NB Southern's Saturday Eastbound

I had every intention of going to McAdam to see the eastbound, but when I called there I found that the train was early and due into McAdam around 11:15. I wouldn't be able to get to McAdam much before the train left, so I decided to go to Fredericton Junction instead and chase it from there.

I arrived at Tracy at around 11:50. I figured the train wouldn't get to the Junction before 12:45 or so. I looked around a bit, and noticed two things. First, only the west leg of the wye was plowed, and second, the old train station has been repainted dark green.

I mused about where to catch the train, and I almost decided to head up to the end of paved road when I heard NBSR 9801 East on the scanner. I figured I had better get set up somewhere, so I went to the bottom of the hill at Tracy and lined my camera to shoot through the crossing. It was a nice spot!

At 12:54 NBSR 9801 East came through with 9801, 9802, 2317 and CN 7000 (!) leading a shortish train of 27 cars (1 covered hopper, 1 tanker, 10 empty gypsum cars, 8 boxcars, and 7 loaded woodchip cars). The light was great and it stayed great all through the chase.


I tossed the tripod in the van and headed down the road. I caught up to them just east of the Junction. I considered taping them at the highway 785 crossing but opted to continue on and shoot them across the farmer's field in Blissville like I did back in August 2007. That turned out OK although I didn't have time to set my tripod up.


From there I went to Clarendon and taped the train from up on the highway. Love that spot! It's easy to get there ahead of the train.

A quick stop at the lake north of Welsford followed, and then I was held up by the train at both Welsford crossings. No big deal, and even the front-end loader on the highway didn't slow me up too much.

Then on to route 177. My next shot was at my favourite S-curve near the intersection of 177 and 102.

I promised my daughter two more shots and then we'd go home. I wanted to get the overhead shot at Westfield Beach, but a slowpoke in a pickup truck took that shot away. I shot them out the window at Ferry Road and then went to the overpass by the Co-Op south of Grand Bay, and did my final recording there.