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Profile Page for Ken Perry

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About Ken Perry

Worked 41.5 years in CP mechanical department at Victoria and Port Coquitlam, now retired. First job was on Victoria Miniature Railway (10 1/4” gauge”) at Mattick’s Farm in Cordova Bay, with steam and battery power.

Ken Perry's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 161
Total gold: 2974
Number of comments recieved : 283
Number of comments posted : 30
Total views: 136056

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Ken Perry's 161 photos on Railpictures.ca:

Following up on my post last week of an SPC critter, at the Queen Elizabeth Power Station in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Power Corporation‘s un-numbered GE 80-tonner s/n 32811 built January 1957 was the primary locomotive for switching hopper cars of coal fuel, seen here on Monday 1976-10-11. There is no rail access there nowadays, as the power plant now runs on natural gas.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Industrial
Date:	1976-10-11
Location:	Saskatoon
Province:	Saskatchewan

Comments | 10 Favourites

At the Queen Elizabeth Power Station on the south side of the CN mainline and the north bank of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, coal was the original fuel (now on natural gas), and as a spare switch engine for hopper cars, the Saskatchewan Power Corporation had a GE 23-tonner s/n 13151 built July 1941 (originally U. S. Army 7792 at Ravenna Ordnance Depot in Atlas, OH) and numbered 800 010. On my first extended Saskatchewan foray, Monday 1976-10-11 was a glorious sunny day, and I was graciously escorted by security personnel into the plant to document that critter, which has now happily been preserved at the Saskatchewan Railway Museum, 7.5 km to the southwest (https://saskrailmuseum.org/locomotives/).

<p>A photo of another (bigger) SPC locomotive is planned for posting next Sunday.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Industrial
Date:	1976-10-11
Location:	Saskatoon
Province:	Saskatchewan

Comments | 14 Favourites

Southward from Woss on Vancouver Island, Canadian Forest Products crossed Maquilla Creek at milepost 50 (visible at the end of the tank car), just before Maquilla Reload. On Monday 1975-06-09, CFP 302 had two loads of ties and a tank car in addition to a string of log empties southbound, in the era before better highways reduced the need for company camp supplies to be transported by rail.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Forest Pr…
Date:	1975-06-09
Location:	Maquilla Reload
Province:	British Columbia

1 Comments | 16 Favourites

The west end of CP’s Coquitlam Yard (always in the City of Port Coquitlam, how logical!) was marked by a two-track through steel truss bridge over the Coquitlam River. Here, on Wednesday 1972-11-04, Baldwin switcher 7070 (an engine I came to know well six years later on Vancouver Island) is wearing a fairly fresh coat of paint and is busy sorting a string of cars, at a then nameless location previously (before 1928) Westminster Junction and later (1988) MacAulay. That bridge continues to serve to this day.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1972-11-04
Location:	Port Coquitlam
Province:	British Columbia

Comments | 15 Favourites

West of Hinton by about three miles, Maskuta Creek flows into the Athabasca River, and CN has a significant steel deck-plate-girder bridge to cross that creek. On Saturday 1987-05-23, CN 5333 and two others hauled a grain train westward there enroute Jasper, with a large sand, gravel and concrete operation (no rail access) in the background.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	1987-05-23
Location:	Hinton
Province:	Alberta

4 Comments | 13 Favourites

Northward from Cranbrook to Kimberley on what is now the Northstar Rail Trail used to be CP’s Kimberley subdivision, primarily to serve Cominco operations at Kimberley. On my first solo road trip to the Kootenay region, a northward train of empties was followed from Cranbrook, with a big MLW, CP 4501, leading and a plain SD40, CP 5518, trailing, Nearing Kimberley, at a crossing of Knighton Road (mileage not recorded) in the area known as Chapman Camp, nearly 50 years ago on 1974-04-25, an everyday scene was caught, before SD40-2s in their increasing numbers took over in the west.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1974-04-25
Location:	Chapman Camp
Province:	British Columbia

2 Comments | 21 Favourites

When the Roberts Bank coal terminal was first constructed, railway infrastructure was just a single line on the north side of the causeway roadway, as seen on the right of this photo, with the unloading loop switch just before the single-car rotary dumper visible in the distance. With increased traffic, a track was added on the south side of the causeway roadway for emptied trains to await their next crew, which is what 4573 and 5596 and unseen remotes are doing on Friday 1974-07-05.

