CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-18 15:21:44 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

Three views of the same train. It has been very very dry here in Winnipeg and a passing car threw up a dust cloud that obscured the approaching train.. shooting into the morning sun didn't help. The second photo shows brutish ex-BNSF 2195 C40-8W trailing, and the third photo shows the train going around a bend in the tracks with the two locomotives barely visible a couple of miles away.

2013-05-17 13:32:19 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 41 +1s)

A CN train rounds the bend outside Winnipeg. We don't have a lot of curves in these Prairie tracks... you have to seek them out.

2013-05-16 20:42:27 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 32 +1s)

Shooting the Shooter

For passenger trains, I normally take a photo of every car as it passes by, to record the numbers for some friends who like to obsess over those details. This requires a fast memory card to keep up with a train rolling past at 60+ MPH!

Some of the dome occupants are watching the ride, but one is giving me a wave and another is taking my photo!

Shared for #TrainspottingThursday  by +Mick Logan 

2013-05-16 04:53:09 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

We noticed a big plume of smoke a few kilometres south of us while my son was playing soccer. Soon a plane was circling the area, and then two water bombers passed by en route to the fire. I've seen these at the airport but never in flight.

This is a Bombardier CL-415, tail number C-GMFY. It went into service in November 2010. These babies can scoop over 6,000L of water, mix it with some foam, and deliver it on target, and do it over and over again without landing.

News article: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Fire-crews-battle-south-Winnipeg-blaze-from-the-ground-and-the-air-207647531.html

2013-05-16 02:40:28 (12 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Comments on New G+

I notice that "Lock Post" is now "Disable Reshares", which is a better way of saying it. The typography is nice. Not sure I like the 3 column format yet... some photos look great but it's a bit busy to me. So far I'm keeping an open mind...

We saw these two Canada geese hanging out on someone's rooftop when we were walking through the park. They seemed quite content to "own the roof". In the background, a water bomber returns to the airport after helping douse a grass fire south of the city.

2013-05-16 01:29:39 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 15 +1s)

Pumpkins and the Elevator

I spent a lot of time Sunday morning by this grain elevator, watching the oil train (at left) and waiting for something to move. After an hour or so, an intermodal train rolled out of the Dilworth yard and passed the elevator and the parked train. All of these engines were in the BNSF "pumpkin" paint scheme.

2013-05-15 18:02:45 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Apparently we're getting an upgrade - haven't seen any changes yet. Have you?

2013-05-15 12:51:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

#wordlessonwednesday   #wordlesswednesday  

2013-05-15 01:11:26 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

It seems like trains spend a lot of time waiting. Railway managers do their best to improve "velocity", the all-inclusive speed at which rail cars move from origin to destination. Speed while moving is one thing, but "dwell time" when the car is sitting in a rail yard, or on a waiting train, kills velocity.

This empty coal train sat for well over an hour while I paced around, waiting for it or the oil train behind me to move. Note in the far distance there is another train waiting behind this one... yard congestion is a big problem! #TransportTuesday  

2013-05-14 20:27:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

"A Sweet Break"

Camera: Canon PowerShot G15   Edit: CPSP X5  Shot in Ferrara


















#teaclub #teacoffeechocolatefoodclub #breakfastclub #europeanphotography   #pixelworld   #10000photographers #hqspnonnaturephotos #promotephotography #canonusers #canonphotography #dailydepthoffield #lowanglephotography #urbaninviewsandlife #architectureyesterdayandtomorrow #hqspmacro #macro4all #chocolate #chocolatedesserts #icecream #ferrara #cattedrale  

2013-05-14 17:47:29 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 27 +1s)

Here's a two-fer for #BridgesOverTuesday  and #TransportTuesday  - two CN Geeps roll over the Reversing Falls bridge in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

2013-05-14 05:07:25 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

BNSF in Dilworth Yard in... Fargo? Moorhead? Dilworth? They all run together.

An early share for #TransportTuesday  curated by +Gene Bowker +Michael Earley +Joe Paul and +Annie Irving 

2013-05-13 01:55:15 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

Sneaking under the wire for #SteamySunday  (curated by +Paul Pavlinovich and +Shelly Gunderson), this is Northern Pacific engine 1068 on display in Dilworth, Minnesota. She is an 0-6-0 steamer built in 1907. She is on display with a caboose in a little park. 

2013-05-13 01:38:00 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Under a cloud of its own smoke, BNSF 6222 passed by the old Northern Pacific depot in downtown Fargo, North Dakota this morning. I got up early to catch the morning light and it was a nice morning to watch trains!

