The second pair of Helm leased units, HLCX 913 and 917, were seen at Bayview Junction in Ontario.. yesterday?
Meanwhile, HLCX 911 was spotted in McAdam and Harvey. Danny McCracken shot HLCX 911 as part of the eastbound freight that featured NBSR 9802, 911, 008, 2318, and recently arrived 2612 from the St. Stephen subdivision. They left at 16:20.
Brian Barchard caught the same train rolling through Harvey Station. I see the depot has been repainted since I last saw it!
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!
I was in Saint John for a business trip this week. On Tuesday (Sept 15) I decided to drive by the NB Southern Railway yard at Dever Road after work. I drove down the Galt Road toward the Westfield Road. As I approached the railway crossing I saw the lights were flashing. I stopped short of the crossing and jumped out, just in time to see NBSR 9801 and 9802 and caboose CN 79624 roll by, pulling ten NBSR ballast cars and six boxcars. I had enough time to get my camera and shoot them going away, just at the west end of the wye.
I raced down the Westfield Road hoping to beat them to the overpass at the west end of the yard. When I arrived, I saw NBSR 3703 and 9803 shoving back into the yard to make room for the road freight to arrive.
Soon enough NBSR 9801 East rolled in, after lining a switch. I think they stopped here to line another switch to pass into the yard.
I zipped over to the other end of the yard, thinking that the ballast train might come over and then back in. It didn't, but I found NBSR 2612 and NBSR 2319 doing some shunting there. Bonus!
It was nice to see the old green and yellow again.
It was such a beautiful day that I had to go see some trains. My two youngest kids and I went to chase the NB Southern. I heard the freight was arriving in McAdam around noon, so I figured 2 PM in Tracy would be safe. I arrived there shortly before two, then headed west to Vespra to wait at the beginning of the dirt road.
There were two gentlemen already there, Mike and Peter? Peverett from Maine. We talked for a few minutes before the train showed up at 13:56. NBSR 2317 and 9802 provided the power for the 28 cars in the consist.
I shot them again at the next crossing of highway 645.
I easily beat the train to Tracy, and shot them once more at the side of the road. You can see the two Peveretts on the bridge.
The next shot, I decided, would be at Fredericton Junction by the station. I set up midway between the station and the caboose and got them there at 14:14.
I was a little behind them once they passed, so I elected to get the cross-the-field shot at Blissville by the cemetery. First, the traditional shot: Then something a little more artistic:
I was in Saint John very briefly at 15:30 on Thursday afternoon (March 5) and caught NBSR 3702 (SW1200) and 9802 (GP38-3) switching the west end of the Dever Road yard.
On my way back to Fredericton, I called to find out when the eastbound train was coming through and lo! there was no eastbound on Thursday. Apparently there was no westbound freight train on Wednesday night, so no return train.
I'm told this has been happening fairly frequently. I understand traffic is way down on the MM&A so that may have a lot to do with it. Kevin Burkholder reported a large NBSR eastbound freight on Tuesday March 4 with 4 units and a 45 car pickup leaving Mattawamkeag, Maine at 11:50. Perhaps the cars are being sent every other day instead of daily.
Since it was such a beautiful day today, I decided to chase the NB Southern Railway freight. I intended to see the train at McAdam and then have lunch in McAdam. But you know what happens to the best-laid plans...
I had intelligence that the train was due to arrive in McAdam at or shortly after noon. I left my house at 11:27 (late) and as I entered McAdam I heard an EOT squawk on the scanner. I crested the hill in McAdam and saw a train rolling east through the highway 4 crossing at 12:27. Drat!!!!
I turned around and headed back to Harvey. I arrived there after about 20 minutes and decided to set up east of the highway crossing. My kids jumped around in the back of the van while I listened to the sound of the train's horns echo in the distance. At 12:58 NBSR 9802 East rolled through the crossing with 9802, 2319, 2317 and 2610 pulling a fairly long train.
Within a few minutes, they were gone, and then we finally had our lunch.
Brian Barchard shot the eastbound train in Harvey that I saw in Welsford on Wednesday. NBSR 9802 East blew through at 13:50 in the falling snow. It took 1 hour and 25 minutes to go from Harvey to Welsford - a little slower than normal.
Michel R posted a video of NBEC 402 leaving Bathurst for Miramichi on February 21, shortly after I saw it in Belledune!
Dave Dineen got his own train fix with a chase of NB Southern's eastbound freight NBSR 9802 East on Saturday February 23. He describes in his blog how he got the pacing video using a tripod in the front seat of his vehicle.
Dave took a very nice video of Thursday's NB Southern eastbound in the snow. NBSR 9801, 2317, and 9802 powered 35 cars (gypsum, wood chip, and boxcars mostly) through the snow to Saint John. The last of the three clips is especially good.
Gary Lee and Dave Dineen both taped the same train, NBSR 9802 East, from McAdam to Saint John on November 21. Gary caught it leaving McAdam and Dave picked it up at Vespra (near Tracy) and chased it to Westfield before night fell.
Here's Gary's clip showing NBSR 9802 and 2317 leaving McAdam.
Another departure from the Gaspe posts... I was in Saint John on Friday and saw a few trains.
At 09:45 NBSR 2317 and 2610 were rolling along past Harbour Station to the west end of Island Yard. They stopped there, I guess to wait for clearance to enter. The light was nice that time in the morning.
In Island Yard, CN 2582 and 5550 were at rest, and GP9 CN 7010 was shunting.
Later, CN 305 was getting ready to head out at 13:30. Here's the tail end.
Over at Dever Road, NBSR 3703 was working her heart out pushing cars around at the west end.
I made a quick call to McAdam and discovered that the eastbound had left McAdam around noon, so it would be in Saint John soon. I hit the road, and just after the golf course in Westfield I heard a FRED chirp on the scanner. I pulled over and waited for the train to clear Westfield Beach. I shot him there, then backtracked to my favourite curve entering Grand Bay and got him at 14:15.
He had NBSR 9802, 2612 and 2318 with 34 cars (14 empty gypsum cars and about 12 wood chip cars).
After all that excitement, I was ready to head on. However, I noticed some activity at the ferry crossing by Westfield Beach. There was an NBSR pickup there working on the signals and a few people pointing at rails at the crossing. Just past that, an NBSR crane was getting ready to roll at Westfield Beach with some rails.