<p>Note the caboose just clear of the dumper in the distance. The original loop track ran counter-clockwise, now completely rearranged to an offset clockwise loop with numerous storage tracks on the north side of the roadway, plus an immense intermodal facility this side of the loop track.

<p>Check https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/port-of-vancouvers-contentious-roberts-bank-terminal-2-proposal-6-things-to-know for an indication of accumulated growth in the last fifty years and plans for even more intermodal capacity. I am glad to have known it from when it was a youngster.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	British Columbia H…
Date:	1974-07-05
Location:	Roberts Bank, Delt…
Province:	British Columbia

1 Comments | 15 Favourites

North of Wellington and at mileage 79.9, CP’s Victoria subdivision had a pile trestle bridge over an arm of Green Lake, and on Wednesday 1979-05-16, that was traversed by freight train No. 71 with GP9s CP 8502 and 8664 at 0941 PDT enroute Port Alberni. The rooftop air reservoirs on 8502 indicate its origin as a steam generator equipped unit.

<p>Note the handy comparison of multimarks, original full-height on 8502 and newer smaller one on 8664.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1979-05-16
Location:	Wellington
Province:	British Columbia

2 Comments | 19 Favourites

On Monday 1974-06-17, ex CP Royal Hudson 2860 departed the CP Vancouver depot for a new career, travelling east to Coquitlam (formerly Westminster Junction, now Westwood) then south to Sapperton, then west on BN to Willingdon Junction, then north on CN through the Thornton Tunnel and over the Second Narrows railway bridge to Lynn Creek and onward to North Vancouver on British Columbia Railway. A combination of slow speed lifting from Vancouver and good timing on my part captured an ideal rods-down view with CP’s Granville Square office tower prominent in the background.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1974-06-17
Location:	Vancouver
Province:	British Columbia

1 Comments | 17 Favourites

Crown Zellerbach 8427, an MLW RS-3 ex Canadian Pacific 8427 (and chop-nosed by CP), could easily win an ugly locomotive contest when viewed from its short hood end, but when sparkling clean and viewed from above, it was okay. When photographed (from up a tree) departing with log loads from the dryland sort yard at Nanaimo Lakes on Thursday 1981-03-12 and heading to Ladysmith, it looked very recently painted.

<p>Today, that locomotive is in the care of the Western Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Society in Port Alberni.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Industrial
Date:	1981-03-12
Location:	Nanaimo Lakes
Province:	British Columbia

Comments | 22 Favourites

On February 8th 1986, VIA train No. 4 and CN freight train symbol 413 collided head-on at mileage 173.13 Edson subdivision, just west of the two-tracks-to-single-track switch at Dalehurst, around 11 miles east of Hinton, Alberta, with significant loss of lives. Next year, 469 days later on 1987-05-23 to be precise, I visited the area to see the aftermath, then just a cleared-to-bare-ground opening in the forest where the wrecked equipment had come to rest, only one shard of blue-painted metal noted. A simple dated cairn on the south side of the main track right near the collision point commemorated the spot.

<p>By coincidence, on the day before the mishap I had seen VIA No. 4 as it passed through Port Coquitlam, so I felt a personal link to that incident, then years later realized it had occurred on an anniversary of my CP hire-on date. One result of the incident was a widespread installation of locomotive event recorders, with which I became deeply involved for maintenance, downloading and data analysis in later years, so that link is strong for me.

