This Day, 13 Years Ago

Two slides for you today!

Here is a slide shot 13 years ago today, by Glenn Cunningham. Three of my favourite MLWs, CP 4228, 4243, and 4211, rest in London Ontario. 4243 was NBEC 4243 at the end of its life, before being scrapped in 2009 after the New Brunswick East Coast Railway was purchased by CN.


This is another slide shot on the same day in the same location by Glenn Cunningham. CP 4214 is the lead engine of this triplet.

NBEC 4214 In Illinois

Here's a shot of ex-NBEC 4214 (and ex-OCRR 1846) in storage at East Hazel Crest, Illinois. Photo by Steven McKay. Browse through his collection for photos of NBEC 1866, OCRR 1838, NBEC 6901, and NBEC 1818, as well as other CN, BC Rail, and other units.

Get Your Shots Now!

...because the NBEC power is disappearing fast. Very fast.

As reported yesterday, CN 5357 and 5360 were the power on NBEC 402 yesterday out of Campbellton. Here's a photo from "MLW" of that train.


CN 5288 and 5351 are heading to Miramichi today (Friday) to replace the power there. CN 5260 went to Mont Joli on Tuesday, releasing SFEX 4214 which will be retired. No word yet on the Bathurst area power.

So far it looks like just the NBEC / CFMG SD40s are being retired. 6902, 6903, 6908 and 6910 are the first to be retired, as well as SFEX 4214, the only operating C424 on the NBEC roster.

NBEC 1835 arrived in Joffre late Thursday night on CN 403, destined for the Charlevoix railway (CFC).

NBEC 4214

NBEC 4214 has been on the Ottawa Central Railway (OCR), and is coming home to New Brunswick. She was spotted on OCR train 440 on June 6. I understand an RS18 from NBEC will be going to OCR on a permanent basis, probably NBEC 1851.

NBEC and CFC videos, with a twist

Michel R posted a video of NBEC 586, the ore train, leaving Bathurst in the evening for the Brunswick Mines site on the Nepisiguit subdivision. The train had NBEC 1868 and NBEC 1819 with 10 of the short ore cars (345xxx series), 12 CN covered gondolas, and 3 AOK covered hoppers.


This one from Nicober100 is a little different! It features a Microsoft Train Simulator view of former NBEC 4214 on the Chemin de Fer de Charlevoix (CFC) with two LLPX GP-15 units.

As I blogged earlier it appears 4214 has gone to another Quebec Railway Corporation line.

CP 4235 Eight Years Ago

Brian Barchard shared a photo he took of CP 4235 leading Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR) Extra train 4235 North, with 4214 trailing, at Stone Ridge, NB on January 14, 1989. Here we are 8 years later and no tracks there, but probably more snow!



4235 was acquired by the NBEC for parts, and as I recently mentioned 4214 is in Ontario on the Ottawa Central.

Thanks for sharing, Brian!

NBEC 4214 On Ottawa Central

What was once NBEC 4214 appears to be OCRR 4214 (Ottawa Central) in this video from Maxime Larouche.


Compare that to this video from 2004 where 4214 was labelled "NBEC".


I last saw 4214 on December 29, 2006 in NBEC train 403 at Dalhousie Junction. Obviously it has moved on since then!

Northern New Brunswick railfanning

Today I went to Bathurst for the first time in a long time, and of course I saw a few trains on the way. I had my Fuji 3.2 megapixel digital camera with me, and I was looking forward to taking just stills.

It was foggy near McGivney and I couldn't see anything at all as I passed.

I noticed quite a few cars at the UPM-Kymmene plant in Miramichi. The outside yard was pretty full and there were quite a few inside the fence too. This is the first time I've seen it since NBEC took over the plant switching so no doubt they are doing things a little differently.

VIA 14 was reported 32 minutes late leaving Bathurst. I went to Beaver Brook and saw them go through at 10:15 with VIA 6415 and 6420 leading the Renaissance train with Evangeline Park at the rear.



I drove back to the yard and beat them there with 30 seconds to spare, even with the driver going 40 km/h in front of me. They had a quick station stop and headed out. NBEC 1854 and 1816 were shunting around at the other end of the yard, and CFMG 6907 was resting with NBEC 1819. I noted that the two dead C-424s, 4219 and 4243, were still in the yard (I saw them March 29).



As I approached Bathurst I heard NBEC 1818 West get permission to occupy main track between mileages 106.6 and 108. That's the section of track between Nepisiguit Junction and the Bathurst yard limits. They must have been coming off the Nepisiguit Subdivision.

I heard NBEC train 587 talking as I approached Belledune near noon, and as I was parking I saw NBEC 1867 and another red RS18 running light out of the plant. There was talk on the scanner about a couple of cars left in the siding off the main line, so I thought they were getting those.

When I left Belledune at 16:30, I heard train 587 again! It turns out they were working the Irvco siding off the main line, picking up those leftover cars. They rolled by at 16:35 with 1835 leading 1867 and 4 gondolas, 2 boxcars, 1 tank car, an airslide hopper, and a string of about 17 NBEC ore cars.

I almost like the going-away shot better!


I raced to the highway and easily beat them to Beresford through intermittent rain. I had some indecision about whether to shoot straight down the track or off a bit to the "sun" side. As you can see I decided an offset shot was better. They rolled past at 16:58.



The train was parked on the siding in front of the VIA station in Bathurst when I arrived at 17:10. Shortly thereafter they started doing some switching. Gotta love that Alco smoke!!


I watched them until about 17:35 when I spoke with the engineer. He said the next crew would be taking the train to Brunswick Mines around 18:00 to 18:30 and train 403 would be arriving around the same time. I figured I had time to grab a quick supper, so I stopped at Subway on my way out to Nepisiguit Junction to catch 403. As I passed over the tracks at the Junction I saw boxcars rolling by underneath. DRAT!

I turned around and beat it down to Riverside Drive. I managed to get ahead of them without breaking speed limits and shot them at the golf course at Squire Green Drive at 18:00. They were 6903, 4214, 4210 and 6902 with about 54 cars.



When I saw the IC boxcar I thought of Roman Litarchuk. :)


NBEC 403 led by CFMG 6903 parked on the main line, and NBEC 586 led by NBEC 1835 was on the passing track.


Much more about NBEC 586 (train to Brunswick Mines) later... this is enough for one blog post!