New power for the KWR!

Well, it would seem that the Kootenay Western has received some new power from both CN and the Santa Fe. A former NAR SD38-2, recently repainted and renumbered as 1653, was spotted on its way to Kelowna from Fort Steele. This is being leased to Kootenay Western from co-parent CN.
Here is 1653 on the high trestle over Dolores Creek, just outside of the town of Canyon Creek on Jack Slimmon's Kootenay Southern. The 1653 will be assigned to yard switching and local freight duties between Kelowna, Winfield and Vernon.
KWR's "new" F45's were spotted on the point of a through freight in the town of Canyon Creek. KWR management might not be able to repaint the 3600 hp units for awhile, as they are needed for the daily through freight from Kelowna to Fort Steele on the Kootenay Southern. These were purchased outright from the Santa Fe.
This the same train departing Canyon Creek for Fort Steele. These Athearn units have been reworked, with the powered unit having a Mashima can motor, NWSL wheels and fitted with a T1 DCC decoder. The dummy unit will eventually be equipped with a small CCD wireless video camera. Talk about realism in miniature!
On to the real McCoy...I was called on a grain "spotter" to Vermilion AB on the former Canadian Northern mainline, now CN's Vegreville Subdivision. What with all of the residents of Ukrainian descent around Vegreville and Vermilion, we call this "the Kubassa Trail". Taken late in the day just east of Vegreville. I had just spotted 22 hoppers at the adjacent elevator.

The next morning, we returned on a loaded grain train with SD70M-2 8017 on the point. This is at the west switch at Vegreville, after a meet with train 452. This is "dark" (OCS) territory. Apologies for the off lighting on both shots!

Now this little guy must be a railfan at heart...a true ferro "equine" ologist!! One short blast from the Nathan P5 horn sent him running back to Mommy, seen to the right in the photo!

That's all for this edition, ecxept to say that Len K. will come over bfore the end of july to finish wiring the basement. After that, I will finish the drywall and the suspended ceiling. Once that is in place, then construction of the Kootenay Western can begin in earnest!

Have a good weekend ... hopefully I will have more to report soon!

Ontario trip

The wife (Gail) and I took a trip out to Ontario to go visit with friends and family. We flew from Edmonton to Ottawa on the 13th of May. That's me with the hat, notice the Oilers pin on the hat...



Met up with Chris Lyon (on the left in the photo) the next day to go see some of the finest model railroad layouts in the Greater Ottawa vicinity. Viewed 3 great layouts (sorry, no still shots...Gail had the digital camera as she toured Ottawa with an old neighbor and Chris's wife Lela), then went to Chris's to try my hand with switching out the 2 coal mines on his layout.

After dinner at the Montana's in Orleans, Chris and I went to Mike Hamer's HO Boston and Maine layout. This is an abslolutely stunning layout...almost makes a person want to break out in song, doesn't it, guys??






A couple of shots from Mike's layout...notice yours truly looking on approvingly!


The photo I like is taken from the perspective of the cyclist as he (or she) approaches a level crossing. The B&M passenger train is blasting through the
crossing...

















The local switcher is tucked away in'the hole' as the hotshot freight approaches North Dover station. By the looks of the station platform, the varnish can't be too far behind the freight...










We departed Ottawa the next day on VIA train 79 to Toronto and Chatham, Gail's birthplace. Lela was kind enough to accompany us on a 'mini-tour' of Ottawa and a bite to eat at downtown Ottawa's Byward Market. This is the first opportunity for Gail to ride the train. Of course, this is 'old hat' for me...


All Aboard!!















We had a 2-hour layover in downtown Toronto. The main hallway in VIA's Union Station left one with a surreal feeling...like being in a cathedral, perhaps. Just imagine the numbers of passengers using this facility throughout the years...

I was able to walk up to the headend of VIA 75 (our train to Chatham) in the train shed and took this shot. Notice the GO commuter train preparing to leave westbound to the left...

It was a rainy, dreary day in T.O. We decided against going up the CN tower on this day. We actually returned to Toronto from Niagara Falls on a sunny day a week later to do this. Drove to GO Clarkson station and took the GO train to Union station and hoofed it to the tower. That was a good distance on foot for the two of us!
Chatham VIA station in the evening. We had a good time here, checking out Gail's childhood haunts and getting reaquainted with some of her old friends and aquiantances...
This is the Chatham Railway Museum, which is actually ony 2 blocks from Gail's childhood home. Located inside an old CN smoothside streamline baggage car, in the green / gold paint scheme.
Another shot inside the museum. A model representation of the passenger trains that travelled through Chatham...
We departed Chatham the next day on VIA 72 for London to meet with some more friends and pick up our rental car. Not many photos, which is part to do with allof the video we shot. At or near Komoka (5 miles west of London), we were delayed for over 2 hours when a stack train ahead of us struck a pedestrian trespasser at 60+ MPH. Needless to say, this person was instantly killed. We did not leave London until quite late in the afternoon, arriving at our friend's farm near Bailieboro about 10:30 that night. A long rainy day, to say the least...This is young Kenny (Ken Sr. had his 40th birthday party on the Victoria Day weekend). Somebody must have let it out of the bag that I like to sing. First time I've ever done Eric Burdon's 'House of the Rising Sun'. I don't think the old hogger is going to give up his day (?) job any time soon...
The birthday boy...dunno, I don't think he looks a day over 38...Must have been tough to find a bartender that night...
Ken's wife Lorie must have been really tired when we took this shot. Maybe she's just conserving energy...who knows? The whole weekend was quite cool, as evidenced by the touque...
Off we go to Niagara Falls for 4 days. We finally got some lovely weather and decided to take the helicopter tour above the Falls. Gail took this spectacular shot of Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls. After this, we visited Gail's cousins (which she had not seen for 40 years) in Welland, then drove to London. We spent a day and a half around London bfore flying home last Tuesday.
But before we left, we managed to run into a couple of famous people...Who said 'Bogey" was dead. We had seen him in Niagara-on-the-Lake! I taught Tiger everything he knows...LOL!

















Tribal-class destroyer HMCS Haida display at Hamilton Harbour. I had the see this grand old lady while we were in the vicinity...Canada's most famous warship during the 2nd World War.

Well, that's it for this edition. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Regards...Ken.