My Railfan 5 Challenge - 5 photos showing why I love trains and model them

Hey again readers! So I recently watched a video by Youtube model railroader/railfan BArailsystem, and he talked about why he loves trains and is an avid modeler in a format called The Railfan 5 Challenge. The challenge was started up as an idea by Eric Gagnon, publisher of the Canadian railfan blog Trackside Treasure, as a railfan version of the world-famous ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. If you don't do a Railfan 5, you must donate to a railway preservation society of your choice. I'm closest to the Great Canadian Plains Railway Society, who runs the Galt Historic Rail Park at Stirling, AB. I have yet to donate to them, but I will next time I go.
Societies that I have donated to and support are the Rocky Mountain Rail Society, the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association(Alberta Railway Museum) of Edmonton, and the Revelstoke Heritage Railway Society(Revelstoke Railway Museum) in Revelstoke, BC. I donated to all three during the summer. You can read the original blog post here.

So I come here today to do my Railfan 5. I will share five photos that depict the reasons why I love trains, real and model. It's just that simple!
I will also challenge a few friends to do it too. They are listed at the bottom of the post.

Number 1

The Lethbridge Viaduct, known locally as the High Level Bridge(not to be confused with the Edmonton High Level Bridge). Built in 1909 with a length of 5,328 ft and 314 ft high, it continues its legacy as being the largest of its kind in the world.
This bridge plays a major role in my train interest, and always will.
This photo was taken in March 2013 on the west coulee looking east. The river valley below is Indian Battle Park with the Old Man River flowing low with a murky green tint.

Number 2

Lethbridge's Southern Alberta Model Railway Club(SAMRC) has been a favorite for me all my life. Their operations and era of choice(late 60s to early 70s) has intregued me enormously. It also helped fuel my desire to run model trains myself. Although I never actually started to model until late 2012. Before then, it was more or less considered a toy.
This is a picture of their HO yard, taken during their October 2014 open house. The operating era is easily seen with the type of power and stock shown.

Number 3

My three GMD models pose in front of some of my rolling stock. Model Railroading has turned into an amazing hobby that is although expensive, very well worth it and extremely fun! I'm closing in on two years of serious modeling, and my layout has changed a lot. I've doubled my amount of rolling stock and locomotives. I've found detailing, scratchbuilding, and kitbashing my favorite part of the hobby, and it can be seen on the locomotives shown in the photo. On the left is my Walthers Trainline GP9M nearly converted prototypically to CP GP9u 1597. Centered is my newest locomotive, an Athearn RTR SD40 CP 5541. It's getting GMD specific detailing. And finally, my Bachmann GP38-2 CP 3126. Almost finished being detailed to the prototype before it was repainted to CPs current scheme.

Number 4

Railfanning is my all-time favorite pastime, although I'm not on it as often as my model railroad. I began railfanning in early February 2013, and caught my first official train a few weeks later. I'm always armed with a camera of some sort, either my Canon PowerShot SX510 HS for photos and/or my Apple iPod for video.

The photo above I still consider my best shot I've ever taken. CP ES44AC 9372 and 8770 head west through Canmore, AB on the evening of April 2, 2013.

Number 5

Vacationing is always fun for me as a train fan. The opportunity to see new places, things, and everything else excites me. I know these are two photos, but these depict my most memorable experiences.  Starting on the left is me with Rocky Mountaineer leader RMRX 8013 at Banff, AB on September 31, 2013. This was when I got my second official catch of the Mountaineer on its Calgary to Kamloops journey. I first caught it come in the other direction the night before. When the train started leaving after this photo was taken, the conductor threw me a bag of peanuts as I filmed the train's departure. I still have those peanuts, hanging on my wall as memorabilia.

The second photo was taken on August 4, 2014 during my trip on the Alberta Prairie Railway at Big Valley. Our train was the Railfan's Special. The locomotive, APXX GMD-1 1118 was our power for the trip, and the second locomotive that I got to tour, after the GP9(APXX 7438). It was also my second GMD-1 to catch as a railfan! So it was a very cool experience. 

