Mike McGrattan Memorial Train - Photo Thread

[Scottl]

Very nice photos.  A group of us are gearing up to visit the Fraser Canyon next week to catch the train as it heads to Vancouver and then back east again.  Hoping for good spring weather to catch it on Cisco bridge.

[craigolio1]

Once back in Toronto, the vintage steam power was switched out for some slightly more modern GP9s for the trip to Streetsville. Yes Streetsville is an actual place! A town within a town in Mississauga Ontario.




This line was incorporated in 1871 as the Credit Valley Railway, and was eventually leased to, and then absorbed by the CPR in 1883. The destination for this trip is the Streetsville train station, which happens to be very near the previous location of the Credit Valley railway Co., an excellent hobby store where Mike was a regular and was well known to the staff. The store has moved away from the tracks sadly, but the nostalgia of the old location seemed a fitting place to meet so the staff could see the train and sign the book of condolences.


Here the train is easing across the Credit River south of Streetsville.











....And finally as it pulled in to Streetsville Station. 










The staff were please to view the train before it departed on its final cross country leg of the journey to Vancouver.



Heading back out of Streetsville towards Toronto and the the final leg out west, we bid farewell to our mystery conductor, and our friend.



Craig

[peteski]

Nicely done Craig!

[Scottl]

A group of us had heard rumour that the Mike McGrattan Memorial Train was scheduled for a last minute cross-country trip to Vancouver after spending time in Ontario.  Raifans from the Prairies had indicated it was being led with VIA 6457 and a CN steam generator car for the long trip.  The VIA unit had been performing well on the trip and word was that CN had given permission to dispense with the AC44 GEVO unit that had been a part of the train for the last day into Vancouver.

The weather all spring had been terrible but it looked like a change was coming and we hoped we might get lucky to chase the train in the Fraser Canyon with some decent conditions.  We left Vancouver a 4 AM and as we stopped for coffee east of the city, the stars were fading with the first hint of a new dawn- it looked like we were going to get perfect shooting weather!

We arrived at Cisco bridges around 7:30AM as the sun was just coming into the depth of the valley.  The line had been quiet all day driving north and a maintenance crew in a hi-railer parked at Cisco cutoff told us he had just run down from Spences Bridge to check the line for the special train.  CN had blocked the line for six hours in honor of Mike and to let the train stop for photos at several locations.  We were the only railfans but both CN and CP MOW crews were on hand to witness the train.

Our team split up, one going up the hill for higher view of the bridge and canyon, another downstream near the CP bridge, and two people went down the trail to the river.  The last took our car and drove the up to Lytton to cross the river on a ferry and return on the west bank along the logging road to get the unusual perspective.  We were all in place when the first distant blast of the horn came down the valley about an hour later, barely audible above the roar of the river.

In ten minutes, the train came into view, working slowly down the tracks towards the bridge.







From the south view, the train slowed as it came over the bridge



As the observation car Mike McGrattan eased to the middle of the bridge, the train stopped.





After a few minutes overlooking the river, the train started up and disappeared around the corner.  Our friends down at the river took a while to scramble back up but their efforts were rewarded with shots of the train with a crystal blue sky.





Afterwards we did not see the train again as it made good time down the canyon on its way to Vancouver.  We stopped for dinner in Hope and toasted the passing of our friend Mike and the special day seeing the memorial train deep in the Fraser Canyon. 

***************************

It was an honor to host the Mike McGrattan Memorial Train on the Ashcroft Subdivision.  The beautiful VIA 6457 locomotive and CN steam generator car were kitbashed and finished by @craigolio1

[svedblen]

Some really nice shots there!

[davefoxx]

Excellent display, @Scottl.  I can't think of a much better place to display the M³T than on your Cisco bridge.

DFF

[eja]

Somebody put a blue and white pennant on the train !

The Leafs are in the playoffs and I have to believe that Puddy is smiling !

Go Leafs Go !!

[craigolio1]

I was really looking forward to seeing your photos Scott. Every time I see your layout I am motivated.

Craig.

[jereising]

Well done @Scottl!

And congrats on the excellent article in MR.

[Scottl]

Thanks everyone.  I'm glad I was a part of this special effort.

[newt749]

April 25, 2017 - Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

The Mike McGrattan Memorial Train made its way to the East Coast of Canada this week. Nestled beside the Bay of Fundy, home to the world's highest tides, the train weaved its way through some of the N-Division modules of the Saint John Society of Model Railroaders. Although snow still blanketed some of the New Brunswick countryside, warmer climes could be seen on many of the other modules.

As the train slowly departed and headed on its long journey back to the West Coast, a friendly wave is given by the dignitaries on board. I hope that you enjoyed the lobster and East Coast hospitality. We look forward to your return one day!

Rob





















Many thanks to Tim and all of the others who shared in this unique memorial. It was an honour to be part of it.

Rob

[Dave V]

It's hard to imagine it's been very nearly a year since we lost Puddy.  This has been a wonderful way to remember a good friend that so many of us wsih we could have met in person.  I'm honored to have been a part of this solemn and unique memorial.

[PGE_Modeller]

The Michael McGrattan Memorial Train (M3T) has returned to British Columbia and has been interchanged from Canadian National to the Pacific Great Eastern at Prince George.  Through the combined magic of computers and time travel, the train has been transported back to September of 1952 and has travelled over the recently completed - but not yet open for regular service - PGE line from Quesnel to Prince George on its way to Lillooet and on to the Squamish Subdivision, where we catch up with it in Pemberton, BC, running as Memorial Extra 54 South with “right over northward extra trains” on a schedule established by its Form G train order that aims to keep it 1 hour 30 min ahead of Train 2, the thrice-weekly passenger train.

At Pemberton, the crew of Extra 5 South, the Squamish way freight, whose running order is a combination of Form G and Form B specifying that it is to “run ahead of Memorial Extra 54 South Lillooet to Squamish until overtaken unless overtaken at Lillooet”, has just spotted a pair of Puddington Valley gondolas at the L E Talbot spur and is re-assembling its train on the Business Track where it will remain until the Memorial Extra has left town.



Aboard the Memorial Extra, the dignitaries in the Official Car “Michael McGrattan” were enjoying Mike’s beloved Irish Rovers singing up a storm until being temporarily drowned out by the roar of a Rolls Royce V-12 Merlin as “PF 257", a solitary Royal Canadian Air Force Mark IV Mustang from 443 “City of New Westminster” Squadron, executes a low-level (about 120 feet AGL) flypast and dips its starboard wing in salute.

We will try to get ahead of the train and catch it again in the scenic Cheakamus Canyon, 39 miles further South.  While this can be easily done in 2017, in 1952 it involves travel on a very rough dirt and gravel mountain road and the last mile has to be done on foot along a very poorly maintained trail.

(For the exchanges between Mike and myself that provide the background for the comments about the RCAF and the Irish Rovers in the third paragraph, see:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24971.msg246957#msg246957
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=24971.msg247003#msg247003
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=37646.msg452413#msg452413
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=37646.msg452431#msg452431 )

P.S.  Like most of my layout, this is an unfinished area that has been mocked up for the photograph and lighting is whatever is available.

Cheers,

[Kisatchie]

...the Squamish way freight...

I saw that and immediately thought of this MAD Magazine article from June, 1965:

http://www.madcoversite.com/quiz_olympics.html


Hmm... is Kiz smokin'
somethin' illegal...?

[Blazeman]

I saw that and immediately thought of this MAD Magazine article from June, 1965:

Does it follow then our generation had its' collective minds warped by having read MAD through our formative years?