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About Paul O'Shell

Started my railroad career at CN in July 1969 and retired from the industry 49 years later on March 1, 2018. My area of expertise was railway Work Equipment. Reside in Kelowna, BC. I use a Nikon D850 full frame & Nikon D7200 (Nikkor 24-70mm, 24-120mm, 35mm, 18-140mm, 55-300mm, & 80-400mm) and scan with an Epson V550. Enjoy my contributions. Be safe. Lots more of my photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/197431498@N07/albums

Paul O'Shell's Railpictures.ca photo upload statistics

Number of images: 484
Total gold: 5457
Number of comments recieved : 1024
Number of comments posted : 1005
Total views: 918264

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Paul O'Shell's 484 photos on Railpictures.ca:

This shot isn't as pretty as others I've been posting, but it was my only opportunity to catch Thicket Portage railway station at Mile 184.3 on Hudson Bay Railway's Thicket Sub with my Nikon. This was on my return trip from Churchill, MB. and it is the best of several I snapped through the tinted, dirty, rain spotted glass of my bedroom D in sleeping car VIA 8229 Chateau Viger. This quaint building sits next to the tracks near the intersection of 1st Street & South Railway Avenue in Thicket Portage. On my journey up to Churchill I snapped a couple of photos with my iPhone and they show that this is quite the gathering place at train time.
A few facts about Thicket Portage;
Thicket Portage is a very remote community in northern Manitoba located on the Hudson Bay Railway.
The community receives passenger rail service at the Thicket Portage railway station.
The community has no all-weather road access.
The community is serviced by year round train access, local airport, and winter ice roads.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/05/2022
Location:	Thicket Portage
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 14 Favourites

Street side view of VIA Rail's Thompson, MB station located at Mile 30.5 Thompson Sub. has VIA 693 standing at the platform with doors open to allow passengers a chance to get off and limber up a bit before continuing the journey to Churchill.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	Thompson
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 11 Favourites

While VIA 692 lead by VIA 6448 sitting on the bolted rail mainline at Canora, SK commands the center of attention in this photo, there is so much more going on all around the shot. Off to the right of the locomotive are piles of new track material (spikes, anchors, tie plates) suggesting some major track work is in the works. To the left is a 2000 model year Freightliner 114 SD CN hi-rail boom truck (CN 270195) with tie grapple, a retired CN transfer van (CN 76659) on display at the historic 1904 built Canora station, a green flag signaling the end of a slow order on the line, a couple of communication towers with antennas pointing skyward, a few passengers milling about, a VIA on board service person manning the step box near the end of the train, and in the distance, sitting quietly in the yard waiting its next assignment is CN 5626. This 118 year old station got its name from a shortened Canadian Northern Railway .... CaNoRa. The building is now a visitor information center, museum, and VIA Rail station stop. Another beauty day for train travel and taking photos. ????

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/06/2022
Location:	Canora
Province:	Saskatchewan

2 Comments | 12 Favourites

This mid-afternoon shot of VIA's Dauphin, MB station has a few passengers out on the platform stretching their legs during another stop on the 48 1/2 hour journey from Churchill to Winnipeg. Platform benches made from old railcar wheelsets dot this end of the station grounds, while a retired CN caboose (CN 79727) and a piece of maintenance equipment are on display at the opposite end. Dauphin station is home to the Dauphin Rail Museum. A view from the opposite end of the platform can be seen here;
http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=49621

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/06/2022
Location:	Dauphin
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 14 Favourites

I waited for quite some time to see if that silver pickup truck would move out of the shot but it wasn't to be. The Churchill, MB station/Parks Canada building looks great in this mid-morning street side full front view with the clear blue sky backdrop. The double door entrance under the Churchill name plate leads directly to the VIA rail ticket counter and the Parks Canada reception area for the museum tour. To the left of the doors are some original station waiting room benches and the walk-through museum area, and to the right are public washrooms and an elevator to Parks Canada offices on the second floor. Equipment from this mornings VIA #693 sits idle on the station track waiting for its next load of passengers later in the evening.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/02/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

4 Comments | 9 Favourites

At the north end of the station platform in The Pas, MB we see the Keewatin Railway Company operations building which appears to be closed and completely boarded up (not sure of its status) as the headend crew of VIA #693 prepares to climb into the cab of VIA 6443 to continue the journey north to our destination of Churchill, MB. There is no waiting around for better lighting to get here. I know that any photos I take here are good photos because the next time I get to spend any amount of time in this remote community may be never!

