Alco Memories

I miss those NBEC MLW / Alco units.

Here's train 591 (the Dalhousie turn) with NBEC 1813 and 1857, in the evening of October 6, 2003.


A little further south, NBEC 1845 brought a short woodchip train from the Nepisiguit Subdivision into Bathurst on May 28, 2007.


One more... with a different Alco, a C-424. NBEC 4230 and RS-18 NBEC 1840 were en route from the port in Miramichi to the yard on September 20, 2002. This was "back in the day" when the C-424s were on yard duty in Miramichi.

More Ex-NBEC Updates

Ken Lanovich reported the following on Friday:

JLCX 1818 and 1851 (ex NBEC RS-18s) were ready to be shipped out of Markham yard on Friday.

Ex-NBEC 1813 was relettered JLCX 1813 in CN's Woodcrest shop in Illinois.

Ex-NBEC SD40 6905 was relettered DMVW 6905. DMVX is the Dakota Missouri Valley & Western in North and South Dakota. I guess 6905 won't be TOO far away from me in Winnipeg!

NBEC Videos a-plenty!

Chris M, aka clam502, took a video of NBEC 595 with NBEC 1813 returning to Campbellton from Dalhousie. I enjoyed the sound of his child yelling "here comes choo-choos!" Nice to see the kids enthusiastic about trains!


Michel Boudreau, aka NBECMich, took a few videos in the Bathurst area of NBEC 402/403 (the mainline freight) and NBEC 597 (the local shunter).

First, here's NBEC 597 with 1821 as power, leaving Bathurst for Superior Propane in Beresford with 3 tank cars. Poor Michel got a bit shook up by the horn.


Next, NBEC 402 became train 403 in Bathurst. They had no traffic for Miramichi so they didn't need to go there. Power was 6900 and 6904.


1821 came back light from Beresford, just before 403 left for Campbellton.


Thanks for posting those, guys! Someday I'll be trackside again, I promise...

CN and NBEC, Oh My!

I had some good luck on the 8th.

0735: I caught VIA 14 (on time) departing from Campbellton on the first stretch of mainline outside town. The consist was VIA 6417/6403 (CBC) with 17 cars including the Park car. I videoed them going by and the "going away" shot with the Park car going into the sunrise was quite nice.

I hit the highway and they crossed under the highway at Dalhousie Junction just before I did. I didn't bother trying to catch them at Eel River because they were too far ahead. I heard the hotbox detector at mile 159.9 go off. It's quite detailed - it had speed (62 mph), temperature (14 degrees), axle count, car count (19 including the engines), and total length (1414 feet?). It has a "male" voice.

1255: Train 591 got a clearance to enter the Dalhousie subdivision as work extra 1857.

1310: I was on highway 134, just crossing the tracks on the Irvco spur, when I glanced toward the water and saw headlights! I stopped and jumped out to catch NBEC 1813 and 1851 leading train 587 toward the main line. It had 4 CN covered gondolas, 3 boxcars, and 26 NBEC ore cars.

1316: NBEC 587 got an OCS clearance to head to Bathurst.

1555: NBEC 403 left Miramichi with three SD40s - NBEC 6905, CFMG 6906 and NBEC 6900. It had maybe 50 cars with a ram of Ultramar tank cars on the rear.

1730: While crossing the CN main at McGivney, I saw headlights in the siding. It turned out to be a CN work train (CN 52xx with several gondolas and a crane) facing east. I saw the west-facing signals had a green light so I waited. The crew for the work train came out of the depot to do an inspection of the oncoming train.

1740: CN 306 led by 2727 and 5661 blew through McGivney pulling 78 cars.

Pictures to follow...