Morant's Curve (named to honor Canadian Pacific photographer Nicholas Morant [June 29, 1910 - March 13, 1999]) is best for eastbound trains … and, naturally, we got a westbound (CPKC 301, a grain train headed for Vancouver BC). But, making the best of the hand we were dealt, at least this train had a rear-facing Distributed Power Unit! CPKC Train 301 featured an interesting assortment of locomotives: Canadian Pacific AC4400CW 8576 and Union Pacific SD70ACe 8942 on the point, with CP ES40AC 8750 and Norfolk Southern AC44C6M 4330 (ex-NS Dash 8-40CW 9101) as the mid-train Distributed Power Units, and CP AC4400CW 8600 for the rear DPU.
I’ve been unable to find an altitude for Morant's Curve, but nearby Lake Louise is listed as 1600 metres (5200 feet) in elevation. The mountains in the background, part of the Bow Range of the Rockies and shrouded in clouds are, from left to right, Mount Temple, (3544 metres, or 11,627-feet, with a prominence of 1544 metres [5066-feet]), Mount Aberdeen (3152 metres, or 10,341-feet) and Mount Saint Piran (2649 metres, or 8691-feet, and a 914 metre/3000-foot prominence). The summits of these mountains are also the Continental Divide, as well as the boundary between Alberta and British Columbia.
(Morant's Curve, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada – April 17, 2023)
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