St. Quentin Update

David Chiasson discovered that the former Smurfit-Stone caboose, lately NBEC 1000, at the St. Quentin museum.

The caboose seems to be at the end of the replica train, but not in line with it. Perhaps they need a little more rail before they can put it in line with the rest of the train.

You may remember I visited that station back in August 2007. At that time the station was done but there was no train present.

Here's the first photo I ever took of that caboose, when it was sitting under the highway 11 overpass in the Smurfit interchange track.


Nice to see the caboose get a new lease on life!

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.

Little Vandals

Check out David Chiasson's video of a group of kids vandalizing a VIA Rail train.

First they spray paint on the baggage car and a coach or two, then they throw rocks at it.

(shaking my head)

Video - CN on Nepisiguit Subdivision

David Chiasson posted a great video of CN power running the ore train on the Nepisiguit Subdivision. CN 5342 and 5251 provided the power. Well worth watching!

NBEC-CN Videos

The NBEC/CFMG SD40 units are still running on the mainline freights on the former Quebec Railway Corporation territories. Here are two videos from NBEC69 and one from David Chiasson. First, NBEC69's videos.

On Sunday December 7, CFMG 6903, NBEC 6905 and CN 5260 ran through Rimouski.


The same units again, in a different location.


Finally, because I love them so much, here's David's video showing NBEC RS-18s 1866 and 1814 powering the ore train through Nepisiguit Junction back on May 6, 2007. Listen to the squeal of metal on metal as they go through the curve!

NBEC Videos

David Chiasson has been posting some NBEC videos... get those Alcos while you can!

Here's NBEC 1835 at Nepisiguit Junction with the Bathurst local train 597.


Next, the ore train 586 at the first highway 430 crossing on the Nepisiguit Subdivision on September 10, 2008. The power was NBEC 1849 and NBEC 1821. The sunset on the side of the train is nice.


Finally, the ore train 586 at the second highway 430 crossing on the Nepisiguit Subdivision. The power was CFQC 3000, NBEC 1819 and NBEC 1849.


There aren't many chances to get video of the MLWs any more. I saw three RS18s in Belledune on Thursday but I didn't have a chance to take any shots.

Video of CN in Bathurst

David Chiasson posted a video from Monday of CN 5357 and 5360 shunting the yard in Bathurst. This must have been NBEC train 402 doing its work, given that it had loaded lumber cars behind the engine.

This is a strange sight now but it will become familiar over time!

Video of NBEC Ore Train

David Chiasson has posted a nice video of NBEC 587 on its way to Brunswick Mines. Here are NBEC 1849 and 1821 pulling a solid block of blue ore cars along the Nepisiguit Subdivision on September 10, 2008.

Video: CN 121 through Bathurst

Here's a video from David Chiasson of CN 121 slowly rolling through the Bathurst yard. This is the same train that David saw at Beresford. I believe a friend of David's taped the train in Bathurst.

Video: CN 121 Through Beresford

Courtesy David Chiasson. Fourth unit was an IC unit, GTW 5953.

NBEC Turning on the Wye

David Chiasson has a great video showing NBEC 1849 and CFMG 6906 turning on the wye at Nepisiguit Junction, then heading off to Miramichi.

NB East Coast 402

David Chiasson also put a nice video of New Brunswick East Coast Railway train 402 on YouTube. This one was shot in April 2008 at Gloucester Junction, and features two SD40 units pulling the train toward Miramichi. It looks like 6900 and 6901 were the power, with a scant three boxcars, one tank car, and the 17-car Ultramar tank train as freight.

RDCs on VIA 15

David Chiasson got a nice catch yesterday - two VIA RDCs on the end of VIA 15 near Bathurst.

VIA Ocean and Chaleur Combined

As many of you know, VIA often runs the Ocean and Chaleur trains together to Matapedia, Quebec, where the Chaleur is detached and runs up the Gaspe peninsula. Sometimes they run separately all the way from Montreal.

This weekend, there was a storm and there were problems with two of the engines. The combined train had Operation Lifesaver 6411, 6413, and Spiderman 6434. At Matapedia only 6434 was still working, but they managed to restart 6411 and it departed at 10:30 (5.5 hours late) on Saturday February 2.

Photo by Jim Babcock

Chaleur passengers were bussed from Matapedia. However, the train itself continued on to Halifax as part of the Ocean. It was an odd train, with three engines, 5 stainless steel cars, and the Ocean's 10 Renaissance cars on the end.

The train finally arrived at Halifax station at about 23:00, or 6.5 hours late. It departed on time the next day.

David Chiasson caught the weird Ocean coming into Bathurst.


He caught it again at Gloucester Junction on the other side of Bathurst, lead engine smoking like crazy.


Good catch, David!

Nepisiguit Subdivision Railfanning

I'm dying to write about the extra-special train 402 I saw today, but I promised to write about train 586. A promise is a promise.

As I previously wrote, I chased train 587 (Bathurst-Belledune turn) from Belledune to Bathurst, where it magically became train 586 (Belledune-Mines turn) through the wonder of railroading.

At about 18:15 I dashed down to my favourite spot on Little River Road where the bridge goes over the tracks, figuring 586 would be along shortly. I waited.. and waited. I heard 403 doing all kinds of switching but nothing from 586.

I finally saw 586's headlights at 19:10 but then THEY started doing some switching. I believe 403 was headed to Campbellton by this time. David Chiasson arrived (we met back in September 2005) and informed me that I was way too early. I got that! ;) I guess it's typical that 586 goes to Nepisiguit Junction around 19:30, just before VIA 15 comes through.

I heard 586 do its brake test at 19:25 and get its TOP (what's that stand for, anyway?) at 19:30. Soon afterward they started rolling, and they passed underneath us at 19:42.

Love that Alco smoke!


David turned into a tour guide and led me on a merry chase up the Nepisiguit Subdivision. I had never railfanned that portion of NBEC so I was quite happy to be led by someone who knew where to go.

We stopped at mile 1.17, the first crossing on the subdivision. While we waited for the train, some jackass stopped at the lights, looked at the train, then squealed his tires and took off as the train thundered closer. I only wish I had the license plate number.


Anyway, here's the train. I imagine the engineer was laughing at me standing waist-deep in long wet grass. Anything to get a picture!


Our next spot was near Sewell Street at about mile 3.5. I really like this location as the train is raised a little from the rest of the landscape.


The next shot was the next highway crossing at mile 3.89, aka "Blue Mountain". There's a racetrack, Blue Mountain Speedway, just beyond this crossing. I bet you can see the train well from the stands.

I like the urgency in this shot, especially with the motion blur on 1867.

Our final location was at about 4.5 as the train pounded up the hill at ever-increasing speed. David told me they were difficult to catch after this so we made this the final one. One more shot of Alco smoke.


We went our separate ways after this, and shortly thereafter the skies opened up and dumped a lake on Bathurst. I'm glad the rain held off until the railfanning was done!

Thanks for showing me around, David! You can see David's photos on railpictures.net.

UPM 711 on the move

UPM-Kymmene's switcher #711 was sighted by David Chiasson traveling north through Bathurst on April 7 on its way to points unknown. I assume it is going for servicing somewhere while the UPM plant is shut down.


David Chiasson caught UPM 711 in Bathurst.