The photos on this page are from August 10, 2004.

Sitting beside the VIA Rail station in Jasper, Alberta, is CN class U-1a 4-8-2 6015, built in 1923 by the Canadian Locomotive Company.  It measures 90' 4" from coupler to coupler and 15' 3" in height; driving wheel diameter is 73".

Active trainspotting started in the CN yard in Jasper, where a pair of SD40u's--6006 and 6007--sat idling.

Further down the track and not running: CN C44-9WL 2573.  This one has a GE-type cab; the first ones had 4-window Canadian cabs like those on CN's C40-8M's.

On an adjacent track, VIA F40PH-2 6436 sits with a short train, not running.

VIA F40PH-2 6441, waiting patiently at the end of the yard near the station.

Unit 6441 later pulled forward to switch tracks, then backed up into the yard again.  Try as you might, you won't be able to find a bell in the underframe, because the VIA F40PH-2's don't have any.  They rely instead on an electronic bell that sounds the same--until it's switched off in the middle of a ding.

Never saw a VIA car such as this one before...

Later, in the evening, SD60F 5502 pulled into the yard with a 13-car freight.  Check out the repainted cab number, much bolder than previous CN text.  This is an early SD60F, one of four such units that has (subtle) SD50F spotting features.  These include the simple bell bracket and cab-mounted numberboards and classification lights.  Later SD60Fs have a beveled cut in the bell bracket and nose-mounted numberboards and class lights.

More obvious: SD50F's are numbered in the 5400s, SD60Fs in 5500s.

Michael Eby 2005