Dalhousie Subdivision Saved!

CanadaEast is reporting that the Port of Dalhousie and CN have come to an agreement to retain the Dalhousie railway subdivision.

You may remember that the last Dalhousie local ran in the summer of 2008, shortly after the last customer closed. The line was offered for sale in June 2009.

The agreement between the Port and CN is confidential but Port manager Brian Hyslop said "if we exercise the options in there, we have rail service for the next 21 years."

The Port has leased the line, but CN will operate and maintain it.

Good news. The next task is for the Port to get some traffic onto the line to justify their investment.

Alco Memories

I miss those NBEC MLW / Alco units.

Here's train 591 (the Dalhousie turn) with NBEC 1813 and 1857, in the evening of October 6, 2003.


A little further south, NBEC 1845 brought a short woodchip train from the Nepisiguit Subdivision into Bathurst on May 28, 2007.


One more... with a different Alco, a C-424. NBEC 4230 and RS-18 NBEC 1840 were en route from the port in Miramichi to the yard on September 20, 2002. This was "back in the day" when the C-424s were on yard duty in Miramichi.

Dalhousie Line For Sale

NBEC 1857 in Dalhousie on May 3, 1999.

CBC is reporting that CN has put the Dalhousie line up for sale. The report says the line must be sold by 2012 or it will be removed. I looked on the CN web site and I didn't see any reports about this, so perhaps CBC just noticed that the line was on CN's 3 year network plan (PDF) issued back in January.

Dalhousie has had no rail customers since the Olin plant closure in 2008.

Read the article

Chris' First CN Video

Chris aka clam502 shot his first CN video at Dalhousie Junction, with CN 121 barreling through in the rain on its detour.


You guys up north are right on top of these detour trains!

Containers To Dalhousie?

Since the closure of the Olin chemical plant is beginning now, the Dalhousie rail spur has no business. I understand the last NBEC train 591 (Dalhousie local) will be running very soon, if it hasn't already. If nothing else is found, the rail line will likely be closed and eventually lifted, after 124 years of service from June 30, 1884.


In Wednesday's Tribune, there was an interesting proposal to put a container terminal in Dalhousie.

Interesting, but fruitless. Given the proposed container terminals in Canso and Sydney, rumours of one for Belledune, and Halifax operating at only part capacity, there is absolutely no need for any more container terminals in the Maritimes. Also, I'm told Dalhousie's port is too shallow compared to these other alternatives. It's a shame, but another industry will have to be found to regain the jobs in Dalhousie.

Another Kick in the Teeth for Dalhousie

Olin announced today that they will be closing their Dalhousie, NB plant. They acquired the plant in August 2007 when they purchased Pioneer.

They will "close its Dalhousie, New Brunswick, Canada chlorine, caustic soda, and sodium hypochlorite operations by early June and its sodium chlorate operations in August. A caustic soda storage and distribution terminal will begin operating in June at the facility."

Just what Dalhousie needs, another closure, another 50 jobs lost on top of the 330 lost when Abitibi-Bowater closed up in January.

I don't know if the distribution terminal will get any rail business, but this may spell the end of the Dalhousie branch of the NBEC. This might become a thing of the past:


Other coverage: CBC, Canoe.ca


NBEC 1857 shunts the yard outside the paper mill in Dalhousie, 1999/05/03 - one of my very first railfan photos.

Northern New Brunswick railfanning

I was late leaving the Fredericton area, but while I was there I bagged this shot of a runaway caboose:


While approaching Miramichi at noon, I noticed NBEC 1854 and 1866 (RS-18s) shunting the UPM mill. As usual for UPM there was no angle for a photo. I took a quick look through the NBEC yard on my way through, and saw CFMG 6903 idling away and poor old NBEC 4219 and 4243 still rusting away in the back of the yard.


I don't condone graffiti, but this one on CN 598211 amused me.

I especially like how the reflectors have been applied over the graffiti.

I heard the ore train working at Belledune as I drove past.

