New Brunswick Railway Heritage Association Site Launched

New Brunswick Railway Heritage Society | French version

I am pleased to finally write about a project I have been involved in for several years. A few years ago, people from several railway-oriented attractions in New Brunswick got together to discuss how to better market the sites. The idea that arose from those meetings was to feature several "trails" linking sites together in a trail that could be visited in one or two days. A lot of work went into the preparation of these trails, and a web site was developed and has now been launched.

The site centers on an interactive map of the province, showing the trails and the many railway attractions in New Brunswick. The visitor is invited to click on the trails and attractions to learn more about them, and then move on to the individual attraction's web site, if available.

I have not been involved in the project since I moved out west, but before that I helped out setting up the basic web site and participating in the many meetings. It was a real team effort from the many railway attractions in New Brunswick. I am pleased at how well everyone worked together. I think it is important to acknowledge the great help provided by the Heritage Branch of the New Brunswick Wellness, Culture & Sports Department and the New Brunswick Tourism and Parks Department. The site bills it as a project of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association, and it is, but it involves many more players.

A couple of my photos are on the site, including the Salmon River trestle photo at the bottom of each page featuring CN train 149 on August 12, 2007

There is a Daily Gleaner article about it, featuring my good friend Art Clowes, one of the premiere railway historians in the province.

I invite you to visit the site and have a look!

A New Life For CN 7059

An old friend, CN GP9RM 7059, has found a new home on the other side of Canada. The Sandhouse reports that VIRX 7059, owned by Vancouver Island Rail Tours Ltd., arrived on the Island on April 6 2009. It had spent a year and a half at the Southern Railway of British Columbia's Trapp Shops in New Westminster, B.C. The intent is for VIRX 7059 to provide backup power for the Southern Railway of Vancouver Island, and in the future it could power excursion trains on the island.

I first saw CN 7059 in Saint John on December 15, 2000 doing some shunting. I saw it again four times in December 2001, twice in January 2002, and for the last time on February 7, 2002. It was one of the usual three GP9s that stay in Saint John. See sightings.

If you don't subscribe to the Sandhouse, you really should. It is published by the Pacific Coast Division of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association and is a very high quality publication. If you have any interest in British Columbia rail history, past and present, you need to read this.

I found CN 7059 on YouTube leading a freight train. Skip ahead to 5:20 in the video to see it.

Branchline and Canadian Rail

I was pleased that I was asked to provide a photo of CP 4563 for Branchline, Canada's Rail News Magazine. It ran in last month's Branchline, together with great photos by fellow Maritimers Bill Linley and David Othen.

It was this photo, by the way:


Canadian Rail, the magazine of the national CRHA, just ran the same photo, unfortunately without attribution. I was happy to see it there! :)

OK, enough tooting my own horn. ;)

By the way, if you are a Canadian railfan and you don't subscribe to Branchline, why NOT?? It is an excellent source of news specific to Canada. Go here to subscribe!