Winnipeg (Jct. CN & CP)

Winnipeg's CN/CP diamond on the Rivers Subdivision sits in the city's southwest, beside Wilkes Avenue near Lindsay Street, in the River Heights and Tuxedo area. Here CN's Rivers Subdivision, the main line west out of Winnipeg toward Portage la Prairie and the Prairies, crosses CPKC's La Riviere Subdivision, a branch line heading southwest, at grade.

The Rivers Subdivision carries CN freight and VIA Rail passenger trains leaving and entering Winnipeg: railfans have photographed VIA's The Canadian and the Winnipeg–Churchill train (VIA 692/693) at this crossing, and CN freights rolling over the diamond itself. The La Riviere Subdivision is a branch, so CPKC movements across the diamond are far less frequent than CN's.

Wilkes Avenue runs alongside the Rivers Subdivision, so the junction can be watched from public road shoulders without approaching the tracks. No published train count was found for this crossing.

Although the junction sits inside Winnipeg's city limits, the immediate surroundings reflect classic Red River Valley terrain: flat prairie horizon, low shrubs and grasses flanking the ballast, and a wide sky that dominates the view. The crossing sits at the edge of residential southwest Winnipeg, a working-railway setting rather than a scenic one. Elevation is minimal — this is the flattest major city in Canada — so sightlines in all compass directions are unobstructed. In summer, long daylight hours offer warm golden light well past 20:00. Winter brings crisp sub-zero air and photogenic plumes of locomotive exhaust rising against snowpack or overcast skies. Prairie winds can arrive from any direction with considerable force; ear protection and wind-blocking layers are advisable year-round.

Winnipeg has been called the "Gateway to the West" since the CPR completed its transcontinental line through the city in 1886, transforming the settlement into a booming divisional hub. The Canadian Northern Railway (forerunner of CN) arrived shortly after and established its own mainline west of Winnipeg — today's Rivers Subdivision. Union Station at 123 Main Street, constructed between 1908 and 1911 as a joint venture between the Canadian Northern, National Transcontinental, and Grand Trunk Pacific railways, stands as one of the finest Beaux-Arts railway stations in North America and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1976. CN's Symington Yard, built in 1962 east of downtown to replace the older Transcona and Fort Rouge yards, was named for former CNR Director Herbert James Symington (1881–1965) and remains one of the most technically sophisticated hump classification facilities in North America. The diamond in the southwest, where CN's Rivers Subdivision crosses CPKC's La Riviere branch, is one of the places where the two railways' networks still meet at grade.

This is the point where CN's western main line out of Winnipeg, used by VIA's The Canadian and by the Winnipeg–Churchill train, crosses a CPKC branch at grade, inside the city and beside a public street. Few places in Winnipeg let you watch VIA's long-distance trains leave the city from a public road, with a diamond in the foreground.