So there you have it readers! I hope you enjoyed my Railfan 5, and I hope you might do the same while encouraging your railfan friends to do it too!

Since this is like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, I'm going to challenge a few railfan friends to do it, or donate to their preservation society of choice. I'll list their YouTube channel names with the names.

I challenge:

• My good bud in Edmonton ;) (has asked to remain anonymous)

• Mitchell Gault(MrMitch5656)

• Shaun Hennessy(AwesomeRailFan)

Braedan D

CPRail43

Aspen Crossing: A Train Haven Somewhere In Alberta

How many of you have heard of Mossleigh, Alberta? Some of you probably have. Did you know that just outside of Mossleigh, there is a garden centre with a variety of railroad stock, mostly cabooses(cabeese)? Probably not. This place is called Aspen Crossing. Yep. Its a neat little area, with a campground just nearby with so-called 'Caboose Cabins'. Aspen Crossing was originally built as a garden centre, but soon after, the place started adding some railcars to the property.






Remaining Pioneer grain elevators in Mossleigh along the CP Lomond Sub












ex-CP 434059





Today, the place owns 12 railroad stock. 5 cabooses, 3 boxcars, 1 bunk car, 1 snowplow, 1 GE 45-ton diesel, and 1 1887 Pullman Official Dining Car, built originally for Southern Pacific(SP 27 - San Mateo). CN owned it afterwards, giving it three different numbers in its service time(57, 85:2, 64:2). Before it was bought by Aspen Crossing, it served as the Sidetrack Café in Edmonton named Cowley. Now, its named Aspen and is used as a restaurant. Reservations should be made.


On to the cabooses. Out of the 5, they own 1 US-built caboose, and 4 CP-Angus built cabooses, two being rebuilt Angus vans. One of the vans, 434479 was in good enough shape to have people walk in and it out. Right away, you could tell it was all original from its date built(11/1974). The cupola however, didnt look very inviting, so I stayed on the main level. Other than that, the experience was amazing!






Inside CP caboose 434479













The other Angus van was CP 434395. It was sitting between the caboose cabins in the campground. It was in horrible shape, probably untouched since its 2011 retirement. The windows were shattered, it was rusting a lot, and just wasnt looking good at all. It was blocked off, so nobody could step foot on it. I snapped a couple pictures of it.









CP 434395









Some of the other stock owned is on the nearby rail line, the CP Lomond Sub. CP had the line for sale since 2002, and had close to no trains running it, mostly because the line is in much need of maintenance. Aspen Crossing has plans to change that. They are planning to buy a huge portion of the line and run a tour train on it.


Planning a trip past Mossleigh, Alberta? Maybe plan a stop here to rest and relax near trains!



Pictures were taken May 24, 2014.

A Treasure From A Rail Line Now History

Us railfans all have our ups and downs. An up could be a train with rare, foreign power or something. What about a down?

For me, its usually a train I couldn't take a picture or video of, while I know it had something cool on it. But the worst down for me is… tracks long gone. Abandoned. Ripped up. Roadbed left to let grass grow. You can't see the rocks, but you can still see the obvious differences in the landscape.

Those are what we see. An odd mound stretching far away, or even spots of dead grass. You follow the line to see where it goes. Then you see trees. The line goes in the thinnest of the bush, and then turns to follow alongside a highway. You soon know what your following. History.

In my lifetime, two tracks that I was very familiar with as a young child, are gone. One being the Cardston Sub, a line that stretched from Stirling, AB to Cardston. But it may have gone further beyond Cardston at a time, after researching with Google Earth.
The second, the Macleod Sub, that stretched from Fort Macleod, AB to Calgary. Abandoned in the late 90s due to weakened bridges and unkept areas of track. The track stayed until about 2007, when they finally ripped it up, all the way to south of High River. That section now shortened to around Sheep River after the 2013 Alberta floods, which afterwards forced officials to demolish the bridge at High River.
I have good memories traveling beside the Macleod Sub on Highway 2. I don't remember seeing any trains, but possibly one in early 2000 or sometime then. That train was around Nanton if so.