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	The Pas
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 7 Favourites

All Aboard! means get back on the train it's about to leave! This young man from Spain who was travelling to Churchill, among many other to unique places around the world, ran past me on the platform at The Pas to make his way back up to the economy coaches after he heard the call. It's now 06:38 and you can still see the fog ahead of the engines on VIA 693. Knowing the headend crew was still out on the platform I knew there was still time to grab a few more shots. Even though the lighting wasn't the greatest, I knew I had to grab whatever photos I could because visits to The Pas, MB are few and far between.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	The Pas
Province:	Manitoba

6 Comments | 14 Favourites

I didn't make it to Pukatawagan on my recent journey from Winnipeg to Churchill, MB, but I did manage to get an early morning shot of the HBR's Pukatawagan Mixed passenger equipment parked on a stub track at the south end of the station in The Pas, MB. It was cool, damp, and quite foggy when I first stepped off VIA 693 at 06:25 on this August 1st morning but as soon as the sun poked out of the clouds the mist cleared a little allowing me to get this tight view of the ex-VIA, exx-CN cars.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	The Pas
Province:	Manitoba

5 Comments | 20 Favourites

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/04/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

2 Comments | 17 Favourites

It's high noon in Churchill, MB and the yard crew has been drilling the yard with a variety of flats and boxcars, carrying all sorts of payloads to be offloaded at an open track beside a roadway, or one of the vehicle/equipment ramps off to the right. They are getting in position here to run around a cut of cars placed on the lead to the grain elevator dump building so a load of nice shiny pickup trucks can be spotted at one of the unloading ramps. VIA #693 with a Park car which had arrived on time at 09:00 earlier in the day sits idle in the background in front of the beautiful Churchill station. I had snapped HLCX 1041, LLPX 2605, & HLCX 1046 a few days before on August 1st in Thompson, MB while riding VIA 693 (departed Winnipeg July 31st) on my way to Churchill. Endless scenery and action to be had here!

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/04/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

5 Comments | 14 Favourites

VIA 6448 has backed train #693 into the station for a 09:00 on-time arrival after it's overnight trek from Gillam, MB to Churchill, MB with another trainload of folks eager to explore the northern Manitoba town and surroundings. Passengers have detrained and the trucks and vans from local tour operators line up to gather the new group of sightseers and their luggage. The station platform, parking lot, and roadway at the front of the station are a beehive of activity while the HBR yard on the engineers side of 6448 is void of any movement. This scene will quickly reverse once the newly arrived passengers are whisked away to their respective motels and the HBR yard crew and MoW guys start a very busy day of car switching, tie unloading, and track maintenance. There was no shortage of interesting activity around the Churchill station or train yard each of the three days I was in town.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/04/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

4 Comments | 14 Favourites

VIA 693 had backed into Churchill station for an on time arrival at 09:00 on the morning of August 2, 2022. That same equipment consist was fueled, watered, and otherwise prepared for a southbound journey as VIA 690 that same evening. Here we see passengers gathered on the platform at 19:05 with their checked baggage piled high in several locations waiting for it to be loaded into the VIA service truck parked between the station and passenger equipment. Along with the checked bags to be brought forward to the baggage car, the maintenance person was also loading soiled linens from the Chateau sleeping car. Passenger vans from various tour companies also travelled onto the platform to deliver luggage directly to the baggage car for departing Churchill visitors as well. Other than the odd passenger getting in the way, the whole operation of loading luggage and moving vehicles along the platform was a well orchestrated dance that had obviously occurred many times before.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/02/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

2 Comments | 14 Favourites

The HBR wayfreight from Gillam had arrived in Churchill earlier in the morning with this trio of locomotives and a dozen or so cars. After a crew change, the power went to work as the HBR yard engine sorting the various cars and spotting them at several different locations in the yard. HLCX 1046, the trailing unit of the three is seen here revering into the yard across from the Churchill station after having run around the loaded cars so they could spot the flat loaded with pickup trucks at an unloading ramp. The locomotive lash-up consisted of HLCX 1046, LLPX 2605, and HLCX 1041. While there hasn't been a loaded grain train over these rails leading to the massive grain storage and loading facility on Hudson Bay since 2015-2016, the very active yard crew keeps the old 85 lb. bolted steel polished with lots of carloads of construction material, vehicles, supplies, and who knows what else being marshalled along the once bustling grain dumper lead.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/04/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

3 Comments | 24 Favourites

For those who like full frontal views, here's a platform side shot of the former CN station, now VIA/Parks Canada building in beautiful downtown Churchill, MB. A pleasant mid-summer breeze has the Canadian flag stretched out nicely for the photo, and the old baggage dolly on the platform is a reminder of how luggage was once moved about prior to pickup trucks becoming the new normal. It won't be long before some repairs and a fresh coat of paint will be required on this stately old building, but it looks absolutely wonderful in the bright sunshine and super blue sky background on this early evening of August 2, 2022.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/02/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

