The UNICEF Train

David Morris sent along some photos of the New Brunswick Southern Railway UNICEF train that ran on September 30. The NBSR runs a train every fall between McAdam and St. Stephen in New Brunswick, Canada to benefit UNICEF.

The train had Maine Northern 9801 on the head end, followed by NBSR 5448, NBSR 5471, NBSR 5537 and "office" van NBSR 422990.

He first caught the UNICEF train passing through Harvey, NB en route to McAdam in the early morning light.


Things were much brighter on arrival in McAdam! Note the nice UNICEF banner.


This is the interior of car 5448, one of the three ex-VIA Rail coaches on the train.


After all the passengers boarded, they left for the slow trip to St. Stephen. David shot them at Moores Mills en route to St. Stephen.


Trouble was waiting at Watt Junction! These fierce train robbers were lying in wait for the train.


The train was accosted by the train robbers, some mounted on horseback.


Finally, they arrived in St. Stephen. David took this shot on the Milltown spur outside St. Stephen.


The engine ran around the train and pulled it back to McAdam. I believe David shot this from the highway 1 overpass just outside St. Stephen.


Once back in McAdam, the train was marshaled behind the freight power of NBSR 2318, 008, 2319 and HLCX 906.


Thanks for the photos, David!

Here are posts from previous years' UNICEF trains: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

HLCX 906 in Saint John

On my last day in New Brunswick, I had some time before I had to catch my plane home. I drove by the NB Southern Dever Road yard and found NBSR 3703 and CN 4141 shunting the west end of the yard. I took a quick video...

On the east end of the yard, it looks like the mainline train was just putting its train away. NBSR 2318, slug NBSR 008, Maine Northern 9801, HLCX 906 and HLCX 917 were the power for this train. I watched them for a while and took a few shots.

One obvious difference I see between HLCX 906 and HLCX 913 is that 906 has the headlights in the short hood, whereas 913's lights are above the windows. It's clear that the headlights on 906 used to be above the windows. 906 also has the struck-out UNION PACIFIC on the side instead of the grayed-out version on 913.
I'll leave you with the video I took from the Green Head Road overpass. The engineer was really making some noise!

Random New Brunswick Sightings

As I mentioned, I was in New Brunswick this past week. On Sunday June 19 I flew out of Winnipeg at 8 AM. On my way to the airport, I stopped at CN's Rivers subdivision and found an eastbound train coming. It turned out to be CN 8956 on the head end with Dash-8 CN 2421 trailing.


Anyway, on to New Brunswick. In CN's Island Yard I found CN 4132 and 4141 shunting. I have seen very few of the CN 4xxx GP9s. The 70xx GP9s were much more common in New Brunswick.




After viewing that and the Herzog ballast train with CN 2512 and CN 5694, I met my family for supper. Afterward, I headed over to the NB Southern yard on Dever Road in the evening. I went to the west end first, and found NBSR 2318, slug NBSR 008 and NBSR 9802 shunting there.



I watched them for a bit then went to the east end of the yard. Imagine my surprise to see the Herzog train's engines there. As I watched, CN 5694 and 2512 rolled up to the shop, presumably to get serviced before their trip back up CN's Sussex subdivision to Moncton and beyond to drop ballast.

That's NBSR 9803 and NBSR 2610 beside them, and I think NBSR 3701 on the other side of the shop building. Caboose NBSR 422990 is just off the right side of the photo.

Just to the left of that photo is the rest of the yard.

There's a lot going on in this photo. On the left you can see the hulk of NBSR 3700, leased caboose CN 79624, and you can just see the number board of NBSR 9802.

On the right you can see NB Southern's passenger train. In the background is a set of wood chip cars with an open top Sunbury chip truck beside them.

That was the extent of my railfanning that week. I spent the rest of the week in St. George, far away from any trains!

