OLYMPIC SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS
Amtrak Cascades evening departure from Vancouver will depart two hours later during the 2010 Winter Olympics period to give US visitors more time to take in the Games. From February 1 through March 31, 2010, train 517 will depart Vancouver at 1945 hours (instead of 1745). Other schedules are unchanged. (SDHSE)
HITTING A TRUCK TRAILER AT 45 MPH
Our own Ryan Cruickshank reports on a traumatic experience while on train M302 the morning of November 23, 2009. The Thornton to Kamloops train hit a semi trailer truck hauling an empty container in the Fraser valley at 45 mph, the crew hit the deck and the empty container went up in the air and right over the locomotive. The train came to a stop 33 car lengths later without derailing, thankfully there were no injuries. (R.C.)
NEW RAIL CONNECTIONS FOR SASKATCHEWAN PLANTS
CN is spending more than $7 million to provide a rail service connection to two new oilseed crushing plants in Yorkton, SK. $5.6 million will go to upgrade the line between Melville, SK and the CN mainline, while the rest will build new rail into the new LDM Food plant. A second new plant, Richardson oilseed, is scheduled for connection in 2010. (BL)
BCR SD40-2’s MOVE ON
Several former BC Rail SD40-2’s have moved on from CN. Lettered for ASDX at Woodcrest shop in November were SD40-2’s 746, 747, 751, 752, 764 and 767. (TJ)
OOPS WITH INTERURBANS IN VANCOUVER
With the Winter Olympics coming and the demonstration run of the new streetcar units on the old Downtown Historic railway, the City decided to move the two historic interurban cars to CPR in Coquitlam for winter storage until the demo run is completed. The cars were trucked to Ballantyne Pier where they were to be moved by rail to Coquitlam at a max speed of 15 mph.
On the morning of December 12, a pair of CPR GP38’s (300x / 3005) were in charge of the move and derailed the two interurban cars at a crossover in Vancouver being used to access the mainline. The cars were re-railed and proceeded the rest of the way without incident. (K.S.)
(photo, Greg Shevchenko)
HOLIDAY TRAINS A BIG HIT ONCE AGAIN
CPR operated its pair of holiday trains once again in December 2009, raising money for local charities across its system and providing community entertainment along the way. The Canadian train finished its tour across Canada at Port Moody on December 18, 2009.
The brightly lit trains have become a regular Christmas tradition across the country and see good crowds attend at each place they stop.
SPECIAL INCENTIVES FOR 2010 BOOKINGS
Rocky Mountaineer is once again offering special incentives to help get bookings going for the 2010 season. As in past years, the BC Resident’s Discount was offered on advance bookings for the Whistler Sea to Sky Climb route with a $109 residents special, and the company is also offering a “Stay & Play Free” package for any rail vacation of seven or more nights with a free overnight Vancouver hotel and a choice of a Free day trip excursion option (must be booked between now and March 31, 2010 to qualify).
ALBERTA STATION
Watch for the Rocky Mountaineer Vancouver station to be come the Alberta Station during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics period—the station and entire area has been leased by the Government of Alberta as their Olympic event headquarters through the games period.
MOTIVE POWER NOTES
VIA’s 21 GE P42DC units have reached the one million mile mark and will now go through an intermediate overhaul project over the next two years, costing some $5.6 million. These 21 locomotives serve on the eastern corridor and were delivered in 2001…...VIA’s rebuilt F40PH-2 locomotives continue to emerge from their major rebuild program—so far in service are 6400, 6402, 6417, 6443, 6452, 6454 and 6547. (SDHSE)
MORE RDC UPGRADES
VIA is going ahead with a Budd RDC upgrade program that will apparently include all three of the Vancouver Island cars, plus eight additional RDC’s to be in mated pairs for use in other services in Canada which do not currently employ RDC’s. Industrial Rail Services in New Brunswick will do the work. (SDHSE)
OTHER NEWS
STEAM TO THE RESCUE
Passengers were rescued by a steam locomotive after modern rail services were brought to a halt by the snowy conditions in south-east England. (BBC NEWS)
Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail. Some commuters at London Victoria faced lengthy delays until Tornado - Britain's first mainline steam engine in 50 years - offered them a lift. They were taken home "in style", said the Darlington-built engine's owners.
Train services in Kent were hit hard by the freezing conditions at the start of the week. The weather-related disruption included three days of cancellations for Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel. Tornado, a £3m Peppercorn class A1 Pacific based at the National Railway Museum in York, was in the South East for one day, offering "Christmas meal" trips from London to Dover. Its "Cathedrals Express" service, the last mainline journey in its first year of operations, was about to depart when staff heard about the stranded passengers. About 100 people were offered free seats, according to Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust - the charity which built Tornado. (L.M.)
NEW WESTMINSTER NOTES
Changes at New Westminster—BNSF Railway has replaced the deck on the trestle section at the east and on the Fraser River rail bridge with a concrete cap roadbed atop the trestle sections, both the CN and SRY trestle accesses remain wooden decked.
The riverboat that was the former casino at New Westminster has gone, it is apparently now in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. (A.C.)
GEN SET LOCOMOTIVES ON VANCOUVER’s WATERFRONT
The latest in locomotive technology, gen set units (consisting of multiple small diesel generator sets in a single unit) are making their mark on the Port Vancouver area. These units are very fuel efficient, using only the mechanical units required for power demands. Three local switching operations now use these new type of locomotives in their motive power fleets:
- Viterra Inc. was first, receiving a National Railway Equipment single engine 1GS-7B unit in November 2008. Rated at 700 hp, it is VITX 2010 and operates at its grain terminal on the south shore of Burrard inlet
- Neptune Bulk Terminals acquired two NRE units in February 2009, a three gen set unit model 3GS-21B #808 which is mated with a slug #808A. The Gen Set unit has three 700hp diesel engines. These units are easy to spot at Neptune’s North Vancouver facility as they are painted a bright turquoise colour scheme
- In November 2009, Alliance Grain Terminal joined the party with a NRE 1GS-7B unit numbered 2605 (this is the former United Grain Growers facility on the south shore).
Although Port access is now very restricted, it is possible to spot all these units from public roads around the port areas. (SDHSE)
WEST COAST EXPRESS OLYMPICS SERVICES
West Coast Express will add service during the 2010 Winter Olympics, providing extra trains every day (including weekends) from February 12 through February 28. The services go like this:
- Friday Feb. 12 - a sixth westbound train leaves Mission at 1400, and two extra eastbounds depart Waterfront at 2300 and 0015
- Saturdays Feb. 13, 20, 27—there will be five westbound trains departing Mission every 90 minutes from 1230 through 1830, with four eastbounds from Waterfront at 2100, 2200, 2300 and 0015
- Sundays Feb. 14, 21, 28—there will be four westbounds from Mission every 90 minutes from 1230 to 1700 and three eastbounds departing Waterfront at 2100, 2230 and 0015
- Weekdays during the last half of February will see three extra trains in each direction, leaving Mission at 1130, 1300 and 1400 and Waterfront eastbound at 2130, 2300 & 0015
All trips are scheduled for the standard 73 minute travel time, and—as you can see, there will be lots of deadhead moves made to position the equipment for these schedules.
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