What About the Ocean?

VIA 15 detouring through McGivney in July 2005

In the wake of the recent announcement on the fate of the CN Newcastle subdivision, many are asking what would become of the VIA Rail Ocean if the Miramichi-Bathurst section was abandoned. Well, there are three choices, one of which is highly unlikely.

Follow the Atlantic
It's possible that VIA could choose the route of the former Atlantic, running from Halifax and Moncton to Saint John and then through Maine to Sherbrooke and on to Montreal. This is highly unlikely for several reasons, including the customs clearing issues, traveling over two different shortlines (NB Southern and whatever Fortress appoints to run the former MMA), and the fact that I don't think through traffic through Lac-Mégantic has even resumed yet. I believe we can safely dismiss this option.

Through the Wilds
The most obvious choice is to run through central New Brunswick over the CN Napadogan subdivision and into Quebec over the CN Pelletier subdivision, rejoining the current Ocean route at St. Andre Junction. This is CN's main line through the Maritimes and is well maintained... despite a couple of recent derailments.

Here's a map I drew showing that route. Click on the map for an interactive version.

1977 Ocean Detour Schedule

The Ocean has detoured on this route before. Back in 1977 the Ocean was routed here for about six months due to a landslide on the northern route - the amended schedule is shown to the right. In better days a decade earlier, there was an RDC (Rail Diesel Car) that ran between Moncton and Edmundston. Heck, for a short time in the summer of 1967, the Cabot ran between Montreal and Sydney via Edmundston, and from October 29, 1967 to January 7, 1970 the Ocean ran via Edmundston while the Scotian continued on the northern route. This route would be similar today but since the Pelletier cutoff was built, the train would not go through Monk and Ste. Claire.

There are a few downsides to having the Ocean run over the Napadogan.

• Northern New Brunswick and northern Quebec would lose their passenger service. There is an alternative, Maritime Bus in NB and Orléans Express in Quebec, although I think you'd find most people would rather take the train.
• There are fewer available passengers over the Napadogan route, given that the Napadogan runs through virtual wilderness between Moncton and Edmundston. This would be a gain for Edmundston, Grand Falls and a few other communities, but fewer passengers = less revenue = more chance of outright cancellation.
• A capital investment would be required for VIA to provide station facilities, as nothing really exists since passenger service ceased in this area.

One upside might be that Fredericton could get indirect passenger service via a connection at McGivney.. maybe.

Give It Up
The most serious possibility is that VIA Rail will simply stop running the Ocean altogether. The chilling headline Via Rail's Maritime-Quebec passenger service in doubt says it all.

A spokesperson for VIA Rail, Mylène Bélanger, was quoted as saying: "At this time it's still a hypothetical question, but if this section is abandoned we'll look into the commercial viability of all other alternatives, for connecting between Halifax and Montreal, before adopting any other route." (emphasis mine)

As for purchasing the section of track between Bathurst and Miramichi, Bélanger said, "Via Rail does not have the financial resources to acquire or maintain this section of the tracks. So we'll wait for any developments."

But What About The Gaspé?
One more thing - don't forget that the train serving the Gaspé peninsula (the former Chaleur) ran as part of the Ocean between Montreal and Matapedia. If the Ocean was to run a different route, or be cancelled altogether, the economics of the Gaspé train would be even worse as it would have to bear the entire cost of the Montreal-Matapedia section.

You may recall that the Gaspé train has not been running for quite some time, due to track problems. These track problems have been solved between Matapedia and New Carlisle, yet VIA has not committed to returning to the route.

The future of passenger rail east of Montreal is more and more in doubt.

EDIT: Thanks to Tom Box for a few corrections.

More on Irving Oil Tank Cars

This is a follow-up to my post on Irving Oil tank cars.

SteveO found a couple of great photos of Irving Oil tank cars online and shared them with me.

First, Irving Oil tank cars in 1966. They are labeled as "new tankers". The Irving Oil refinery in Saint John was built in 1960, according to Wikipedia.


The closest car is NCTX 22514. It looks like the other three are also NCTX cars.

Here's one showing Irving Oil tank cars being unloaded at Edmundston in 1971.


The tank car in the foreground is CGTX 20578.

Temiscouata Railway Train Orders

Ken Secrest posted two train orders to his web site from the old Temiscouata Railway. These are rare indeed!

What was the Temiscouata Railway? I'm glad you asked. It was a railway that ran from Connors, NB through Edmundston, NB and on to Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec. It began operations in 1889 between Riviere-du-Loup and Edmundston, and added the Connors-Edmundston section a few years after the first section began operation.



Over time the railway found itself changing because of new railways being built in New Brunswick. The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) paralleled the Temiscouata Railway (TMCR) west of Edmundston, and after numerous washouts a section of the TMCR was abandoned and they acquired running rights between Baker Brook and a point just west of Edmundston.

CN ended up taking the TMCR over in 1950, and it became the Temiscouata and Connors subdivisions. Over time the Connors sub became the Connors spur and was eventually abandoned. The Temiscouata subdivision was abandoned in stages during the 1980s and the 4.9 miles in Edmundston is called the Edmundston spur.

