More VIA Derailment Photos

Bernard Babin took more photos at VIA derailment scene in St-Charles, Quebec (first set here) on Saturday, February 27.

I fear for VIA 6400. Maybe the damage is only to the cowl but it looks bad. In this photo you can see her trucks have been removed and she is sitting on the fuel tank and ends.


Bernard's words: "All equipment is still present on site, the 6400 is standing in loco, cars are near the scene of the accident, in the siding. Note that two sleeping cars are there in the subdivision Levis, where the sub leaves Ultratrain Levis to get on Montmagny subdivision. The cars are very close to 0.68 MP not far from the crossing."

It almost looks like a burn mark on the outside of the Skyline car under the "Canada".

By comparison, VIA 6457 looks pristine... but only by comparison. Still, from this photo the damage looks relatively superficial.


Thanks again to Bernard for the photos.

VIA 15 Derailment Photos

Bernard Babin very kindly gave permission for me to post these photos of the VIA 15 derailment site. He and his friends went to the site a few hours after the derailment and took some photos in the falling snow.


Workers at the scene of the derailment.


VIA 6400 on her side. 6400 was the lead engine of the train. Note the ladder propped against the nose, probably to help the crew get out of the cab.


The Skyline car and the coach were still upright after the derailment. Note the destruction to the house on the right, as well as the downed power lines.


The junction of VIA 8620 and 8140. It's amazing that they stayed coupled together.

The train had the following consist: engines 6400 and 6457; baggage 8620; coach 8140; Skyline 8507; diner 8401 Acadian; and sleepers 8225 Chateau Rouville, 8211 Chateau Laselle, 8222 Chateau Richelieu.

The line was reopened the same day, around 6 PM local time.

Bernard and friends host the Trains en Gaspésie web site. Check it out!

Rainy Day Meet

On my way from Moncton to Halifax airport on Friday, I decided to stop and shoot VIA 14, the eastbound Ocean, at Amherst. I had thought about Aulac, but the pouring rain dissuaded me from that. I set up at Amherst across from the station and waited.

At 13:07 VIA 6400 and 6424 rolled up to the station, towing a Renaissance train.

The complete consist was VIA 6400, 6424, 7011, 7223, 7230, 7312, 7402, 7308, 7509, 7501, 7525, and 7512.
After dealing with the passengers, the Ocean backed up out of sight around the corner. Soon enough, they crawled up the siding past the station and went up to the east end of the siding to wait for CN 407. Here they are just after they passed the station.

I relocated to get a shot of the Ocean meeting CN 407. At 13:33 CN 2519 appeared on the main line and rolled past the impatient VIA train. CN 2680 was the second unit on 407. You can see the Ocean to the right in this shot.

I saw 2519 in Winnipeg on August 16 of this year. Oddly enough, it was raining then too.

I didn't have time to look for VIA 15. No doubt they met VIA 14 somewhere like Folly Lake rather than the usual Belmont siding outside Truro.

Three Oceans, One Weekend

David Morris sent along photos of the three Ocean trainsets from the last weekend in August. Too bad it was so rainy. The Moncton one is especially noteworthy because it features newly refurbished VIA 6402. Note the hump at the back of the engine for the new generator. This provides standby power to the train so they do not have to run the main engine at full power at the station.

2009/08/29 VIA 14, Sackville

6439-6419
7009
7220-7108-7208-7231
7311-7400-7313
7508-7522-7521-7526-7519-7524
7600
KOOTENAY

2009/08/29 VIA 15, Amherst

6406-6441
7011
7228-7230-7227
7312-7402-7308
7518-7517-7509-7501-7525-7512
7601
EVANGELINE

2009/08/30 VIA 14, Moncton

6400-6402
7003
7223-7226-7222-7217
7315-7401-7314
7500-7520-7507-7502-7506-7513
7602
REVELSTOKE

Two Rebuilt Engines

David Chiasson posted a really nice video of Sunday's VIA 14 rolling over the Nepisiguit River. This had two rebuilt VIA engines on the head end, 6400 and 6402. You can tell 6402 is the second engine by the little hump on the back.

This is a great example of a great video. Well lit, good composition, great subject, and no 30 second lead-ins. Well done.

VIA Videos

Here is my little video of the Hudson Bay from yesterday.