NBSR 2318 In Service

Brian Barchard caught NBSR 2318 leading an eastbound freight train through Harvey in the early afternoon. NBSR 2318 and slug 008 and another Geep were pulling 58 cars. Nice to hear it's back to work and putting that slug to work too.

You may remember it was on its way home last week.

NBSR 2318 On the Way Home

NB Southern Railway GP38-2 2318 has been at Canada Allied Diesel for some time getting some work done. I mentioned in April 2010 that it had been restricted to yard duty, and I believe it went out for service shortly after that.

On January 8 2011 it was sighted at CAD being prepared for its return journey.

Frank Jolin caught it in a colourful MM&A train on January 16 in Quebec.

NB Southern Power Update

Word has it that NBSR 2317 is coming back to New Brunswick next week. It has been at Canadian Allied Diesel since January.

NBSR 2318 has been restricted to yard duty in Saint John due to an engine problem. Its daughter unit, NBSR 008, has been performing well.

March 17

After work on Wednesday, I drove up to Fredericton to visit my mom and a good friend of mine. I drove up through Grand Bay-Westfield because I wanted to see if anything had changed in the eight or so months since I had been through there last. The answer: nothing much. :)

However, I did hear about an eastbound freight coming in. I wasn't sure exactly where I wanted to stop, so I was indecisive and moved a couple of times. In the end, I was just about to move again when I heard the horn of an approaching train at Brittain Road in Westfield. I set up quickly and took this video:

NBSR 2318 and slug 008, together with NBSR 2319, pulled a fairly short train of gypsum empties, centerbeam flat empties, and a single boxcar. I was glad to see the slug, finally.

I returned to Saint John at close to midnight. As I was driving past Island Yard, I spotted a train coming into the yard from the west / north. I drove up to where a new overpass is being built by Russell Street and set up. Soon enough I heard the bark of an SD70M-2's horn as CN 8864? and CN 5770 brought a potash train past on the way to Courtenay Bay. I believe this was train 594, which is run occasionally using CN 406's power to ferry potash cars.

They came to a stop so the conductor could cross the street and line the wye switch toward Saint John.

Since it was just before midnight, it was time for me to get to bed to rest up for the next day's work.

Gary in McAdam

Gary Lee has been filming in McAdam as usual.

This is an interesting one. NBSR 2319 and 9801 are pushing a single NBSR green boxcar, 401624. Notice the window in the top corner. I wonder what this boxcar is for?


Here's NBSR 2318 with calf / slug 008 in the McAdam yard.


This is an interesting one, with the train silhouetted against the sunset. NBSR 9801, 2318, slug 008, and 2319 were the power on September 22, 2009.


Good videos, Gary!

The Slug

Brian Barchard sent along a very nice photo of NB Southern Railway's new slug 008. Click on it for a larger version.


He also sent a few shots of the New Brunswick Day train.






Thanks for sharing, Brian!

NB Southern Slug On The Road

I was going to post about the CP local I saw today, but this is a lot more interesting. Brian Barchard sent me an email this afternoon about the NBSR road freight he saw on Saturday. The eastbound freight had NBSR 2318 leading, with NB Southern's slug as the second unit, and a 980x unit third. The train had 67 cars and passed Harvey Lake at 17:51.

I like the composition with the kids on the pier. As Brian says, the sun is problematic at that time of day.

Brian notes that NBSR seems to be running about 3 trains a week in each direction these days.

It looks like the slug has at least the side yellow reflective stripe on. I can't tell if it has a number or "NB Southern" on the side.

New Brunswick Day Photos

David Morris sent me a few photos that he took during the New Brunswick Day festivities.

The first shows the train running by Harvey Lake on its way to McAdam.


Next, the train arrives at McAdam.


Finally, a shot at St. Croix during one of the excursions.


Don't forget Dave Dineen's NB Southern Excursion Video!

NB Southern Excursion Video

Dave Dineen chased the NB Southern New Brunswick Day excursion train on Monday and posted a great video of his clips. It is worth watching from start to finish.