Interestingly, Google Maps still thinks the Connors sub exists. It shows as the line south of route 120. The satellite view shows the roadbed has no tracks but the map shows them.

Noted New Brunswick railway historian Wendell Lemon has a great article on the history of the Temiscouata Railway (also published in the February 2009 Branchline magazine).

If you drive west from Edmundston on the Trans-Canada, you will see and/or cross the former right-of-way a few times as you pass through the towns such as Cabano and St. Louis du Ha Ha. I kid you not, that's the name of the town.

I have two public timetables from the Temiscouata Railway in my collection.  The first is from December 1, 1933 (#85): page 1, pages 2-3, and page 4.  The second is from April 25, 1938 (#96) and is smaller: page 1 and page 2.

A few railway photographers took some shots on the Temiscouata, including Fredericton's Ken MacDonald and my friend Bill Linley. I'll see if I can dig some up.

CN Near Edmundston

Reader Yan Bosse sent in some photos of a westbound CN train yesterday (Saturday Dec. 13) at Siegas, NB (near St. Leonard) and at Rivière-Verte nearing Edmundston. The train had CN 2276, 5683 and 2632. I would guess by the time (around 13:30) and the freight cars that it was CN 305.

First, near Siegas.


Next, at Rivière-Verte.


Thanks for sending those!

Grand Bay Caboose On The Move

On my way home from Saint John, I drove through Grand Bay and saw the caboose being loaded onto a flatbed for the trip to its new home in Edmundston (as reported previously).

One of the crew said the crane scale showed it weighed 40,000 pounds.

By 14:30 the crane was free and it was ready to go.

There was someone on hand from the Edmundston tourist bureau, admiring her new acquisition. I think it will look very nice in front of their restored station.

The caboose will go to Fredericton tonight, and be in Edmundston by Tuesday night.

You can see the caboose on Google Street View beside the ex CP station in Edmundston.

See Also

• Blog posts featuring cabooses

Water, Water Everywhere

Ron Pelletier is reporting that CN 121 is trapped in Edmundston because of a landslide west of Edmundston, presumably due to the flooding. Could there be a CN detour over the NBEC?

CBC reports that some 20 Edmundston families have been evacuated so far. My heart goes out to those who have to leave their homes. I've had water in my basement a few times, but not to the extent that many in the province are enduring.

You can access the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization's River Watch site. They are forecasting the Saint John river will reach 8.6m above sea level in Fredericton tomorrow and Friday, which is just shy of the 1973 flood, the highest on record. Total inflows at Mactaquac right now are at 289,000 cubic feet/s and rising, forecast to hit 389,000 Thursday.

There are a number of flooded roads around the province, too. Drive safely!

This photo shows Morell Field in Fredericton on April 25, 2007. A lot less of that field is visible today.

News on Export Train

Ron Pelletier reported that the export units on CN 306 left Joffre, Quebec at 19:43 Sunday night. That would have put them into Edmundston around 04:00 this morning, and therefore they should be pulling into Moncton right about now. Ron said the power was CN 5741, 2456, and 2663.

It's All About The Bridge

After our long Chaleur chase on August 11, we decided to railfan the Napadogan subdivision on Sunday August 12.

First, we went to the NBEC yard in Campbellton to see the eastbound Ocean aka VIA 14. It was headed by VIA 6416 and VIA 6432.

There were a few NBEC units getting the eastbound freight train NBEC 402 ready. The power was two SD40s (CFMG 6907 and NBEC 6900), RS18-3 CFQC 3000, and RS18 NBEC 1819.


Here's the Ocean on the straightaway leaving Campellton.


After the Ocean left, we headed down highway 17 toward St. Leonard. We stopped at the stations in Kedgwick and St. Quentin before arriving at St. Leonard. There was no activity on the scanner and the signals were red at the siding by the border crossing, so we decided to head to Edmundston to see what was going on there.

At 11:30 CN 4760 and another GP38 were in the yard, and I happened to spot MMA 8553 working the Fraser mill across the river in Maine. This was the best shot I could get from across the river.


After some discussion with Bill Linley, we decided that CN 305 would be coming into Edmundston soon, so we headed out to the west end of the St. Basil siding and waited. At noon on the dot CN 305 rolled by with CN 2433 (Dash 8-40CM), CN 5250 (SD40-2W), and IC 6202 (SD40) with 108 cars.




We grabbed a quick lunch and headed for the Salmon River trestle near New Denmark to wait for the next train, CN 149. We had a long, hot wait here. Thank goodness for lawn chairs and sunscreen.

Finally, we heard CN 149 call out the New Denmark station sign (I think) and at 14:50 they rolled across the bridge. They had Dash-9s CN 2570 and CN 2526, with GP38-2 CN 4730 trailing.






We packed up and headed east after that, stopping in Bristol to check out the new station before continuing on to Fredericton. It was a fantastic railfan weekend, one to remember for a long time.

New CN video online

I've put a video of CN 305 at St. Basil online. This shows CN 305 with three units (including an Illinois Central unit) approaching Edmundston on August 12, 2007.