An NB Southern Chase

I was staying in Saint John NB Thursday evening. I awoke Friday morning (Dec 12) at 8 am and checked my email / Google+ / Facebook and found a post in the RailsNB Facebook group from Brian Barchard reporting an NBSR eastbound freight train through Harvey at 07:25. I did some mental calculations and figured they couldn't cover the 40+ miles to Welsford until 08:30 at the earliest. I grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed out. My intention was to follow the NB Southern line all the way until I stumbled across the train. On my way out of Saint John I saw these two units at Island Yard..

I passed the Ponderosa Yard at Dever Road in Saint John but nothing was going on. Onwards!

I passed through foggy Grand Bay-Westfield without any sign of trains. As I approached Welsford I heard the EOT squawk* on my scanner just as I came to Aikins Lane/Sand Hopper Road and saw white tank cars going east. Time to turn around!

I decided to get them at Brittain Road first. I got there about 2 minutes ahead of the train. Looking at the bright(er) overcast sky and the dark ground, I set the exposure compensation on my camera to -2/3 of a stop. I do that in these situations to prevent the sky from blowing out when the camera meters the ground. I also had the shutter speed at 1/250s because of the low light. Normally I'd prefer 1/400 or faster but it wasn't possible given the available light. It turned out OK.

The consist was NBSR 6315, HLCX 6304, NBSR 6318, GMTX 2226 and GMTX 2233.

Next I was determined to get the overhead shot at Westfield Beach. I parked at the mailboxes and ran like heck up the bridge to get into position. Seconds later the headlights were visible as the train came around the bend.

Detail roof shot, anyone?

I knew I would be playing catch up so I drove through Westfield-Grand Bay. I wanted the curve shot at Milligan Road and arrived just in time. Part of railfanning is choosing your opportunities!

You can see there was some fog...

I grabbed a quick side-of-road shot as the train passed through Grand Bay.

Since I had an overhead shot I felt no need to get the overhead shot by the Co-Op, and the train was there first anyway. I had no real idea of what I wanted next except that I wanted the bridge shot just before Gault Road. I stopped to take this photo at Ketepec Road. The engineer really loved that horn and 6315 has a very loud horn!

Here's the bridge shot I wanted.

As you can see it was raining by this time, but whatever... The nice thing about a heavily overcast day like this is that you can shoot from any direction and the light is pretty much the same! I had to do some serious editing to lighten the pond and engines enough to be seen, yet not blow out the bright sky.

I went to the overpass to shoot them coming into the yard. "Huff and Puff" were working the west end.

These are NB Southern's two SW1200 locomotives.

The eastbound freight stopped for a while. I am not sure why but there was some chatter about a freight car.

Eventually they got started again.. very slowly. I imagine the rails were quite slippery with the rain and it was hard to get started up the grade into the yard. The engines sounded great and the sanders were doing their thing.

It's been a very long time since I chased an NB Southern train! Thanks to Brian for the heads up and the rest of the RailsNB group for all the information they provide.

New NB Southern Engines Have Arrived

Two of NB Southern's "new" leased engines arrived in Saint John on Saturday on CN 406. Gerald McCoy was kind enough to allow me to post these photos of HLCX 6304 and HLCX 6322.



CN 406 had CN 2657 and CN 8009 ahead of the two leased SD40-2 engines.




Matt aka saintjohnrailfan shot CN 406 in Nauwegewauk en route to Saint John.


Thanks to Gerald and Matt for sharing these.

Yet Yet Yet More NB Southern Engines Coming

It seems like I make one of these posts every month!

The New Brunswick Southern Railway has five more leased engines on the way. GMTX 2644 (a GP38-2) will join the growing NBSR fleet. This old lady was built in October 1967 for the Baltimore and Ohio as GP38 3821. It is in Oakway blue and white like GMTX 2639.

The other four are SD40-2 engines from Helm, HLCX 6304, 6319, 6332 and 6340.

HLCX 6304 looks pretty sharp. Photo by Terry Cantrell.


HLCX 6319 is in dark red and blue, and looks like the leasers that the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway had/has.

HLCX 6332 is in Conrail baby blue with HLCX on the side, originally a Pennsylvania Railroad engine. Apparently it is looking pretty shabby, so maybe it will get a repaint. Even in 2006 it was looking a bit rusty. Photo by Brian Jones.


HLCX 6340 is in Southern Pacific gray with red ends. Very recently she was working on the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern (ICE), purchased by Canadian Pacific.

Oh, and GMTX 2666 showed up very quietly at the beginning of this month. GMTX 2666 is a GP38-2 painted in Oakway blue and white and was on a westbound NBSR freight shot by Byron Thomas on August 2. Note HLCX 6200 leading, GMTX 2645 in second position, "new" GMTX 2666 in third, HLCX 6315 fourth, and finally NBSR 2612 as the fifth engine.

I love this shot. The consists are so colourful on the NB Southern these days.

By my count that makes 29 engines. You can see my NB Southern roster page for the full list.