the I-90 into chicago (toll road in Indiana), it follows along the NS Chicago line for awhile in Illinois and Indiana, which provides an opportunity to spot a few trains. Below are two photos of NS trains that we encountered.

The first was an eastbound intermodal train lead by NS 9260 (I apologize for the quality of the photos, as they were taken while on the I-90).

The second was a shot of the other train that 9260 was passing. This was a mixed freight lead west by NS 9273, and 9600.

Aside from a Union Pacific train those were the final sightings of this leg of the trip, as we arrived at our hotel shortly after. Chicago is a beautiful city, and we definitely will make an attempt to go back some day. Below are a few pictures from our walk around Chicago.