Wednesday and Thursday in Halifax

I didn't go out Tuesday night, so Wednesday was my next railfan evening. First I went to Rockingham to find CN 121. They were already at Millview, waiting for the conductor to be brought to the head end of the train. For a wonder, it wasn't raining!

Behind the engine is Bedford Basin, with the A. Murray MacKay bridge visible. Haligonians call this the "new" bridge, as it is the newer of Halifax's two bridges spanning the basin. It was opened in 1970, whereas the older Angus L. Macdonald bridge was opened in 1955. But I digress.

I drove out to Windsor Junction to shoot 121 there. I set my Canon T1i up on the tripod and waited. It didn't take too long for the train to blast through the Junction.

I heard they had a pickup at Milford but I had no interest in chasing them in the near dark. I turned around and headed to Dartmouth. I heard CN 513 getting ready to leave Wright's Cove, so I grabbed a sandwich at Subway and went to the switch at mile 10.1 where they rejoin the Dartmouth subdivision.

Two crew were riding the rear of the train as it backed out onto the main, and I received a nice friendly wave from one of them. Once the entire train was on the main, the engineer stopped the train and dismounted. He threw the switch to line it for the main, then boarded the train, gave me a wave, and opened the throttle wide open.

What a great display of smoke! The train had IC 2709 and CN 8015 for power, the same two engines I saw on Sunday.

From this point, the procedure seems to be that the engineer stops the train short of Wright Avenue to wait for the conductor to be taxied there. The conductor then boards and they head out to Milford to get the loaded cars for the return trip.

Thursday night was slide night, but before I met my good friend Bill Linley and his lovely wife for supper, I stopped by Fairview to see what engines were there. Four engines, SD70M-2 CN 8890, SD75I CN 5710, Dash-9 CN 2688 and SD75I CN 5605 were parked in the usual spot.