<p>See https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.818270/publication.html for details.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian National
Date:	1987-05-23
Location:	Dalehurst
Province:	Alberta

3 Comments | 10 Favourites

Along Front Street in New Westminster on Monday 1988-10-17 at 0915 PDT, a trio of GP35s, CP 5024 + 5009 + 5025, is arriving from Coquitlam yard in Port Coquitlam with a block of empty automobile racks on the headend for Annacis Island loading via interchange to Southern British Columbia Railway (just acquired 1988-10-01 by Itel Corporation from BC Hydro).

<p>CP 5009 is in the middle of the consist since the two GP30s and early GP35s on CP were not equipped with Reset Sensing Control equipment instead of a deadman pedal, but 5011 up to 5025 were fully equipped for lead service.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1988-10-17
Location:	New Westminster
Province:	British Columbia

2 Comments | 17 Favourites

With just two miles to go to reach tidewater at Beaver Cove, a northward train of logs on Canadian Forest Products’ Englewood Logging Division on Vancouver Island is being led downgrade by dynamic brake equipped EMD SW1200 number 4804 across the Elk River timber trestle on Wednesday 1977-04-27.

<p>CFP 4804 (later 304, then in 2006 to Western Forest Products 304) was originally Coos Bay Lumber 1203, then Georgia Pacific 1203, before coming to Canada to join three similar GMD-built units on CFP. One difference was 4804 had switcher trucks when it arrived and as shown in the photo, but it eventually was converted to Flexicoil trucks like the other three. After the railway shutdown in 2017, Western Forest Products 301, 302 and 304 were scrapped in 2023, but 303 survives on display at logging headquarters in Woss (https://maps.app.goo.gl/SGRDthxY7EFeCayr7?g_st=im), thirty-seven miles up the Nimpkish Valley from tidewater.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Forest Pr…
Date:	1977-04-27
Location:	Beaver Cove
Province:	British Columbia

3 Comments | 20 Favourites

Fifteen miles southwest of the town of Rocky Mountain House in the foothills of Alberta, and 20.5 rail miles from there via CN’s Brazeau and Ram River subdivisions and the Strachan spur, Gulf Oil’s gas scrubbing plant had PV Commodity Systems as a contractor handling sulphur loadout to rail cars. For a locomotive, PVCS had an ALCo C-420 number 202 (serial 84724 built 1963-12, nee Long Island 202) for switching sulphur empties and loads, and it was seen at rest on 1978-09-15.

<p>That gas plant is now operated by Keyera, and I have no knowledge of their railway activity today. PVCS 202 went to Western Canada Steel in Calgary in 1985-06.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Industrial
Date:	1978-09-15
Location:	Strachan
Province:	Alberta

2 Comments | 19 Favourites

On Friday 1981-09-25, it was foggy in Leoville, SK, as a freight train from Meadow Lake returning to Prince Albert passed the grain elevator at 0848 CST, with a typical trio of RS-23 lightweight (for CN joint use branchline operation) units, 8018 + 8016 + 8015, for power. 34.2 more miles to reach CN rails at Debden, then 31.5+28.7+0.1+0.6 miles on four CN subdivisions (Big River, then Blaine Lake, Duck Lake and Tisdale) to reach CP rails at Prince Albert and a switchback route down to the CP yard, a spider’s web of lines.

<p> From https://www.traingeek.ca/wp/trains/class-1-railways/cp-saskatchewan/meadow-lake/: “The subdivision was traded to CN in 1987 (?) in exchange for the CN Bengough subdivision. It was taken over by the Carlton Trail Railway in 1997.” In 2008, decommissioning was announced, and it is now abandoned with the rails removed.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1981-09-25
Location:	Leoville
Province:	Saskatchewan

Comments | 17 Favourites

On 1982-05-29, a major fire on the swing span of the Fraser River Railway Bridge between New Westminster and Surrey brought the multi-user rail traffic to a halt for a long time. BC Hydro’s Valley Freight from New Westminster to Huntingdon utilized a detour route over CP’s New Westminster, Cascade and Mission subdivisions to gain access to their own track at Abbotsford, and due to restrictions on one small portion near New Westminster, were required to use four-axle power on detours. Thus, an eastward detour leaving Haney on Wednesday 1982-06-09 had BCH 152 (MP15DC) + 906 + 908 (SW900s) + 153 (MP15DC) as they crossed Kanaka Creek on CP rails at 1559 PDT.

