When I arrived in Miramichi around 09:50, NBEC 6905 was the only power in the New Brunswick East Coast (NBEC) yard. I checked with one of the VIA agents and they told me VIA 14 (the Ocean) was more or less on time. I drove around a bit and found a half-decent spot. I kept moving to try to get a shot without an overhead wire in the shot, and ended up with this wedgie:
VIA 14 arrived at 10:08 with 6419 and 6412 leading a Budd car consist. Here are some but not all of the cars: 8622 (baggage), 8141 (coach), 8140 (coach), 8512 (Skyline), 8413 (Diner Louise), 8206 (Chateau Denonville), 8225 (Chateau Rouville), and 8706 (Glacier Park).
They saw quite a bit of snow and ice on the way from Montreal:
The train left at 10:15.
I saw a ram of tank cars at the Ultramar facility and two NBEC RS18s at the Chatham Mall on my way through. They would prove to be 1840 and 1856 as we shall see.
As I passed Bathurst in the freezing rain at 11:10, I heard the yard switcher train 597 getting a clearance. They had NBEC 1819 for power.
When I arrived at Belledune at 11:55, I saw there was a cut of cars left on the siding off the mainline, and I heard train 587 (Brunswick Mines to Belledune) chatting away on the scanner. I caught a glimpse of NBEC 1868 and CFQC 3000 pushing a cut of cars into the Brunswick Smelting facility. They had some blue NBEC ore cars and a bunch of boxcars. No pictures - there was no good angle at all.
En route past Bathurst on my way out, I heard the Bathurst yard switcher talking to the RTC, who said NBEC 403 would be leaving Miramichi at around 1600. That's a pretty normal time for them. It gives them enough time to keep ahead of VIA 15.
On my way back through Miramichi, I found RS18s 1840 and 1856 working the yard as train 587 at 17:55. The light was almost gone and the photos suffer for it. There's only so far you can tweak an almost-black photo!
There was nothing at McGivney but red lights in the snow...
PS: This is post #100!
2 comments:
you mention two RS18's at Chatham mall, what are they switching out there? I thought that track along the waterfront (is that what you are referring to?) was out of service
I enjoy your posts, look forward to updates on the miramichi and east coast
Dave P (originally from Newcastle, now sees trains on the Dundas and Galt subs in S. Ontario)
NBEC has a couple of customers on the Loggieville Spur that terminates in Chatham. The major one is Ultramar, which receives 17-tank car sets of fuel from the refinery outside Quebec City. LaFarge Cement receives some cars in the summer, and Weyerhauser ships wood out in boxcars. Sometimes they spot boxcars or gondolas behind the mall for loading or unloading.
Recently the NBEC has taken to parking their engines overnight either at Ultramar or at the Chatham mall. I guess they run out of time there?
The track ends just past the mall beside the old station.
Thanks for reading, Dave!
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