Click HERE to see a photo album of the rail related things we got to see on our way back from Peoria, IL to Manitoba.
Sir William Cornelius Van Horne is buried in Joliet, IL (30 mi. SW of Chicago), and we took some pix of his grave. Then we spent the rest of that afternoon at the Illinois Rail Musem, which is a fantastic place -- 23 steam engines, 26 diesels, something like 400(?) pieces of rolling stock!, a mess of streetcars, etc. We were there for Diesel Days, and probably saw 10 operating engines.
To use the album:
It's not that hard. Use your "Back" button liberally. Send me e-mail with any trouble.
The CP Holiday Train stopped on time at 9:30 in Winnipeg on 8-Dec-2005, on Molson St., between Panet Rd. and Munroe Ave.
Note: Being both winter photos and night photos, these may a bit hard to see. I will do some processing of them as time permits, as well as including a few more shots (if they can be salvaged!)
The performers included Wayne Rostad, the Moffats, and Amanda Stott (of Manitoba.)
The consist included the Van Horne, the Killarney, the N.R. Crump, and the Ernest "Smokey" Smith, V.C. passenger cars.
It was pulled by 9713, a GE AC4400 engine.
The Schnabel car is the tool needed to move the heaviest things over land. It's like snowshoes for rail -- spread the weight out so you don't put too much on any one spot. Most of the time, it is used by power companies for moving things like reactors and generators.
Click on the photo or the heading to go to a gallery of images that were shown at the 9-Dec-2005 meeting of the Winnipeg Model Railroad Club.
The top speed is about 15 mph, though Becky and I clocked it at 20 once. The sharpest curve it can handle vertically is a 2000 foot radius: more than 1/3 of a mile! There aren't too many routes like that from a port to the Long Lake oilsands project at Fort McMurry, Alberta. This is why it came through Manitoba.
I need to list the folks who helped find it, and who have been tolerant of an enthusiastic newbie train nut! This list is incomplete, but if you're not included yet, I intend to make amends!
Ron Einarson, Steve Forsberg at BNSF, Ian Lisakowski at CP, Zenon Lisakowski, Fred Headon, Nick Andrusiak, Tim Hogue, the engineer of CN 5708 on the morning of 7-Dec-2005, David Schauer, Bob Cargill (CPSIG) of Alberta, Dave Gabrielson, John Longhurst, Morgan Turney (Canadian Railway Modeller) and everyone else who kept their eyes open for it.
There is more to come: I spent 2 weeks tracking this shipment down from when I heard about it, and have lots more info to post. Two sites (related to each other) with lots of good pictures are Lake Superior Warehousing Co. and Duluth Shipping News. They have a few pictures of how it articulates. The load will hang over the curve (without falling over!), and can be adjust up or down by up to 44 inches, and side to side by about 40 inches. (Exact numbers to be verified.)
I have Schnabel links, and even a link to someone who's make a resin model in HO of the thing. (I believe that in HO, a Schnabel is about a metre long!)