Inauguration of l'Amiral Excursion Train

Saturday (July 27) marked the inaugural run of the l'Amiral excursion train in the Gaspé peninsula. The train left New Richmond and traveled to Bonaventure and back. They offer coach service with finger foods as part of the ticket price, with beverages available to be purchased on-board.

Here's their promo video:

There are two upcoming public runs (schedule):

• August 15: New Richmond - Bonaventure
• September 22: Gaspé - Percé

It looks like they are hoping to catch some cruise ship traffic. Gaspé had 11 cruise ship visits in 2009 and I see there are six scheduled for September and October 2013.

For the railfans among us, the train has ex-CP and ex-NBEC 1849 for power, followed by a former CN steam generator car SFG 602 (now with a generator to supply power for the rest of the train), and three coaches (ex-AMT cars SFG 1059, SFG 1047, among others). The coaches have been completely refurbished from their AMT days.

Of course, they have a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account.

Thanks to Bernard Babin for the information on the power car.

I wish them good fortune!

RS18s

NBEC 1857 in Miramichi, February 9, 2005

NBEC 1857 is in the ERS shops getting ready to depart for "a better life" elsewhere.

NBEC 1849 is in Sept Isles, but is due to be retired when it returns. There are some buyers interested in the RS18s.

There are a few other RS18s around Campbellton that need work before they can leave, along with C424 NBEC 4235.

There might have been a plow extra yesterday east of Chandler to deal with the big snow drifts. The Chaleur didn`t make it to Gaspe on Friday.

NBEC Update

Michel Boudreau reports that Bathurst is back in red with RS-18s.

The yard power is NBEC 1851, and the ore train is powered by 1868, 1821 and 1849.


CN 9452 was on the ore train for a few days, while 1868 was away for servicing.


CFMG 6906 and 6907 were the power on train 403 today (Sunday).

Michel passed along this photo of 1849 from a few days ago. Note the faded patches on the unit.

I wonder if these were parts taken from other units.

All photos by Michel Boudreau.

NBEC Update

Michel Boudreau reports that an RS18 is back as the power for Bathurst local train 587. Here's a shot of NBEC 1849 at work.


He noted CN 9461, 9452 and another GP40 powering the ore train on January 12.

NBEC Turning on the Wye

David Chiasson has a great video showing NBEC 1849 and CFMG 6906 turning on the wye at Nepisiguit Junction, then heading off to Miramichi.

Northern New Brunswick, 2006/03/29

On the 29th I went up to northern New Brunswick, and of course saw a few trains on the way. It was a beautiful day, blue sky and sunshine, so the photos turned out.

In Miramichi at 9:45, I found CFMG 6907 on the back track, idling away. The big surprise was at the end of the track, where I found NBEC 1821, 4219 and 4243 fresh from their stint at IRSI in Moncton. I believe 1821 is not operational and 4219 and 4243 are definitely not operational. They provided parts for SFEX 4203 and 4204 a while ago.



Apologies for the last shot - I had to shoot toward the bright sun

For some reason the paint on 4219 is much darker than 4243 or 1821.

A crew was doing work on the track just railway north/west of the station.

I ventured over to the Chatham side of the river and found a ram of tank cars at the Ultramar depot (GATX 75568 to 75584) at 10:00.


NBEC 1818 and 1849 were idling behind the mall at the end-of-track on the Loggieville spur.


NBEC 587, the ore train, was working the smelter at Belledune around 11:20. I dropped by the Chaleur Lumber spur and I saw six centerbeam flat cars there (3 loads, 1 partially loaded).

I heard NBEC 587 still at Belledune at 17:10 and I saw the second unit was CFQC 3000, mainly by the flashing light on top. There was another RS18 leading but I couldn't get the number.

I dropped by the yard in Bathurst and there was no power there, but I heard NBEC 403 get a rollby inspection from someone. Right after that, I saw an MOW crane get off the tracks at Golf Road and call the dispatcher (in French) to tell them they were clear. 403 arrived at 17:35 with NBEC 6901, 6904, 6900, and 1818 from this morning in Miramichi. It was unusual to see three of the four NBEC-lettered SD40s on one train!

Train 403 had 3 chip cars, 12 boxcars, 1 tank cars, 1 86 foot car (HLMX 86182), and the ram of 17 empty tank cars from Ultramar (GATX 75568 to 75584). 34 cars.

I arrived at the VIA station in Miramichi at about 18:45. I talked with the agent there and he said VIA 15 would arrive in about 10 minutes. I decided to try to catch him by UPM on my way out of town. I got stuck behind someone driving at 30km/h (seriously? 30???) but after they turned off I made good time. I made the left at the lights by UPM and saw the headlights on the bridge across the Miramichi river and brought the car to a screeching halt. I hopped out and started taping.. just in time. The engineer gave me a few toots on the way by.

VIA 6429 (Telus) led, and they were deadheading a Skyline car behind the second engine. There were 12 cars in total.

Another great day!