Great shots epa! I have a few BN shots as well, if you're interested!
A BN Woodchip train rolls by a stopped coal train on the approach to the yard. We'll be following this train for many miles on its trek to Wellington.
Here it is again rounding the bend of a small pond.
Here it is meeting with a stopped empty log train. This one has an un-repainted GN F7B on it, definitely worth the trip!
Passing the West Clyde switchers. The 4% grade to the log loading area has mandated at least two 1750 hp engines as the switchers here. They'll be expecting a lot of cars soon as that log train mentioned earlier is backing in. An extra SW1500 was taken from Vernon to help.
Attaching helpers at Forest Lake.
Passing a coal train, with a brand-new EMD SD60 with tiger stripes. We'd see a couple more on the next train we met with.
Taking the siding at Pine Hills.
Here's the aforementioned train, bracketing two SD60's and a C30-7.
Entering Wellington, the train passes a GP9 switching the grain elevator here.
After several hours the train has made it to Wellington. In the morning the switch crew will set out the woodchip loads and the train crew will take the adjacent empty coal hoppers to the mine for refilling.
At the other end of the yard the train meets an empty coal train with three new EMD SD60M's. The BN used GP9's and SD9's all the way up until the merger. Our train had an F7B on it, an ultra-rare catch by then. "Time to find a hotel and get some sleep," said the crew!