Kevin Gaudet shot a couple of VIA videos recently. Here is VIA 14 (the eastbound Ocean) at Memramcook on July 31 with 6442 and 6414 (Loto Quebec).


Kevin also shot VIA 15 at Gort (just outside Gordon Yard, in Moncton) on the same day. This train had VIA 6400 & 6425 for power.

Appointment at McGivney

I decided to head to McGivney to see VIA 614 detour through there. Given my disappointment from the last time I went for the detour, I allotted plenty of time before and after the expected time to catch the Ocean.

I left home at about 06:15 and I was in McGivney by 07:00. The weather was overcast but not bad, until about 10 km from McGivney when the fog rolled in. Drat!

When I arrived, the east-facing signals showed green over red, indicating a westbound was coming. I set up near the depot, then got out my Model Railroader magazines and started reading. After a while, I heard a thrum and it turned out to be CN 121 (I believe) rocketing through at 07:27.


I believe the power was 2261, 2436, 5529, 8xxx, and a GP38 and a GP9.

I decided to take a walk to the west end of the siding, since I'd never seen it before. I walked past the 30 bulkhead flatcars in the storage siding, then well into the boonies before I finally reached the other end at mile 87.1. Quite a walk - 1.6 miles.

I waited there for about 5 minutes, then I decided to start walking back. Of course, that's when I heard the hum of an approaching engine. I quickly set up to get VIA 6400 split the signals at 08:42.



So if my last time was disappointment, this must have been an "appointment". ;)

Word has it that the detour will last until September 17 (Wednesday).

VIA 614 at McGivney Monday

Peter Gough and David Morris went to McGivney on Monday to view eastbound VIA 614 at McGivney. They arrived at 08:00 and by good luck, 614 was entering the siding for a meet with CN 305. Shortly after they arrived, 305 blew through on the mainline with CN 5527 on the head end.


The Ocean went on its way to Moncton by 08:20.

The consist for the Ocean was: 6400-6419-7003-7228-7222-7215-7108-7312-7509-7519-7309-7401-7313-7502-7501-7525-7506-7513-7504-7600-Assiniboine Park.


Thanks should go to David Morris for sharing his photos.

VIA 14 to Halifax

After Friday evening's collision in Halifax, VIA has been running buses between Moncton and Halifax to serve its customers. No more, apparently. I'm told VIA 14 went to Halifax Tuesday afternoon.

VIA 6400 brought 5 Renaissance cars to IRSI in Moncton on July 5 and they were cleared for service on July 7. Apparently the damaged cars are still in Halifax. David Othen provided a detailed list and I will ask if I can post it here.

JF Dumont and Bernard Babin reported that a special VIA 14 was in Charny, Quebec Tuesday evening with engines 6431 and 6408 with 1 baggage car and 4 coaches. Normally the Ocean does not run on Tuesdays. I assume there were no passengers aboard.

It looks like there will be a VIA 15 from Halifax around noon today... I'll keep you posted.

VIA Crossing the Miramichi

Here's my video of VIA 15 crossing the Miramichi River from Monday. VIA 6400 leads the train and Prince Albert Park brings up the rear.

Two Oceans, One Day

I had a quick trip up north today. I saw CFMG 6902 at rest in Miramichi with a bunch of 86' boxcars around the yard.

VIA 14

I heard VIA 614 was late, so I elected to wait a few minutes outside Bathurst for it to leave. I was rewarded by this sight of the Telus unit, even with its peeling paint.

VIA 6429 "Telus" leading VIA 14 out of Bathurst, New Brunswick

ASSINIBOINE PARK was on the tail end of the train, with a Renaissance consist.

"Assiniboine Park" on the tail end of the VIA Rail "Ocean"

Here's the video!

Ore Train

Later, I arrived in Bathurst just as the NBEC ore train returned from Belledune. NBEC 1819 and 1851 powered a short train.

NBEC 1819 in Bathurst, New Brunswick

VIA 15

I beat it to Miramichi to catch VIA 15. Fortunately they were late, so I had time to go to the river bridge to get this shot. Railpictures liked it - my first accepted photo of 2008.

Prince Albert Park was on the tail end of this Ocean.

Here's the video for VIA 6400!


