NB Southern eastbound today

I just heard it hasn't left Brownville Junction yet (it's 8:49 AM EDT) but it should be leaving shortly. That will put it in McAdam around 14:00 Atlantic, after a small pickup at Mattawamkeag. I hope to get to McAdam and take some shots. :)

NBSR 2610 and 2612 update

NBSR 2612 was primed earlier this week and sprayed green today. No doubt the numbers, decals and so forth are next, and maybe we'll see it in its new colours next week.

2610 had a little work done in the Dever Road shop this week.

NBSR 9803 got its hood back on Tuesday and now it's time for the detail work of making all the hookups. Hopefully we'll see it on the road soon.

NBSR 9803 and 9802 rolling through rainy Westfield on April 28, 2005.

EDIT: Removed my arrogant assumption that I knew better than what someone else saw.

The Acadian Railway Company

I've put a few pages up on my site about the planned Acadian Railway Company, the company to be formed to build a shortline railway in northeastern New Brunswick. The pages feature an interview with the promoter, Peter Swire, as well as a map showing a tentative route.

Another Halifax area Photographer?

Steve Arnot has a number of photos from the Halifax area on Railpictures.net. There are some striking photos in the collection. He clearly has a good telephoto lens! :)

Another news article on the Acadian peninsula railway

From November 2006, here is the French version and a translated English version.

Acadian Peninsula Railway

I have received news that a new shortline railway is being proposed to serve the Acadian Peninsula.

The railway would provide freight service to the peninsula, presumably including Caraquet, Tracadie and possibly Shippagan. I am assuming it would use the former CN railbed from Gloucester Junction through East Bathurst.

This was reported in L'Acadie Nouvelle on December 9, 2006 and also on March 1, 2007.

I wish I could go into more specifics but I don't have many details and those I have are confidential.

I hope to have more details in the next few days, including an interview with one of the organizers.

Shortline Railway Act Revisions

As I mentioned, the New Brunswick Shortline Railways Act is being revised to allow some unspecified business improvements for shortlines, as well as permit the construction of new rail lines.

You can read what is being proposed as well as the status of bill 36. It had third reading on March 22 so it should receive royal assent soon.

The existing bill as written does not permit the creation of new short lines. The new wording defines a shortline railway as "a railway, within the legislative jurisdiction of the Province, that a railway company operates or intends to operate for the carriage of passengers or freight, and includes all railway lines that a railway company owns or proposes or is authorized to construct".

The other change allows the Minister of Transportation to override regulations, provided it is in the public interest (as determined by the Minister) and "is not likely to threaten safety". I suspect there are some onerous regulations that the province's shortlines would like to be exempted from.

In my next post, I'll talk about the new shortline railway that is being proposed to serve the Acadian Peninsula.

Stay Tuned

There's some very interesting news coming down the pipe. Some people may remember that the province's recent budget contained a mention of revising the Short Line Act to allow the creation of new short line railways. There's a reason why the Act is going to be revised...

CFMG Train 402 in a Snowstorm

Here's a YouTube video of CFMG 402 plowing some snow by the Rimouski station in Quebec.



I hope the camera and photographer were OK! :)

New video of NBSR 2610 online

I put a video of NBSR 2610 on the eastbound online at the usual place.

March 14 sightings

2000
Miramichi, noon: I saw NBEC 1814 and 1864 coupled to a long train, and NBEC 6904 and 1818 idling by themselves.

2004
Welsford, 6 PM: I caught the eastbound NB Southern TOFC (trailer on flat car) train with NBSR 9801 and 9802 leading 19 flatcars.

2005
Wendell Lemon reported seeing CN potash train 588 heading south by Fundy with 89 loads for Cassidy Lake. Power was CN 5700, GCFX 6046, IC 6259, CN 5795 and CN 5657. One orange CN scale car near the end.

Bob Boudreau reported seeing ONR 2105 in Saint John on the same day.

Incidentally, today is my sister's birthday. Happy birthday, Angela!

David Othen videos

David Othen has been uploading train videos to YouTube in the past few weeks. Currently he has 11 videos there. (see all of his)

I especially liked these two:




This last one is not a great angle, but you can't get this video any more since the Acadian was cancelled.


Thanks for posting those, David!

Saint John model train show photos up

Photos of the Saint John model railroad show are up in my photo gallery. You can read about it on my model train blog.

Finally the 2610

My youngest two kids and I went down to Saint John to see the model train show. On the way to the show, we swung by Island Yard and saw NBSR 3701 and CN 7000 by the shop, and CN 2587, 5515 and 2232 on the shop track at 11:20. 2232 was ready to lead.

CN 7010 and 7079 were idling by Tim Hortons at Thorne Avenue...


After that, we went to the show. It was a great show and I'll blog about that another time.

I received a call that the eastbound NB Southern train left McAdam at 13:35. My source figured it would be 3 hours before they arrived in Saint John as they had a 30 MPH speed restriction due to the recent snow. They would also have to call the track foremen to get clearance through their areas as they were out in force clearing crossings and switches.

I left the show a little after 2 PM and crossed the Courtenay Bay causeway. As I passed over the potash terminal tracks I saw CN 7010 and 7079 running light on their way to get some cars at 14:20. This is unusual - normally CN 305's power does this.

3 minutes later at 14:23 I saw a local crossing Thorne Avenue on its way to the refinery and other industries, with NBSR 3701 and CN 7000 in the middle of the consist. One of those two engines was smoking quite a bit.

I rounded past Island Yard and heard one of CN 305's crew having quite a discussion with the CN diesel doctor. Apparently 2232 was showing a warning about "no air compressor". They did some diagnostic work and the doc eventually told them that 2232 could not lead. I assume 305 went around the wye after that but I didn't stick around - the eastbound was in my sights.

I decided to head to Clarendon and shoot them from up the hill. I could have gone farther up but I didn't want to risk them getting by me when I was out of sight of the tracks. I heard one of the foreman give them permission to pass through at 15:20 and at about 15:35 Tim Dryden showed up. At 15:38 NBSR 9801 East rolled by, with 9801, 2610 and 2317 leading 26 cars. I had the video camera on the tripod and took a number of photos.


We hopped back in our cars and shot them at Welsford Lake next. I just shot video there.

I got to the first Welsford crossing as the lights were flashing, so I shot the train out my side window. The track maintainers gave it an inspection as the train went by at 15:47.


Here's a closeup of 2610 as it went by.


I managed to get to the next Welsford crossing just before they crossed, so I shot this out the side window too at 15:50.


We chose to get them at Lafarge's after that. I love that spot.


One more shot of 2610...


The train had a number of loaded woodchip cars on the head end, including NBSR 874143. Most of the rest were tank cars.