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Caption: VIA 6443 was the lead unit on VIA #693 when it backed into Churchill, MB station on Tuesday morning August 2, 2022. All the passengers and baggage have been off-loaded, the hotel and tour company vans have all departed, the VIA on-board crew has retired to their lodging location, and the VIA maintenance personnel have completed their work by plugging VIA 6443 into the 480 volt wayside HEP supply. This transfusion will continue until later in the day when personnel return to disconnect it, fire up VIA 6443 & VIA 6458 and their respective HEP generators in preparation for a 19:30 departure of the train as VIA #690 to The Pas.
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Great head on shot. The station and elevators in the background add to the image. Is that a centre beam loaded with ties? The wayside power cables looks like they might get the odd vehicle driving over them.
Good eye! That is center beam bulkhead flat UCRY 873032 with a full load of freshly creosoted track ties waiting to be off-loaded by HBR and Allied Track Services employees. Two days later they would be in the yard with an HBR Pettibone Speed Swing with fork attachment, and an Allied Track Services hi-rail boom truck with basket grapple removing bundles of ties from each side of the car simultaneously to keep it balanced during the process. There were several pieces of tie renewal equipment on a stub track just out of sight on the right side of the photo. Based on the number of old and damaged plugs lying around I would suggest a vehicle or two may have passed over the cables on occasion.