Mike McGrattan Memorial Train - Photo Thread

[PGE_Modeller]

In a scene reminiscent of a British Columbia Government Travel Bureau photograph from 1947, the M3T crosses the 472 foot sidehill bridge at Mile 18 of the Squamish Subdivision deep in the Cheakamus Canyon.  The photo is taken on a diorama that was built 40 years ago and ends just beyond the far (North) abutment of the bridge.


17:22 PDT 2017-05-17  This photo replaces the original one.

In another view of the same bridge, our intrepid photographer has hiked in from Garibaldi, some 4 1/2 miles North, and rappelled about 1000 feet down the sheer West wall of the canyon for a full side view:


19:08 PDT 2017-05-17 This image replaces the original one.

The train will now make its way to Squamish, 18 miles further South, where it will be loaded onto one of the PGE's car barges for a 40 mile ocean voyage to Vancouver where it will miraculously come back to the present day time period.

Cheers,

[PGE_Modeller]

The late afternoon sun catches the tops of the waves as the M3T completes its journey on the Pacific Great Eastern via a 40 mile sea voyage aboard the railway’s barge “P.G.E. No.2" from Squamish to Vancouver where it will be transfered to the CPR for interchange with, and the continuation of its journey on, Tehachapi BC. 



After loading the train onto the barge, the train crew realized that they had loaded the Official Car “Michael McGrattan” with the open platform facing the direction of travel.  As the tide was starting to turn,  they opted to tarp the platform rather than unload the car, run the 3 ½ miles to North Yard to wye it and return to the slip.  Unbeknownst to them, however, when the rest of the crew and dignitaries had transferred to Union Steamships’ “Lady Cynthia” for the trip to Vancouver, our mystery conductor and a sidekick had stowed away aboard the Official Car and, once underway, decided they would like to experience the brisk sea breeze and removed the tarp!!

The documentation of this portion of the M3T’s journey was made possible by a trip to visit a neighbouring modeller, David Morgan, who is a dedicated RailWire lurker and a member of our “PGE-BCR Modellers” group and who happens to have scratch-built an N-scale model of the barge!  Many thanks, David.

It has been a privilege and an honour to be part of the itinerary for the Michael McGrattan Memorial Train and to attempt, in my own small way, to continue the practice of Mike and many others on the forum of creating a story line to go with the posted photographs.  Mike will continue to be an inspiration to us all.

Cheers,

[GaryHinshaw]

Despite having just arrived back in North Vancouver by ferry, the Mike McGrattan Memorial Train (M3T) suddenly found itself in Los Angeles and it had to get back to Vancouver lickety-split.  Unfortunately, due to the heavy rains in California this winter, both the coast route and the Tehachapi route were down for repair, so officials had to act fast.  It was determined that the Tehachapi route could be temporarily reopened to allow passage through the work zones at a walking pace, so we set off to record the journey.

On the dry east slope of the Pass, things were in decent shape, so the train was cleared out of Mojave to proceed at track speed (23 mph).  Here we see it passing an officers special inspection train which has just traversed the Pass and has paused at MP 377 to honour the M3T.





At Tehachapi Loop the devastation was on clear display: the rains had completely washed away the fill over Tunnel 9 leaving only the original trestle that supported it, along with some of the tunnel liner and - amazingly - some underground cables.    Work crews, under the supervision of foreman Kennelly in the white shirt, were making preparations to repair the tunnel and the fill, though one wonders if this might be just the excuse management needs to daylight the tunnel and double-track the line between Walong and Woodford.



Just below the Loop, repairs were further along, as the banks of Tehachapi creek have already been regraded and the track is mostly repaired.  From here, crews expect a smooth ride back to BC, and thence home to Peterborough where the M3T can hopefully serve the Kanto sub for years to come.



Requiescat in pace, Mike.  Your memories live on.



[Special thanks to Greg Kennelly - @PGE_Modeller - for hand-delivering the train and providing the figures that were used in some of these shots.  Double thanks to Timothy Horton - @BCR 570 - for organizing the M3T and taking these photos for me.  The photo quality is vastly superior to anything I could have produced.  Lastly, thanks to both for breaking bread and raising a glass with me - in Mike's honour - before the shoot.]

[mark dance]

It was an honor to receive Mike's beautiful Memorial train and to have the luxury of over a week to photograph (and video!) it.

I took a lot of photos and I think the best are below.  I hope you enjoy them.  The video is edited and I hope to find time to add narration and some other stuff this week.  I will post it back top this thread when I do of course.  The background to these photos will be in the video so the photo captions are minimalist to say the least.  I ask for your patience in this regard.

Thank you Mike.  And thank you so much Tim for pulling this all together and to everyone who has contributed and commented.  What a unique and thoughtful project to be a part of.

Md

5 Mile Creek


5 Mile Creek


Anderson Creek


Nelson


Kootenay River


4th crossing of the Kootenay River (Taghum Bridge)


South Slocan


Lemon Creek


Slocan City


Slocan River


Vallican


Slocan River Bridge


Castlegar


West Robson


Celgar


Tunnel #1


Tunnel #1


Shields


McCormack Creek Bridge


Farr Creek Bridge


Farr Creek Bridge


Barr Creek Bridge


Barr Creek Bridge


Coykendahl


Coykendahl


Pup Creek


Porcupine Fill


Farron


Shed #1 (Paulson shed)


Slide Bridge


Slide Bridge


Lafferty


Lafferty


Fife


5th crossing of the Kettle River (Cascade Bridge)


Cascade


Cascade

[seusscaboose]

WOW!

[jereising]

Gorgeous, just gorgeous!

[GaryHinshaw]

+1!  And so fitting to have the GMD-1's for power. 

[peteski]

Outstanding!

[mark dance]

...and the video.

I am posting this video link just to the Railwire for the moment.  If anyone sees a significant error that you think need correction, please let me know.  Otherwise in a week or so I will make it status "public" on the C&W Youtube channel.

Thank you Tim for your great leadership on this.  And Rest In Peace Mike!

md

[wm3798]

Mark, thanks for that amazing video.  Your work is astonishing, and the effort you put into the tribute is appreciated by all.

Thanks also for sneaking a couple of my photos in there, especially the PVR boxcar.  While the memorial train made its way across the continent, that boxcar traveled around the world.  Mike was a good soul, and made all of us better modelers, and better people for knowing him.

Lee

[Nick Lorusso]

Mark,
Wow just wow.

[Angus Shops]

That's a beautiful piece of work Mark and a fitting memorial for Mike. Thank you for putting all the work into this project.

Geoff

[Scottl]

That was wonderful Mark.

[Bruce Bird]

Catching up with the train's latest stops- I could have watched 8 pages of photos on Mark's layout.  All of the layouts have been fun to see and the stories are top notch as well.

Great job to everyone!

Bruce

[chicken45]

I just noticed there's a face on the conductor now.