Miramichi Port Spur Torn Up

In the latest of the "death of a thousand cuts" affecting rail service in northern New Brunswick, CN started removing the rail leading to the port of Miramichi on Wednesday. This prompted Hal Raper, chief financial officer of Miramichi Lumber Products, to complain to CN (and the CBC) that they had plans to ship wood chips and lumber to Saint John starting this spring. CN says the line had laid dormant for seven years and they needed the rails elsewhere.

Mr. Raper said they planned on shipping about 700 cars/year. CN says they will put the rails back if there is sufficient business to justify it.

Miramichi Lumber Products was known as Newcastle Lumber until a few years ago, when the family-owned business went into receivership. It is back in operation with a new name and new equipment.

I don't think the rails will ever go back. The northern line is in dire danger since CN filed for abandonment in August last year and nothing has come up since then to indicate they will change their minds. There is simply not enough traffic to justify CN making the investment to repair the line's many faults. The various levels of government, private business, and community leaders need to work together to get more industries using the rails to make the business case for retaining the line. Organizations like this are good but there needs to be more... much more.



I remember seeing New Brunswick East Coast Railway trains coming down to the port many times to spot boxcars, and even to switch the Irving propane facility there when it still had rail service. I have a note that I saw an SD40 / C-424 combination coming away from the port on February 13, 2001 but in general I only saw RS-18s there. Of course, the above photo is an exception as the second unit after NBEC 1867 is NBEC 4230.

In January 2004 it was a pair of RS-18s (NBEC 1814 and 1821) working the port. Note the BC Rail boxcars. There was a shift around this time from a dog's breakfast of boxcar roadmarks to more uniform CN and BC Rail boxcars in northern New Brunswick.


The last time I saw a train at the Port was in the evening of July 18, 2006 when NBEC 1854 and NBEC 1816 were working. Clearly this was shortly before the end of rail service if CN says the line has not had customers in seven years.


Notice how my camera quality improves with each picture! ;)

CP 1814 Revisited

I wrote about CP 1814 back in December 2008. I found another slide of 1814 that I wanted to share. Here's a slide by Greg Brewer showing CP 1814 in Fredericton, NB in the Canadian Pacific yard, back in January 1984.

Clearly it is late in the day, as the sun is low and in the west. CP 1814 is wearing the white flags of an extra. In fact, it looks like the white classification light above the number board is lit as well. A crewman is visible on the other side of the short hood.

I like this slide, because readers know I love MLW/Alco units, but I also like the slide because of what is on the left side of the slide - a glimpse at the yard itself. Here's that portion of the slide.

You can see an engine house? just peeking out on the left side of the image. The foundation of the engine house was just broken up last year when the station was being refurbished. I was told the workers couldn't believe how thick the concrete was.

Next is a small building, purpose unknown, with what looks like a snowplow roughly in the middle of the image. There are a few other tracks back there, including one that goes to what appears to be a loading ramp just to the left of the engine railing.

The large building in the back was the Palmer-McLellan Shoe Company, and the building still exists today as a general purpose office building, facing on Aberdeen Street. A major tenant is the Grand & Toy office supply company, and it holds a Salvation Army thrift store as well.

EDIT: Peter Gough told me what the large building in the back of the slide was.

Scrapped

By Thursday afternoon (June 4), NBEC 1809 and 1830 have been scrapped at Campbellton with 1855 in the process of being scrapped. Plow NBEC 55420, flanger 56201 and spreader 50955 are next.

I saw them on May 30 in a line railway east of the shops. Click on the photo for a larger view.


You can see that all the parts have been stripped. Number boards, classification lights, bells, even handbrake wheels were all removed. Even some of the headlights were gone.

Also, I understand that NBEC 1814, 1816, 1834, 1840, and 1854 have all been sold for scrap.

Goodbye, Alcos.

CP 1814

Brian Barchard, another Alco-MLW fan, sent along this photo of CP 1814: "Here is a photo I shot of 1814, April 29th, 1989, at MP 37 of the Gibson Sub., near Stone Ridge, leading 1842, with 21 cars.......9 for Florenceville and 12 for Nackawic."


Compare that to this Greg Brewer photo of CP 1814 in Devon on the north side of Fredericton, in January 1984.


1814 eventually joined the NBEC, becoming NBEC 1814. Who knows what it will become now that NBEC has been purchased by CN?

All NBEC All The Time

I got up a bit early Friday morning so I could visit the Bathurst yard and see what the yard power was. I snapped the scanner on at 0700 and was surprised to hear that a train was shunting. It had to be 587, the train to the smelter at Belledune. Sure enough, NBEC 1821 and 1868 were doing the final few moves before heading out.

The train had two open hoppers filled with some kind of blue gravel, one tank car, and 15 blue NBEC ore cars.

They left at 07:10 and I was able to get ahead of them to catch them at Beresford at 07:20, although I only had time to videotape them hand-held.

Then I caught them at Madran coming around the bend at 07:40.


I gave up the chase after that. Later, I was out route 430 when I heard train 597 (the Bathurst shunter) working at UPM Bathurst on the Nepisiguit sub at 10:00.

As I left the Bathurst area at 11:55, I heard NBEC 6903 East getting clearance to leave Bathurst. As I approached Miramichi, I planned to get some lunch at DQ, grab a few shots of the yard power and then hit the road for Fredericton, as I was short on time.