This being Tuesday, there was no VIA 15 tonight. I figured my best chance was to maybe catch NBEC 403 returning to Campbellton in the dark. I left work at about 19:00 and proceeded toward Campbellton. As I approached Dalhousie Junction I heard NBEC 403 on the radio counting down cars. "15 cars, 403." "15 cars" I figured I was hearing them shunt in Campbellton, so I got off highway 134 and onto highway 11. Imagine my surprise when I passed over the tracks at the Junction and saw CFMG 6910 slowly rolling toward me.

I turned around and exited at Blair Malcolm Road/Dalhousie Junction. They were blocking a crossing south of the highway. I saw the conductor kicking snow on the wheels of one of the CN covered gondolas, and looking around underneath. I guess it must have tripped the hotbox detector. I tried a few shots in the dark but this is the best I could get, with a flash:

The best I can say about that poor shot was that the reflectors definitely work.

I mucked around the Junction trying to decide where to set up, and I finally decided to go to Blair Lane a little past where the rail line crosses highway 134. I set my camera on the tripod, with my car's headlights illuminating the crossing. At 19:42 they slowly rolled past, with the conductor giving me a wave.

The consist was CFMG 6910, NBEC 4214, CFQC 4202 and NBEC 6901 leading a 97 car train. The train included 5? woodchip cars, 8 loaded log cars (mostly CFMG), the usual collection of boxcars and tank cars, four cars loaded with Chaleur Lumber, a bunch of CN covered gondolas, and the usual Ultramar 17-car ram on the tail end. One really unusual pair of cars were two beat-up CN gondolas with an odd load in them - they almost looked like dumpsters or containers, 3 to a gondola.

I caught up with the head end and got to the VIA station before they did. Here I tried a few more stills in the dark and this was the best I got, by panning with the engine movement:


For comparison, here's what happens when you don't pan and you don't use a tripod:


Clearly I have a LOT to learn about using my still camera in the dark.

It appears the NBEC crew just cut the power off and left the entire train there, as it was still in one piece at 22:50 with the FRED still forlornly blinking at the end of the train.

With any luck, I might actually see something in daylight tomorrow.

Northern NB Trains

I had a little trip to Dalhousie on Tuesday the 9th and managed to catch a few trains en route.

When I passed by the UPM-Kymmene plant at 09:45, switcher 711 was shoving a cut of boxcars into the plant. One would almost think it was a steam engine by the huge plume of white smoke it was emitting. I'm no mechanic but it seemed highly unusual. There were six boxcars in the outside yard.

The string of NB Southern log racks I saw on July 15 doesn't seem to have moved.

VIA 14 arrived at Miramichi at 10:06 with 6416 and 6432 leading 18 Renaissance cars and Evangeline Park. They departed at 10:14. Listening to the scanner, they had a slow order at mile 48 (near Rogersville) and were cleared only to mile 33 (near Harcourt).



When I passed by Bathurst at 11:10, I heard 402 working in the yard over the scanner.

I left Dalhousie around 17:45, after verifying that the Dalhousie local was not around. I heard a squawk on the NBEC channel so I went up highway 134. There are some really nice places for train photography along the stretch between Dalhousie and Belledune.

At mile 138.26 the track crosses the highway in Jacquet River, and the crossing lights were flashing. I quickly determined that there was no train around, so I called the NBEC emergency number and informed the RTC that the lights were stuck on. He thanked me and issued a notice to train 403 over the radio. Then he asked 403 for a position check and they were at mile 134 - almost on top of me!

I beat it back to the bridge over Jacquet River and waited for 403. They came at 18:32 with 6906?, a C424 and another SD40 leading about 88 cars. I shot video from the highway, and it turned out OK if a little wobbly. I think it would be a great spot for still photos. There's an ancient iron bridge over the tracks just north of the river that is a great place for getting an overhead shot.


In Miramichi, 1816 and 1819 were shut down on the "main" at the Ultramar facility with a string of boxcars behind them.