I was fortunate enough to attend an ops session at Mark's magnificent Columbia & Western this week, and during the course of the session, I was able to carve out a bit of time to take in the sights with the aid of my new iPhone camera. Of course all the modelling credit goes to Mark "I'm not a modeller" Dance.
I ended up taking mostly scenery shots -- trains and/or people are mostly incidental. Enjoy!
We began the trip in Nelson and headed west. Our first stop was the hamlet of Taghum, where the line crosses the Kootenay River. (Pardon the train order cabinet looming over the bridge.)
Just past the town of Castlegar lies the paper mill at Kraft. The Kraft local was holding the main in the background after finishing its work in the mill (foreground tracks). The wetlands scenery is spot on:
The climb up the Monashees begins in earnest after Kraft. Here we see a classic CP relic from the past hugging the cliff at Shields siding (behind the tower):
My favourite shot of the day was this one of the first of 3 bridges between Shields and Coykendahl:
We were fortunate enough to catch the tail end of a heavy loaded ore train entering a short tunnel just above the bridge:
The second of the three bridges is a splendid pin-connected affair:
The ruggedness of the Monashees is readily apparent in this view (looking almost into the sun) of the third bridge on the hill:
We were rewarded with another heavy freight descending the grade, dynamic brakes howling all the while:
It was a very busy day on the hill. Around the bend at Coykendahl siding we were treated to a meet, which required a pair of saw-bys to complete:
X4080 east was also spotted earlier in the day just up the hill from Coykendahl:
Despite it being early November on the calendar, it was full-on winter at Farron Summit, where we spotted a pair of helper units on the wye getting ready to make the run down to Shields to push a mixed freight back up the hill:
Just past Farron another mixed freight was just pulling in to Summit for its requisite 30 minute brake test before it descends the east slope:
The pause gave us time to set up for a final Christmas card scene of the train's caboose:
What a great way to ring in the holiday season! Thanks Mark!
