Adieu CTRW 773/774

Canadian Pacific built the line to Meadow Lake in 1911. In 1990 CP traded it to CN in exchange for the Weyburn and Bengough Subs (both incidentally listed for abandonment as of 2008). CN in turn sold the Meadow Lake line in 1997 to OmniTRAX. Earlier today (March 15, 2009), the last major industry online, Meadow Lake sawmill closed its doors. Coincidentally Carlton Trail plans to abandon the line in April once the snow clears.

I never did manage to catch an operating train on the route, given the current state of affairs looks like there wont be anymore runs either. Hence Im railfanning by proxy:

Toward the end CTRW utilized four leased GMTX GP38-2s, that incidentally look identical to LLPX GP38-2s leased by the CBNS shortline on the other side of the continent. This is because they are from the same leasing company, utilizing the same paint scheme on their units, with minor differences in decaling, i.e.:
LLPX 2259 has none
LLPX 2269 is labelled Locomotive Leasing Partners
GMTX 2686 (used by CTRW) & sisters are labelled GATX Rail Locomotive Group

I believe the scenery matches as well, both lines run in fairly scenic wooded/marshy areas hauling the same product coincidentally paper & woodchips.

I was always surprised by how different 2259 & 2269 are, considering both started as IC GP40rs 3006 & 3027 respectively. 2269 has decaling on the long hood, a white nose and a small fuel tank!