Even though the track is long gone, I still can't help but look out the car window and watch for the roadbed. It still hurts to know that trains possibly won't run that way forever.

It was until April 25, 2014 that things changed for me.
Coming home from Canmore after Easter break, we stopped in Claresholm for gas. The gas station, a Shell, has a portion sitting directly overtop of what was, not too long ago, track and ballast. All the elevators in Claresholm have been torn down, the last one was done this year. The rubble was cleaned up the same day we came back from our trip. Right across the road from the south entrance to the Shell, is the old roadbed. I went over to it while the car was getting fueled up. The first time I ever stood on the roadbed. It's quite something really.
Then something caught my eye. It was an old spike! Rusty, but in very good shape. I would not let go of it. I couldn't, until I got back in the car.

Pictures of the spike in its rusty, but proudly straight, state.

During my little visit on the track bed, I shot a pic in both directions of what's left of the line. 

South Facing

North Facing

RIP The Macleod Sub

I obviously have strong feelings about this line. Any info that you may have, including pictures or video from when this line was operational, please speak up! Thanks

My First days of Railfanning

What influenced you to sit beside tracks and watch for trains? To video them? To take pictures?
My answer would be, its all from my love for model railroads.

That's exactly how it went. It was my model railroad that made me realize that trains were what I liked and what I would do as my future career. Now, I do it everytime without care, as if I was born to do it. Well, its only been over a year since I began railfanning.

I live about 5km(estimate) from the CP secondary mainline, the Taber Sub, that runs through Lethbridge. By bike, its about 20-30 minutes one way. The distance doesn't stop me. I also have the option of taking the city's smooth Transit buses too. My first official catch was done on video, on a cold Saturday morning February 23, 2013. My location was just west of the University Drive overpass, which crosses the railway on the west end of the city. I probably waited about 20 minutes before I saw lights to the west, an Eastbound freight, most likely CP A44 - The Taber Wayfreight, which is a Lethbridge-Dunmore(near Medicine Hat) train. I took out my iPod and got ready to shoot my first railfan video. The engines finally came and passed, two ES44ACs 8878 and 8835. The wind was blowing brisk air at me, nearly freezing my hands when i stopped recording the video. I didnt care, I caught my first train officially on video.

It wasn't until March 15, that I Got another chance to railfan. This time, by request, the Lethbridge Yard, located at Kipp, AB, near Coalhurst, AB. The yard didn't originate here, but was relocated in 1983, after its original spot where the Park Place Mall sits today was to be sold for the redevelopment of what was to become the city's largest mall. The only remnants of the yard left is the station, now a Health unit, and a preserved steam locomotive, CP 3651, an MLW 2-8-0 consolidation sits where the mainline would've been beside the platform.
Anyways, the yard was my next spot. What I saw there, I'll never forget. CP GP38-2 3040 in  fresh new paint with CP SD40-2 5875 in the small Multimark scheme were switching. The sight of the Multimark excited me greatly, after hearing about CP's ECO rebuild program, I worried the multimark would soon die. I got roster shots of both units, with their vents frosted white due to the brisk, breezy air.

CP GP38-2 3040. I submitted this pic to the CP Diesel Roster site

CP SD40-2 5875.

Well, these were the first days of railfanning for me, and the end of this post. I hope you enjoyed it!
Until next time, Braedan signing off.

First Post: Welcome

Hey everyone! I'm CPRail43, or Braedan. I'm a railfan and HO modeler. I'm known on YouTube for my railfan videos, along with my tremendous amount of model railroad videos. After getting into Youtube, I went a step further in my photo sharing, starting at railfans.ca then moving onto Flickr. I recently started adding photos to rrpicturearchives.com, under my name. So now I want to add blogging into the mix. Blogging has that advantage, which I can't put to words. This will be my blog on railfanning, sharing my stories and sometimes a photo or two of my times 'sitting trackside'. Because I've been railfanning for now over a year, I will put some of my earlier experiences in at times. And I will also start a blog for the modelers, HO specific. Its titled HO On The Layout.

So then, welcome aboard and lets go Trackside!