NB Southern Slug Ready

I just received word that the ex-CN "slug" is ready for testing at NB Southern's Dever Road shops. They are called "mother-daughter" units. The mother unit is 2318 and the ex-CN unit is numbered 008. They should be tested in the yard on the weekend, and once the bugs are worked out, they will be tried on the mainline with a test train next week.

The slug has been around for a while. I saw it back in May 2008.

NBSR 2318 Redux

I see Gary Lee taped the same train I saw on Monday. He correctly identified the second engine as 2610 where I said it was 2612. Ooops.

NB Southern 2318 East

Sick with cabin fever, I decided to brave the rain and go see a train today. Word was that the eastbound was due to arrive in McAdam at 2 PM, so I left my house at that time to intercept it near Fredericton Junction. My two youngest kids and I arrived at the Junction and did a bit of scouting before settling in at a private crossing just east of the highway crossing at Vespra. Or Rooth. Not sure.

Anyway, it was a long, long wait. I set up my tripod but left my video camera off, because the rain was intermittent and often fairly heavy. We played DVDs and waited... and waited...

Finally my scanner squawked on the EOT channel at 15:59. A few seconds later, I heard the train blow for the highway crossing around the corner. I set the video camera on the tripod and started taping. I grabbed one quick still shot before concentrating on taping.

The consist was 2318, 2610 and 2317 with 41 cars, a mix of empty centerbeam flats, boxcars, tank cars, auto racks, wood chip cars and two doublestack cars on the end.

They rolled on by, and we gave chase. They beat us to the next road crossing, and through Tracy we were neck and neck. I passed them on the 80 km/h stretch and zipped into Fredericton Junction and parked on the far side of the station. I hopped out and taped them handheld as they rolled on by.


The conductor gave a nice wave as they went by. I always feel bad that I can't wave back, but I had two hands on the video camera and I didn't want to shake the picture. Next time.

EDIT: Corrected second engine number.

McAdam Today

I decided to go to McAdam today with my two youngest kids. I knew the weather would not be great, but it has been a while since I've been out railfanning and it was time. We arrived at 12:30 and found two units in the yard, NBSR 2612 and CN 7038. I knew the CN GP9 had been there for a while, on the Saint Stephen (South) Job, but it was a surprise to see 2612 there. I understand she had a traction motor fire and was set off Friday night by the westbound freight.


7038 had an alarm bell ringing and her radio was on, so I assume it has some kind of SmartStart device in it to save fuel.

We grabbed some hot dogs at the place next to the Family Restaurant and then came back to witness NBSR 2318 East arrive at 13:00 precisely with 2318, 2317, and 9801.

The three units took the front cars and pushed them back into the west yard. They then waited out on the east side of the yard.




Afterward, 7038 pushed five cars up to the pulp transload facility, then joined up behind the eastbound's power. My kids were providing a running commentary throughout the video!


The train left at 13:43 (without 2612) and I headed to my favourite spot at Harvey Lake to tape them. I decided I would forgo any still shots and do a long pan of the train as it went around the lake. I'm pretty pleased with the results.


After the train left, we threw stones in the water, watched the resident Canada geese, then went back to Fredericton.

I want to give a shout out to Chris Gallant, conductor, who took the time to say hi to me. I'm sure we'll meet again!

Sydney Coal Railway GP38 Video

Here's something a little different. Keiichi902 filmed a Sydney Coal Railways (ex-DEVCO) GP38-2 rolling light through Sydney, NS. This is a sister unit to NB Southern's 231x engines. The caption of the video states it was going to pick up an NBEC RS18 in Sydney for repairs. In case you're wondering why NBEC units go to SCR for repairs, both NBEC and SCR are owned by the Quebec Railway Corporation. Eastern Railway Services (ERS) in Campbellton does a lot of engine repairs, but some engines are sent via CN and CBNS to Sydney for repairs that can't be done at ERS.


