Canadian Railway Observations is reporting that ex-CFMG SD40 units 6902, 6903, and 6906-6910, as well as RS-18s ex-OCRR 1838, ex-NBEC 1857 and 1867 are all going to Alabama to be parted out and scrapped.
The last time I saw 1867 was on November 7, 2006 in Miramichi, in the middle of our War Bride train chase.
By the way, if you haven't read Canadian Railway Observations yet, you should really check it out.
Michel R has posted a few videos from the Bathurst area. Welcome!
Here's NBEC 402 arriving in Bathurst with 6902 leading, on January 30 2008.
This one shows the Bathurst shunter, train 597, moving some cars around in Bathurst with NBEC 1821 on January 15 2008. It's a bit long but worth watching. I like the overhead view.
Next, two VIA videos. This one shows VIA 15 arriving in Bathurst with the Operation Lifesaver unit (6411) leading on January 5 2008.
Finally, VIA 15 leaving Bathurst on December 29 2007. It still seems weird to see a stainless steel train without a Park car on the end. It's like a sentence without a period at the end
I was in the Miramichi area Tuesday and I saw a few trains on the way. I wanted to photograph VIA 14 with some fall colours. That ruled the station out, as there are few trees in the area and I've taken photos there a zillion times. I decided to head to the west end of the bridge at Derby Junction off route 108.
There is a little dirt road from route 108 that leads right to the bridge. I drove carefully down that and parked, then set my tripod up. I heard VIA 14 blow its horn as it arrived at the station, and a while after that I heard a horn blowing again. That seemed odd to me because there are no public crossings that I know of between the station and where I was. Anyway, VIA 6431 led the train around the corner to the bridge at 10:25.
To say I am pleased with this shot is an understatement! In fact my nemesis Railpictures even liked it in a vertical crop.
I had packed up my tripod and was walking to the car when I glanced at the bridge and saw a train coming the other way! It turned out that NBEC 578, the day shunter, was returning from the Loggieville Subdivision with NBEC 1818 leading the 17-car Ultramar tank train. That was the source of the horn blowing I couldn't identify.
They pulled onto the bridge, threw the switch back to the mainline, then the engineer backed up to pick the conductor up. They then rolled across the bridge and past me at 10:35. Of course, they were horribly backlit.
Later, I passed by the NBEC yard on my way home. I saw train 402 from Campbellton at 14:50. It looked like it had just arrived and it was on the passing track with the power in front of the crew shack. The power was 6902, 6900, 6910, 3000 and 1816 but I'm not sure which of the SD40s was leading. 402 had 2 boxcars and about 7 hoppers on the head end with the 17-car Ultramar tank train on the tail end.
They did a very complicated little dance with the SD40s that I caught on videotape, but I'm not sure what they were doing. 6900 ended up going long hood forward to the wye to turn, followed by 3000/6902/6910 afterward. I couldn't stick around to see the results, alas.
I'm glad I caught VIA in the colours. I like that shot and that location a lot.
A motley group of railfans set out to chase VIA 14 and VIA 15 this sunny Friday. David Morris, Peter Gough, my son Nick and I left Fredericton to get VIA 14 at Rogersville and pursue it deep into Nova Scotia.
We thought we had plenty of time to get to Rogersville... we were wrong. A little pressure on the gas pedal brought us to the station, where we found the sign out indicating a stop was requested. We went just up the line from the station, and there was the train approaching.
VIA 14
We just had time to bail out of the car and turn the cameras on. (10:37)
The train was VIA 6428 and CBC unit 6403 leading 19 Renaissance cars and Evangeline Park.
We set up on the south side of the station to wait for 14's departure at 10:43.
VIA 6403 in second position on VIA's "Ocean"
From there we chased it down the highway but never caught up to it. A few fleeting glimpses of the Park car in the distance were all we got. After refueling at McD's we proceeded to Memramcook to David's favourite barn location. 14 trundled into view at 12:36.
VIA Rail's "Ocean" near Memramcook, NB
I did some very bad panning with my video camera here. One example of why trying to take a couple of stills while videotaping is not a great idea.
We caught up to it as it entered Sackville, so we went to the other end of the station to catch it crossing the bridge to the Tantramar marshes at 13:05.
I like how the sun caught the Park car here.
VIA's "Ocean" passing the radio towers on the Tantramar Marshes
The RTC told 14 he would meet the CN local at Amherst. We figured we might catch 14 leaving Amherst, and so we did at 13:25 as it crossed under the Trans-Canada Highway.
The group consensus on the next shot was to get it at Folly Lake. David wanted to shoot it at the lake itself, and Peter and I wanted to get it on the East Mines trestle. We dropped David and my son at the siding and went the 11 km or so farther to the trestle. We set up and waited. We weren't sure what kind of warning we would get, and sure enough we had absolutely no warning before 14 rushed across the trestle. I quickly hit "record" on the video camera and caught the engines halfway across.
VIA Rail on the trestle at Londonderry, NS
That was the end of 14 for us.
VIA 15
We went back to Folly Lake to rejoin David and Nick to wait for 15 to come back. We had heard on the scanner that they were meeting at Belmont as usual, so we knew it would be a little wait. We had some lunch. The cars in the siding have been there a while!
VIA 15 appeared at 15:04. VIA 6410 and 6406 led 19 Ren cars and the Revelstoke Park.
We beat it back to the Trans-Canada and headed toward Moncton. As we approached the Springhill exit we heard the Salt Springs hotbox chatter away, so we knew we were just behind the train. We decided we would get it at Aulac next. I parked across the tracks and we climbed the berm to wait. 15 arced gracefully through the curve at 16:15.
Once again we got on the highway. As we approached Moncton we thought we might be ahead of 15, so we pulled off the TCH where the tracks go under the highway and waited. She showed up at 16:58.
I included the latter one to show how the Park car towers over the Renaissance cars.
Our last chance was on the other side of the Moncton station. We voted and decided to go to Gort. As we crossed over the tracks on Delong Drive we saw CFMG 6902 leading NBEC train 402 into the yard. It had 4 boxcars in tow.
CFMG 6902 in Moncton, NB
A group of three CN engines rolled out toward the main line, then reversed and disappeared out of view. I believe one of them was CN 5737 but I can't be sure.
VIA 15 appeared at 17:40 and rolled underneath us and away. I got my best still shot of the day here.
VIA 15 at CN Gort in Moncton
And so ended a great railfanning day. Thanks to David, Peter and Nick for being such great company.
That's right, January 28 2004. I thought I'd write about a few old sightings for a change.
I passed through Miramichi at about noon on the 28th and saw NBEC 403 pulling up to the crew shack. The power was CFMG 6902, NBEC 4214, NBEC 4210, and CFMG 6909. The rumbling as the engines passed me was quite impressive, as you can hear in this video.
NBEC 1821 and 1814 were idling in the yard as train 578. CFMG 6903 was idling away.
When I passed through again around 15:00 train 403 was gone, and CFMG 6903 was making up its train to take to Moncton.
