Railfanning The CP Main 4/21/2010 Part 1 of 4 - "An SD60 Kind of Morning"

FINALLY I picked the right day to railfan the Canadian Pacific's Chicago/Twin Cities mainline (Tomah Subdivision west of Portage, Watertown Sub east)! April 21 was a phenominal day in terms of sheer volume of trains, and the variety/amount of classic EMD power!

I arrived on the east side of Portage just after 8 AM. The day's video opens as a hi-rail truck rolls by, moments ahead of...

Train #1: CP GM11 (I think) Portage Yard Job, 8:07 AM
CP 4509 (GP38-2)

This yard/local job pulls up a steep hill and out of a spur with a gondola that it picked up, and stops.

Train #2: CP 282 EB manifest, 8:21 AM
SOO 6025 (SD60)
CP 5909 (SD40-2)
SOO 4418 (GP38-2)

Wow!!! What a lashup for the first road freight of the day! The Soo Line SD60s on the point have always proven elusive for me, both before and after they spent a large chunk of 2009 in storage.

CP 4509 gives them a roll-by, then shoves its single gondola back toward the yard. Shortly thereafter, thanks to my new car rooftop scanner antenna, I received word of...

Train #3: CP 291 WB manifest, 8:56 AM
SOO 6034 (SD60)
SOO 6058 (SD60M)

I haven't been trackside for an hour and it's the second awesome lashup of the day! It's straight out of the sun and riddled with diamond artifacts, but the two workhorse 710s put on quite a show accelerating out of town.

But wait, we're not done with "SOO 6025 East" (282) just yet! My dad was in the Columbus/Astico area, and got my heads up phone call in time to get a second runby. Just to the east of his location, this train met...

Train #4: CP 283 WB manifest, 9:39 AM
CP 8807 (ES44AC)
CP 8804 (ES44AC)
CP 9555 (AC4400CW)

The train with the most horsepower so far today is also the shortest (not counting the yard job!), go figure. This train was coming my way, but I had additional railroad action in my area as well. Stay tuned...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• train
• railroad
• railway
• railfan
• Canadian
• Pacific
• CP
• Rail
• Soo
• Line
• EMD
• GP38-2
• SD60
• GE
• ES44AC
• locomotive

[LenaVideos]

Damn where are all these soos when im on the CP?

[HighIronofWisconsin]

@LenaVideos That's usually the question I'm asking, until yesterday!

[Superiorpakfan]

Very nice! i love hearing the birds chirping in the background blends in well. Must be Spring now for you guys ay? Winter for us down here in Australia!

Cheers 5*

[DYP1420]

Excellent Video!! You had a great day for filming!

[trainmaster55]

Wow, awesome job! All that old Soo power is the best!

[GenesisSanctuary]

Awesome vid, Andy! Those SD60s are awesome! Soo Line units always seem to have awesome P3s.