NB Southern watchers may remember that NBSR 2318 stayed in Devco colours for quite a while before being repainted into NBSR green, unlike sisters 2317 and 2319 which were repainted into Sunbury yellow almost immediately. Here's a video I made showing NBSR 2318 leading a westbound freight on July 23, 2005.

Saint John and Beyond Friday

I made a (now rare) visit to Saint John on Friday. My first sighting was an NBSR GP38 and SW1200 in behind Moosehead near Reversing Falls at 11:35. I whipped my trusty Canon S3 out to take a long-distance shot when... it didn't work. Again. I cursed and swore and just about threw the camera into the swollen Saint John river. Grrrr.

I continued driving, and it occurred to me that maybe the batteries were low. I stopped at Staples and swapped my camera's batteries for the scanner's. Lo and behold, it worked! Phew.

While I was there, I saw CN 2617, 5414 and 2675 at rest in Island Yard, and CN 7010 working the yard.


At 13:25 I heard CN 405 say they were going to get 29 potash cars from Courtenay Bay.

At 14:55, I heard CN 405 get its orders to proceed to McCully's, with 2675 leading.

I heard that the eastbound NBSR freight had left McAdam just before 3 PM, so I figured they would be in Fredericton Junction at around 4 PM. That just barely fit into my time restrictions, so I decided to go for it. I reached Tracy at 3:52 and parked by the bridge by the river. I took a few shots of the river, hoping the train would show up before I had to go at 4 PM. I was walking back to my car when I heard it blow its horn for the highway 645 crossing. Quickly I went back to the bridge and shot it a few times at long distance before taking video. These shots would have been better if my camera was not set to ISO 400. Anyway, I am quite happy with the video.


The train had NBSR 2318, 9801, 2612, and 2610 for power, with a respectable 56 cars.

Chasing The NB Southern Pipe Train

My wife was working Monday afternoon, so I figured since it was such a beautiful day, I should pack all the kids in the van and go see some trains. I was getting withdrawal again.

A quick phone call and I found that the eastbound was going to be a pipe train. Bonus!

I decided to go to the Fredericton Junction area and wait for it there. After a bit of driving around, I went to mile 52 where route 645 from Harvey turns back into a paved road. After some waiting, Dave Dineen arrived, having seen my post about the pipe train. He said he had heard some chatter on the scanner so the train was en route. After some chatting and waiting, I made another call and found that the train was having some trouble, with one unit down. Apparently it was 45 minutes late coming into McAdam.

At 15:05, we saw headlights in the distance and set up to take some shots. I had the video camera on the tripod and took stills with my Canon S3. Dave took shots on his own S3 and I hope to see how he did with his stills. The train featured NBSR 2318, 2317, 2610 and 2612 with 7 doublestacks and 1 single stack, followed by 1 open boxcar , 47 loaded flatcars of pipe, and a trailing open boxcar.



I stayed to tape the whole train, then we hit the road to Fredericton Junction. We caught up to it but it beat us to the next road crossing. My son Nick shot this through the windshield.


Once the tail end cleared, we continued on and caught up with it again on the long straightaway in Tracy. Nick shot this video (using the Canon S3) through the window as we overtook the train.


I elected to continue through Fredericton Junction and shoot it on the overpass just east of the river bridge. It rolled through at 15:25 and gave me a little toot as it passed.


We easily got to Blissville ahead of it, and found Dave pulled over at the same spot I was going to. Nick and I jumped out, and I shot video while he shot stills. This still was Nick's:



After that, the kids were getting restless and I had to get back to Fredericton to pick my wife up, so we turned and headed back. What a great day for chasing trains!

NB Southern in McAdam

Gary Lee posted a couple of videos of NBSR in McAdam.

First is NBSR 2319 pulling some ballast cars off the St. Stephen subdivision. At first I assumed they were gypsum cars but they are NBSR ballast cars.


And here's NBSR 2318 with two other units pulling up to the McAdam station.