2013-05-12 03:22:22 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

I found this beauty today in Fargo, North Dakota. This is former Illinois Central caboose #199388, apparently at the end of her days. She was coupled to a boxcar a few ex-Amtrak passenger cars, and some old tank cars.

2013-05-10 13:36:19 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

A local train is passing through Portage Junction in Winnipeg. The lead engine is a remote-controlled GP9 and the trailing engine is a Canadian-only GMD1.

2013-05-10 03:51:28 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Waiting for a train, Canadian-style.

2013-05-10 01:33:05 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

A CN potash train rolls by the fairly new rapid transit station on Osborne Street in Winnipeg. Alas, it is bus rapid transit but maybe in a few years it will be converted to light rail. One can only hope, right?

Shared for #TrainspottingThursday  with +Mick Logan

2013-05-09 02:43:37 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

VIA Rail's current slogan is "a more human way to travel". I couldn't agree more.

2013-05-08 13:28:31 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 50 +1s)

Happy birthday +Gene Bowker! I hope it's a great one for you. #happybdaygene  

Here's a Prairie branchline freight train I found yesterday afternoon. Thought of Gene when I was taking it, as he says he likes the Canadian trains...

2013-05-07 12:11:56 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 27 +1s)

This is the Brooklyn Bridge, probably one of the more iconic bridges in the world... sadly under some repair when I saw it in NYC. Shared for #BridgesOverTuesday  curated by +Clare Bambers 

2013-05-07 12:03:09 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

A sad, sad old steam engine rusting away. This is Abitibi #30, an engine that worked for 39 years at two paper mills before retirement in 1962. Everything of any value has been stripped from this engine, just like the former mill that it stands in front of. It was depressing just to see this.

Shared for #TransportTuesday  curated by +Gene Bowker +Michael Earley +Joe Paul and +Annie Irving 

2013-05-07 02:04:42 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Date Nail

This is a date nail, found in a railroad tie on an abandoned branch line in Manitoba. What's a date nail, you ask?

Railways used to put a date nail in every tie they installed, so maintenance workers would know when the tie was installed and could determine how quickly the tie rotted or failed, and adjust how ties were preserved. The nail normally shows the year of installation, so this tie was installed in 1945. Date nails are no longer used as railways preserve ties quite well, and also they stamp information into the ends of ties instead.

Some people collect date nails. I don't, and I left this one (and the others) in situ.
More info: http://facstaff.uindy.edu/~oaks/DateNailInfo.htm

2013-05-06 19:29:46 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 30 +1s)

2013-05-06 02:04:26 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 24 +1s)

I saw a rather decrepit looking steam engine on display today in Pine Falls, Manitoba. The engine was Abitibi locomotive #30, operated from 1924 to 1963 at the paper mill. This engine was the last steam engine in daily service in western Canada. Sadly it is in poor shape.

Shared for #SteamySunday  curated by +Paul Pavlinovich and +Shelly Gunderson 

2013-05-05 23:00:22 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

Steve Boyko was tagged in Steve Boyko's album.

2013-05-05 23:00:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Added photos to The Selfy Sunday Project.

2013-05-04 15:50:59 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 27 +1s)

This is the Coast Starlight that I shot... even though the sun had set, there was a nice rose colour to the sky. All was not lost. :)

2013-05-04 15:45:55 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 17 +1s)

I was waiting for the Amtrak Coast Starlight train near Monterey, California one evening, watching the sun set with an anxious eye. The train was late and I was worried the sun would set before the train came by, and in fact that is exactly what happened. However, I was happy to at least see a lovely sunset.

2013-05-04 01:43:24 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 45 +1s)

Got Smoke?

2013-05-03 14:18:24 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 23 +1s)

Reaching for You

A wee flower for #FloralFriday  curated by +Tamara Pruessner and now +Beth Akerman and +Eustace James!

2013-05-02 00:42:57 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 25 +1s)

#wordlesswednesday   #wordlessonwednesday  

2013-05-02 00:02:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

A long distance shot through a snow flurry to get this train. For some reason they were running backwards, or as most railfans call it, "long hood forward". Of course diesel-electric locomotives run equally well forward or backward, but the visibility is poor with the long end leading. Many of the earlier diesel locomotives ran long hood forward, and I believe the thought was that it offered better collision protection for the crew... and of course the vast majority of steam engines ran that way. Nowawdays collision protection is much better and it is very rare to find an engine running long hood forward.