With lunch in hand, I was heading back to the yard when I heard 6903 East call the Miramichi yard limits. That was a fast trip! I managed to get to the VIA station, get my video camera out of the car, and shoot them as they passed the station. CFMG 6903... CFMG 6902... 86' boxcar... WTF? That was it - NBEC 402 had one car in their train.

Oh, NBEC 6900 was in the yard and 1814 and 1818 were the new yard power. I took this well-lit shot that Railpictures liked.

January 8 and 9, 2004

I found this old post I made on the AtlanticRails mailing list and thought I'd share it with you.

Not a bad couple of days for watching trains, except for the cold!

2004/01/08 08:25, Location: Miramichi - UPM Outside Yard
Saw UPM 711 moving about.

2004/01/08 08:30, Location: Miramichi - NBEC Yard
In yard: NBEC 6905

Since the normal two RS-18s weren't there, I went looking. I found them down on the wharf spur:

2004/01/08 08:48, Location: Miramichi - Newcastle Port
-- (Train #578) Leaving port area: NBEC 1814, NBEC 1821, BCOL 100247, BCOL 100394, CNA 404833, CNA 404831
-- Left at port: CV 50062, CV 50016, BCOL 850261, BCOL 80311

I shot them leaving the port, crossing Pleasant Street and then after they crossed highway 430. It's pretty easy to keep ahead of them as they have to stop for the crossings to let the brakeman out to flag. It was a beautiful day for video, except for the bitter cold.


2004/01/08 18:30, Location: Miramichi - NBEC Yard
The night switcher (train 580) was shunting with NBEC 1814, NBEC 1821. As I said in a previous post, they were having brake problems due to the cold. I chatted with the brakeman for a bit but he was pretty busy fixing problems.

2004/01/08 19:43, Location: Miramichi - NBEC Yard
VIA 15 arrived at 19:30 and left at 19:43.
VIA 6424 / 6410 / 8619 / 8141 / 8139 / 8130 / 8511 / LOUISE / LEMOYNE / CADILAC / LAVAL / PAPINEAU / MARQUETTE / DOLLIER / BAYFIELD / YOHO PARK

Right after VIA left, the night switcher left. I shot them leaving the yard.

2004/01/08 19:50, Location: Miramichi - NBEC Yard
-- (Train #580) Left with work for UPM and Weyerhauser.: NBEC 1814, NBEC 1821, UTLX 646047, LW 50115, CN 598166, TILX 16254, ENGX 15149, ACFX 45971, ENGX 15232, ENGX 15255


I zoomed ahead of them to the bridge over the highway outside UPM and thought I'd catch them there. Due to the new intersection there, there's a nice little "parking lot" just up from the bridge where you can stand trackside. I waited there in the bitter cold for a few minutes, then figured they must have beat me to UPM. Of course, they rolled by just as I was waiting at the lights. Darn it!

They left a few tankers at UPM then continued on. I shot them from the other end of the bridge.

2004/01/08 20:19, Location: Miramichi - Repap Outside Yard
-- (Train #580) Leaving Repap for Weyerhauser: NBEC 1814, NBEC 1821, UTLX 646047, LW 50115, CN 598166

Not much happening in the yard in the morning of the 9th.

2004/01/09 07:40, Location: Miramichi - NBEC Yard
-- In yard: NBEC 6905
-- (Train #578) Idling: NBEC 1814, NBEC 1821

I stopped by the yard around 12:45 and a friendly brakeman informed me that #402 from Campbellton would be arriving soon. I set up outside the VIA station and waited. Sure enough, they showed up with three SD40s as power. I happened to be just in the right spot as the last car stopped right beside me. They had spotted the head end at the NBEC shack.

2004/01/09 13:06, Location: Miramichi - NBEC Yard
-- (Train #402) Arriving: NBEC 6900, NBEC 6901, CFMG 6906, 32 cars
-- In yard: NBEC 6905
-- (Train #578) Idling: NBEC 1814, NBEC 1821

On my way out of Miramichi, I saw UPM 711 going onto the main line. Unfortunately, I was out of time and couldn't stop to watch.

2004/01/09 13:30, Location: Miramichi - Repap Outside Yard
-- UPM 711 going onto the main line / bridge

Quick Northern Railfanning

I went to Bathurst yesterday and did a little railfanning-on-the-run.

The east-facing signals at McGivney were green-over-red at 0615, indicating something coming from Moncton. I assume it was train 305 (Saint John-Toronto) but I didn't stay to find out.

At Miramichi NBEC 6901 (future power for train 402 to Moncton) was snoozing in the yard, but the normal yard power was not present. There were seven empty NB Southern (!) log racks at the team track. Perhaps the wood that would normally go to UPM-Kymmene is being shipped out?



I noticed the normal yard power was parked at Ultramar, but I didn't read the numbers.

On my way back I noticed the Smurfit-Stone switcher under the highway 11 bridge at 1400, so I took the exit and went to see it. Alas, they had parked it very well and pictures were pretty much impossible. I went to the NBEC yard in Bathurst and saw NBEC 1814 shunting a bunch of empties:


Back in Miramichi at 1500, train #402 from Campbellton had apparently arrived with the SD40/C424/C424/SD40 combination, and the yard power was present too.

It was red-over-red at McGivney and I headed for home.