PS - Sadly, VIA 6400 lasted less than two years after this photo was taken. It derailed in Quebec in February 2010 and was written off.

See Also

• 404 on 4/04 (VIA 6429)
• Rainy Day Meet (VIA 6400)
• Three Oceans, One Weekend (VIA 6400)

VIA Videos by Kevin

Here's a few links to VIA videos by Kevin Gaudet. All were made on March 30 featuring VIA 15 with 6400 and 6436 and a Renaissance consist.

Arriving at Sackville
Blowing through Memramcook
Leaving Moncton, at what used to be called West End, it looks like.

Self-Doubt and "Oh, Crap!"

Every railfan has their moments of self-doubt, and their "oh, crap!" moments. I had both tonight in Bathurst.

New Brunswick East Coast Railway's ore train 586 from Bathurst to Brunswick Mines comes on duty at 18:00. I was at the NBEC yard at 16:10 and nothing was going on. Two NBEC MLW RS-18s were down in the yard and NBEC 1851 was dead by the station. I figured I had some time, so I went over to East Bathurst to look at the Smurfit Stone facility. While I was there, I heard train 586's crew bring their train out onto the main and then call the RTC. "Oh, crap! I'm out of position!"

I had hoped to get them at the iron bridge near highway 11, but that was clearly out of the question. I decided to head for Nepisiguit Junction, as I knew they would have to stop to line the switch for the Nepisiguit Subdivision. I headed to the end of Smith? Court and jogged the last few feet into the wye at the Junction. Soon I heard them rumble around the corner and pull up to the switch. Give the conductor credit, he lined that switch so fast that the train stopped for a mere 25 seconds.


At 18:56 train 586 rolled onto the Nepisiguit Subdivision with NBEC 1868 and 1821 leading 14 CN covered gondolas and 5 AOK covered hoppers.

I resolved to try different locations than last Thursday's chase. I did get him at the first highway 430 crossing at 19:03, albeit only with video.

I took a side video shot at 19:07 to show some of the pretty colours coming out.

I decided to go behind the Blue Mountain? racetrack and get him coming around the corner there, rather than take the second highway 430 crossing. It was a pretty good location but there's not a lot of room to step back from the train there. The light was really starting to fail at 19:14.


I took one more side video shot a few minutes later just before the track went away from the road. I decided to give up the chase, as the light was getting pretty bad, and go to Nepisiguit Junction to wait for VIA 15.

I got to the overpass over the Junction by 19:40 and set up my tripod on the overpass. There is lots of room to shoot westbound trains there without fear of cars. I waited.. as the light went away. Soon I snapped the "night shot" feature on my video camera to have some hope of shooting anything, and waited..

Here was my moment of self doubt. Did I miss the train? Was it early coming into Bathurst? No, that couldn't be, because I heard nothing on the scanner. But where was it? I hate those moments.

After 40 minutes of waiting, VIA 15 showed up at 20:16 in the near dark. I taped them coming, and used my Canon S3 to record them going away:


They had to stop to reline the switch at the west end of the junction, so I got to the VIA station ahead of them. They rolled in at 20:29. I went to the head end and tried a few time exposures of the engine. I think I did it a bit too long. What do you think?


They rolled on out at 20:35 with 6415, Operation Lifesaver 6411 and 16 Renaissance cars with Assiniboine Park at the end.

Oh, and this morning VIA 14 arrived in Miramichi at 10:09 and left at 10:16 with 6400, 6417, 7011, 7223 and 14 other Renaissance cars plus ReveLstoKe Park.

Northern New Brunswick

Today I went to the Bathurst area, and fortunately saw a few trains along the way.

CFQC 3000 and NBEC 1819 in Miramichi

In Miramichi CFQC 3000 and NBEC 1819 provided the yard power, while NBEC 6900 sat at the back of the yard.

I had just exited highway 8 onto route 360 when I heard VIA 14 tell the RTC that they just arrived at Bathurst. I stopped here where the railway crosses 360 and waited a few minutes until VIA 14 showed up. It passed at 09:14 with VIA 6400 and 6417 leading a Renaissance train, with Revelstoke Park bringing up the rear.

VIA 14 at the route 360 crossing, September 2007

By the way, what's up with the weird lettering on Revelstoke Park? Did VIA run out of lower-case stencils?

