During my tour in Moose Jaw SK, 1978 – 1984, I was almost overwhelmed by the number of CPRail SD40-2’s that growled around down town and around the industrial sidings in my neighbourhood.  They may have been everywhere, but the CN station, although quite large and unique and beautifully situated at the north end of a long trestle over the Thunder Creek, was a pretty quiet place.  The place to see some CN movements was in Regina.

            Of course Regina was a CP Rail town as well but CN had a wonderful little yard on the west side of  town.  There was a classic sanding facility, an operating turntable and a functioning roundhouse tucked into a residential neighbourhood that made access easy and friendly.  There was also a small overhead crane that just begged to be modelled – and I did.   See Proto-file http://wvrr.ca/prototype/Proto-File%206.jpg

            On most days when I had time to visit the yard I found 1048 was the only one still painted up in the red/black scheme that had finally spelled the end to the early, steam era green and yellow look.  She’s only about twenty years old in this photo and looking good at that.  Many of the spotting features on this model; spark arrestors and number board assembly among them were also applied to the SW1200rs fleet. 

            So who said you can’t use a functioning turntable and roundhouse in the heart of a large, modern city?  The Regina facility existed at least until the mid 80’s and that was many years after the last steam power had passed this way.  It may still be there.