6 Comments | 12 Favourites

Well, it just wouldn't be me if I didn't sneak in a Work Equipment image among all those uncharacteristic (for me) station photos I've been posting the last few weeks. :-)
GREX 2700 was one of two GREX Dump Trains (GREX 2400 being the other) working out of HBR's Churchill, MB yard each day I was in the northern Manitoba town. Train after train of crushed material left the yard each morning to be dumped along the right-of-way south of town. On my trip into and out of Churchill on VIA 693 & 692, I noticed several Harsco MK IV tampers and Knox Kershaw ballast regulators surfacing track that had been flooded with fresh crushed ballast. The wye at Churchill South was having new rail installed, and a bulkhead flat (UCRY 873032) of new track ties was being unloaded in the yard at Churchill as well. There was no shortage of manpower, vehicles, or equipment (both HBR & contractors) in Churchill, which made it quite clear there was a tremendous effort being made to rehabilitate and upgrade this portion of the HBR's Herchmer Subdivision. While it was interesting and exciting to see all the equipment and work going on, I was also quite content to be on the retired side of my railroad career.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/04/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 13 Favourites

The 45 hour journey from Winnipeg, MB has come to an end with an on-time arrival of VIA 693 which has backed into the station at Churchill, MB on this clear and sunny August 2nd morning. Passengers have detrained and mill about waiting for checked baggage, and/or their shuttle to a local motel or lodge. The talk of seeing a polar bear, beluga whales, and the northern lights while in the remote Manitoba town is buzzing as folks go their separate ways after riding together in close quarters for the last few days. Once in Churchill you don't have to go very far to enjoy the first of many local sites. Parks Canada houses and conducts tours of Northern Manitoba life, and wildlife in a hands-on museum right inside the refurbished lower level of the Churchill train station.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/02/2022
Location:	Churchill
Province:	Manitoba

1 Comments | 17 Favourites

HBRY 5005 SD50 (ex-NREX, exx-UP 9835, exx-MP 5002) sits idle in the HBR yard in Thompson, MB beside VIA #693 which has backed into the station. Passengers have detrained and mill about enjoying the shortened stop on this warm and sunny August 1st afternoon. The trailing passenger car on #693 today is sleeper VIA 8202 Chateau Bienville. It is my home away from home for a couple of days. It won't be long before the call to board is made and the train will once again be on the slow and scenic move to its destination in Churchill, MB.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	Thompson
Province:	Manitoba

Comments | 17 Favourites

VIA #692 (Churchill to Winnipeg) is backed into the station at Thompson, MB on this cool, overcast, and drizzly August 5, 2022 noon hour. The step boxes are on the platform inviting people to detrain, but there are only VIA on-board, maintenance personnel, and me outside to do our respective tasks. The solar panel above the Thompson town map board struggles to do its job at the moment. If I was to turn around 180 degrees (which I did), the lens would capture VIA #693 parked about a car length behind the last car of #692. As this was a several hour station stop, a number of passengers ventured into the town of Thompson when the weather broke.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	Thompson
Province:	Manitoba

6 Comments | 17 Favourites

It's 06:34, foggy, cool, and damp on the station platform at The Pas, MB. VIA #693 (Winnipeg to Churchill) arrived a few minutes earlier so it was time to detrain and capture what I could during this early morning stop. Only a handful of people were milling about at this hour, including a couple of passengers, VIA on-board & local maintenance personnel, a station security guard, and the new headend crew. After getting my photos, and enjoying the cool fresh air of this northern Manitoba community, I climbed back on board and headed to VIA 8515 Skyline to enjoy a hot, freshly prepared breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash-brown potatoes, and another full day of riding the rails towards the polar bear and beluga whale capital of the world. :-)

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	Hudson Bay Railway
Date:	08/01/2022
Location:	The Pas
Province:	Manitoba

3 Comments | 15 Favourites

On my recent trip from Winnipeg to Churchill and return (July 31-August 6) I was able to detrain along the way, in several locations, and snap a few photos in mostly sunny conditions.
On the trip up to Churchill, Dauphin, MB was one of those spots that provided almost 30 minutes of platform time to mill about and gather a variety of pictures. The stations cornerstone, or in Dauphin's case the 'towerstone' reads CNR 1912. In addition to its VIA obligations, the station also houses the Dauphin Rail Museum.

Name:	Paul O'Shell
Railway:	VIA Rail
Date:	07/31/2022
Location:	Dauphin
Province:	Manitoba

2 Comments | 15 Favourites

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