ReveLstoKe Park at route 360

Later, I heard NBEC 403 arriving at Bathurst at 17:00. They did some shunting, then left quite quickly at 17:35 or so. I handily beat them to Beresford and taped them there at 17:43. They had NBEC 6901, CFMG 6907, CFQC 3000 and NBEC 1819 as power. I guess 402 must have brought a new pair of RS-18s down to Miramichi.

NBEC 6901 leading train 403 through Beresford, NB, September 2007

The train had the usual mix of boxcars, tank cars, wood chip loads, loaded lumber cars, covered hoppers, CN covered gondolas, and the inevitable 17-car ram of Ultramar tank cars for a total of 63 cars (33 loads, 30 empties).

CN tank train in Beresford, NB

Back at Bathurst, NBEC 586 was ready to go to Brunswick Mines by 18:40 with MLW RS-18s 1868 and 1821 on the point. Since I was going that way anyway, why not do a little chase?

They crossed route 430 the first time at 19:00. You can see the shadows were getting really long. I really like this shot - I just wish it was brighter tonight.

NBEC 1868 on the Nepisiguit Subdivision

I got them next at 19:05 at Sewell Road, although I think the video turned out much better than the stills did.

NBEC 1868 and 1821

A quick run down the road got me to the next highway crossing just before the train did, so I just took stills at 19:10.

NBEC 1868

My last catch was a few km up the road, at a private crossing just before the track and the road part ways. At 19:18 the sun was pretty much below the horizon.

NBEC 1868

Train 586 had 15 blue NBEC ore cars, 26 covered CN gondolas, and 5 AOK covered hoppers.

Here's a short video of the train.

In case you feel nostalgic, you can read about my last visit to the Nepisiguit on July 17, 2006.

Just One More Thing

A few Alco/MLW books:

• Alco Official Color Photography
• The Diesel Builders Vol 2 - Alco and MLW
• Alco Locomotives

The Road to Gaspe

David Morris and I have been planning our Excellent Gaspe Adventure for quite some time. The plan was to chase the Ocean up to Campbellton, stay overnight at Tide Head, then pick up the Chaleur at Matapedia Saturday morning and chase it all the way to Gaspe and back. Sunday was set aside for CN freights.

We set off for Rogersville mid-afternoon Friday. We called VIA Rail and the lady told us that VIA 15 was 30 minutes late leaving Truro, so we knew we had lots of time. We arrived at Rogersville around 18:15 and I called Luc Doiron to see if he was around. We went to the station and Luc showed up, so we had a good chat... until VIA 15 roared by!! We didn't even have our cameras out of the van! Oooops. We ran for the van and took off after them. At least we noticed the VIA train was headed by repainted VIA 6400.

We arrived in Miramichi before them. I took a few shots of NBEC 1818 and 1840 by the crew shack, and then I shot the Ocean arriving at the NBEC yard at 19:00. We took some photos of them at the station, then shot them leaving the station before heading for Bathurst.

Notice the new reflective tape along the frame.





Listening to the scanner told us that the Ocean was by Nepigisuit Junction before we got to Bathurst, so we elected to bypass Bathurst and head for Jacquet River. We heard them report the Beresford mileboard just as we passed the Beresford exit, so we knew it would be close. I exited at Jacquet River, dropped David at the station platform and headed for the causeway. Fortunately, they did the flag stop there so I had time to set up my tripod.

I keep re-learning the same lesson over and over again. The lesson is: take video or take photos. Doing both is a recipe for disaster. The two shots I took were both blurry, and the video, while OK, could have been better. Here it is:


After that, I picked David up and we tore off to Campbellton. They were by Dalhousie Junction before we even reached Dalhousie, and in fact they were into Campbellton before we were. We took a few time exposures before heading off to bed for the big Gaspe trip Saturday.



I took a few for fun while the train rolled by:


Here's the consist of the Ocean for those who note these things:
6400, 6432, 7004, 7223, 7232, 7200, 7108, 7227, 7316, 7520, 7303, 7402, 7314, 7515, 7508, 7525, 7503, 7516, 7601, Chateau Salaberry (8226), Assiniboine Park (8702).

After this, the Gaspe adventure began. Part 1, part 2, and part 3.