2013-05-01 19:33:28 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)

This was me, this morning. GRRRRR. :)

2013-05-01 00:57:06 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 43 +1s)

Morant's Curve is a famous railfan location in the Canadian Rockies. It is named after Nicholas Morant, who was a staff photographer for the Canadian Pacific Railway and took many photographs here. On my first visit to Banff in 2010, Morant's Curve was a "must see". We drove by it one day and I saw how the lovely curves of the tracks by the Bow River make for a very photogenic location. I got up early one morning and came here to get a few hours of train watching in... only to find it socked in with fog. So, trust me, there are mountains out there but you can't see them!

We're headed back to Banff again this summer and you can bet I'll be here!
#transporttuesday  

2013-04-30 18:30:41 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 18 +1s)

A closeup of CP 9502, an AC4400 with the RCMP Musical Ride sticker. It says "a proud sponsor of the RCMP Musical Ride". CP was a sponsor of the Musical Ride back in 1995 when this series of locomotives were delivered, so most have the sticker. Since we're Canadian, the conductor's side has a sticker in French: "Fier commanutaire du Carrousel de la GRC".

+Gene Bowker +ERIC SMALLWOOD  #transporttuesday  

2013-04-30 12:49:36 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 25 +1s)

It's a two-fer for #BridgesOverTuesday  and #TransportTuesday  with the VIA Rail Chaleur crossing a span in Port Daniel, Quebec with a couple of onlookers. These themes are curated by +Clare Bambers on the one hand and +Gene Bowker +Joe Paul +Michael Earley and +Annie Irving on the other.

2013-04-30 02:54:01 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 32 +1s)

The VIA Chaleur crosses the highway on the Gaspé peninsula in Quebec, on the start of a long journey. In August 2007 a friend and I chased this train more than 300 km... then chased it back. By the end of the day we were exhausted but happy. I remember as I tried to sleep that night, I kept hearing phantom train horns from the many, many times we saw the train at crossings.

You can read about the whole adventure on my blog, starting here: http://blog.traingeek.ca/2007/08/steve-and-daves-excellent-gaspe.html

2013-04-30 02:46:21 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Stay safe out there!

2013-04-28 21:14:57 (16 comments, 2 reshares, 40 +1s)

My daughter, standing by one of the "flowerpot rocks" at Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick, Canada. Remember those high Bay of Fundy tides I mentioned? Today the difference between low and high tide is 13.7m or about 45 feet. Much of this rock is underwater at high tide!

2013-04-28 13:50:31 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

Boats at Alma, New Brunswick. Alma is near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, where the highest tides in the world occur. You have to pay attention when you are out on the beach at low tide...

2013-04-28 01:00:34 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 35 +1s)

This was the Rocky Mountaineer luxury train in Banff, Alberta in August 2010. We're heading back to Banff this summer and I hope to see this train again!

2013-04-27 14:01:51 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 30 +1s)

CN 2689 entering Winnipeg.

2013-04-26 15:50:46 (17 comments, 2 reshares, 53 +1s)

I always loved taking photos of trains with the McAdam station in the background.

2013-04-25 01:47:09 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 56 +1s)

I can't believe I just passed 10,000 followers! Thank you all so much for adding me to your circles, and please comment if you've just started following me... or even if you're an "old timer". :)

This is from late September (2011) in New Brunswick, Canada, which is a fantastic time of year to visit New Brunswick. The leaves are amazing and this photo does not do them justice. Here the train is passing the historic Rothesay train station, built in the late 1850s for the European and North American Railway. It is one of the oldest standing railway stations in North America.

2013-04-25 00:47:14 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Transcona Yard... with CN 102 on the left ready to roll out and CN 103 on the right getting refueled. You're seeing the engine on the rear of 103, not the front end. Numbered trains in North America generally head east if they are even-numbered and west if they are odd-numbered.

2013-04-24 04:20:05 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 28 +1s)

The prairies are great for the wide open shots, but sometimes you need a curve.

Shared for #TransportTuesday  curated by +Gene Bowker +Michael Earley +Joe Paul and +Annie Irving 

2013-04-24 03:47:46 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 19 +1s)

YAMP!

aka Yet Another Moon Photo... couldn't resist. This time I tried using mirror lockup and I do think it helped.

2013-04-23 13:21:35 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 22 +1s)

I drove out of town to get this shot. I would have liked to be more "side on" to the grain elevator but it is very wet this time of year and I would have been truly soaked. I'll wait until things dry up a bit.

2013-04-23 04:41:50 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 16 +1s)

I spied, with my little eye, a "new" engine for the Central Manitoba Railway. They purchased three used GP9 engines at auction late last year and this was my first sighting of those, CEMR 4119. It was basically inaccessible from anywhere except this angle.