The Canadian Railway Museum

As promised I am posting a bit about the Canadian Railway Museum in Delson, Quebec just south of Montreal.



This engine is on display outside the facility in the parking lot. Once you pay your ticket, you cross the streetcar track and are confronted by the new building. It's quite a nice building and a great addition to the site. I took many photos in the building but they are all fairly dark and not quite blog-worthy. Here's one:

We went for a ride on their miniature railway:

This engine is not yet on display:

They have a nice little station there:

My son Nick was very excited about the LRC engine they just acquired:

CP 7077 is nicely painted:

Well worth the visit: www.exporail.org

CFQC 4202

Thanks to Nicolas Kiss, I have new photos of CFQC 4202 up. Many thanks.

If you would like to see your photos of New Brunswick railway items on the web, send 'em to me at nbtrainphotos a t theboykos.com.

McAdam August 13

My daughter and I went to McAdam yesterday (August 13) in the hope of catching a train. We were successful!

A westbound freight was passing through Harvey when we arrived at 11:26. We beat it to McAdam and got there well ahead of the train. While waiting, I talked with Bob Nason, who works for NB Southern and is also on the McAdam station committee. The train arrived at 12:00 precisely. It was led by HLCX 3669, NBSR 2319 and NBSR 2318, with about 38 cars (2 hoppers, 7 lumber loads, 9 tank cars, 5 boxcars, and about 15 flatcars with 11 Sunbury trailers and 2 rental trailers).


They left part of the train on the north track, then backed up to drop off 2 cars and pick up about 6 shiny new MMA centerbeam flats (including MMA 35642). We went up in the cab of 3669 for a couple of minutes with the new crew.


They headed off at 12:26. We chased them to the border, catching them at 12:53, 13:03 and 13:06 when they stopped on the border for a very quick conversation with Customs over the radio. At 12:53:

On the border:


We returned to McAdam for lunch, then found NBSR 9801 working the yard. We left at 14:30.

9801's trucks need a bit of paint:

Northern NB Trains

I had a little trip to Dalhousie on Tuesday the 9th and managed to catch a few trains en route.

When I passed by the UPM-Kymmene plant at 09:45, switcher 711 was shoving a cut of boxcars into the plant. One would almost think it was a steam engine by the huge plume of white smoke it was emitting. I'm no mechanic but it seemed highly unusual. There were six boxcars in the outside yard.

The string of NB Southern log racks I saw on July 15 doesn't seem to have moved.

VIA 14 arrived at Miramichi at 10:06 with 6416 and 6432 leading 18 Renaissance cars and Evangeline Park. They departed at 10:14. Listening to the scanner, they had a slow order at mile 48 (near Rogersville) and were cleared only to mile 33 (near Harcourt).



When I passed by Bathurst at 11:10, I heard 402 working in the yard over the scanner.

I left Dalhousie around 17:45, after verifying that the Dalhousie local was not around. I heard a squawk on the NBEC channel so I went up highway 134. There are some really nice places for train photography along the stretch between Dalhousie and Belledune.

At mile 138.26 the track crosses the highway in Jacquet River, and the crossing lights were flashing. I quickly determined that there was no train around, so I called the NBEC emergency number and informed the RTC that the lights were stuck on. He thanked me and issued a notice to train 403 over the radio. Then he asked 403 for a position check and they were at mile 134 - almost on top of me!

I beat it back to the bridge over Jacquet River and waited for 403. They came at 18:32 with 6906?, a C424 and another SD40 leading about 88 cars. I shot video from the highway, and it turned out OK if a little wobbly. I think it would be a great spot for still photos. There's an ancient iron bridge over the tracks just north of the river that is a great place for getting an overhead shot.


In Miramichi, 1816 and 1819 were shut down on the "main" at the Ultramar facility with a string of boxcars behind them.

Saint Andrews

We went to Saint Andrews today via Saint John. I didn't see much, except CN 7060 by the engine house at Island Yard and an unusual blue car near the Ocean Steel siding on Rothesay Avenue:


It's CEFX 30197, and I believe it is a steel-carrying car. There are notes in white on the two covers. One says "FIRST ON LAST OFF" and the other says "LAST ON FIRST OFF".

On our way out of Saint John at 21:30 I heard NBSR 2319 shunting in the NB Southern yard. There was some confusion about where the "four beer boxes" were.

Saint Andrews was nice. We visited Minister's Island, home of William Van Horne. It's a worthwhile visit, although there's very little from a railway perspective there.

He had an impressive house.