<p>BN and CN ran over the same detour route, a bonanza for railway photographers and Kodak. Having relocated from Vancouver Island to Port Coquitlam just a few months earlier, I was delighted with the many opportunities.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1982-06-09
Location:	Maple Ridge
Province:	British Columbia

2 Comments | 21 Favourites

As a literal followup to my post a week ago of a Nitinat log train in the snow, here is the tailend, nicely punctuated by caboose CP 437148, right on the crossing of Westholme Road in the village of the same name on Tuesday 1980-01-08 at 1324 PST. Those logs are from Lake Cowichan, and are for dumping into the saltchuck at Crown Zellerbach’s dump at Ladysmith, 11 miles ahead, then it will be cab hop onward to Wellcox yard on the Nanaimo waterfront.

<p>By the blind luck of my timing on the planet, I got to know train order and caboose operations well on Vancouver Island, and frequently photographed the tailend of a train after catching the headend. Years later, in 1989, part of my work was readying locomotive equipment for cabooseless operation, distance-counting digital speedometers and end-of-train communications devices, and I was really glad I took so many caboose photos.

<p>A very Happy 2024 to all.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1980-01-08
Location:	Westholme
Province:	British Columbia

3 Comments | 26 Favourites

Canadian Pacific’s E&N Division on Vancouver Island handled Crown Zellerbach logs from Lake Cowichan to CZ’s dump into the sea at Ladysmith on trains named Nitinat for CZ’s Nitinat Logging Division. On Tuesday 1980-01-08, a snowstorm north of Duncan at the village of Westholme highlighted the northbound Nitinat log loads, powered by CP GP9s 8689 and 8530, with the telephoto view nicely capturing the angled-outward white flags which distinguished that lead unit (and a few others) from the rest of the fleet.

<p>Completely unknown to me then, the last Nitinat log train ran just over one month later, 1980-02-13, with a happy-photographer reprieve when Pacific Logging used the same facilities for a few weeks to clear out their inventory of logs from Lake Cowichan.

<p>Considering the posting date, a very Merry Christmas to all.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Pacific
Date:	1980-01-08
Location:	Westholme
Province:	British Columbia

5 Comments | 27 Favourites

To connect traffic off CN’s Great Slave Lake line from Hay River and Pine Point to the rest of the railway network, Northern Alberta Railways ran a GSL Turn from McLennan to CN’s Roma Junction yard near Grimshaw then back to McLennan, and acquired four SD38-2 units with dynamic braking to handle the grades down to and up from a crossing of the Peace River at the town of the same name. Here, a trio (typical power on a GSL Turn), 402 + 403 + 401, is well into the ruling grade southward from Peace River heading back to McLennan.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Northern Alberta R…
Date:	1980-09-27
Location:	Peace River
Province:	Alberta

1 Comments | 15 Favourites

On northern Vancouver Island, Canadian Forest Products had a spur eastward from Woss to a road-to-rail log reload at Crowman Lake (which CFP spelled Croman), passing along the north side of Hoomak Lake around the halfway mark, thus the H-Line name of that spur. On Wednesday 1979-08-29, dynamic-brake-equipped SW1200 301, new to CFP in 1956, handled a long string of skeleton log empties by Hoomak Lake enroute the Croman reload, with Mount Markusen prominent in the background.

<p>This H-line spur is the same line where a multiple-fatality runaway of loaded log cars occurred closer to Woss on 2017-04-20 (https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/rail/2017/r17v0096/r17v0096.html) which resulted in the total shutdown of that railway (then the Englewood Railway of Western Forest Products) as announced on 2017-11-07.

Name:	Ken Perry
Railway:	Canadian Forest Pr…
Date:	1979-08-29
Location:	near Woss
Province:	British Columbia

2 Comments | 18 Favourites

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