A Busy Noon

Thursday March 28 was a busy railfanning day. I went out at noon to see the Canadian and I ended up seeing a little more.

First, I saw a short CP local rolling north on the La Riviere subdivision at Kenaston Boulevard. CP 8216 and CP 3132 were pulling some tank cars and cement hoppers from the local industries. They were quick about clearing the crossing so they didn't hold traffic up for very long.

I went up to the Rivers subdivision around mile 8 and waited for VIA 1. After some time, I grew bored and headed west to see what might be out at Diamond. I passed the track gang that was hard at work replacing rails. They have been doing this for the past few weeks and look like they are just about done.


Just west of Diamond, I found CN 316 sitting patiently on the north track, waiting for their light. 316 had three engines, SD70M-2 CN 8868, SD60F CN 5528 and GP40-2LW CN 9418. The Geep was a nice find for me, as I rarely see GP40s anywhere and in fact I've only seen eight of CN's GP40 engines.


As I headed back east past Diamond, I saw VIA 1 coming quickly, so I grabbed this shot at the crossing just east of Diamond.


Note one of the track workers on the other side of the Park car.


I was heading back east, satisfied, when I saw a set of headlights coming. It was a westbound general freight train, and I shot it around mile 7. It had CN 5726 and CN 2187 for power and had a lot of wood products on board.


That was great... but I saw more after work...

Activity in Thompson!

I mentioned in my last post about Thompson that Wednesday (March 7) was a busy time in the train yard.

First thing in the morning, this engine was at the north end of the yard.


HBRY 3001 is obviously an ex-CN unit, based on the sergeant stripes. It's a GP40-2LW. I didn't have time in the morning to do more than take this shot... oh, and this shot of caboose HBRY 79851.


It was coupled to a boxcar and some trailers-on-flatcars.

At noon I went back to the yard because I knew the VIA train should be there. Little did I know there were... *two* VIA trains.


I *think* this was VIA 692 from Churchill. It was backed right up to the south end of the yard. It was the standard length, two engines, baggage car, two coaches, diner, and Chateau car.

As I watched, Château Verchères was backing up on the same track.


They pulled up to within a couple of car lengths of VIA 6405, then the step boxes came out and passengers disembarked.

I walked the length of the first train to get the full consist and then did the same with the newly-arrived train. Here's its consist.


VIA 6409 was the lead engine on that train.


They had seen a fair bit of snow and ice on their trip...


I didn't have time to hang around (again) but it was nice to see those trains there... given that I've seen them often enough in Winnipeg.

I came back late in the day and HBRY 3001 was still there, down by the yard office and coupled up to the caboose and a few cars.


The light was failing and I had to go (story of my life) so that was the end of my train day in Thompson. I'm glad I saw what I did!

NB Southern Update

There are some good photos and video available of the new NB Southern leased power now, plus a few run-through engines!

Jody Robinson sent me these two snaps from McAdam, NB from Sunday February 12. First up are two run-through engines, MEC 380 and 381. Both of these engines are GP40s but MEC 380 is unusual as it is a high-hood GP40. You can't see that from this photo, alas.


Also on the freight were the two leased SD40-2 engines, HLCX 6200 and HLCX 6318. You can see that they now have the bay windows fitted. I think they give a bit more visibility and are warmer than the standard windows. 6318 has her nose chevron stripes now.


Jody says that traffic on the St. Stephen subdivision has picked up quite a bit, with a daily train every weekday with good size trains to St. Stephen and the Woodland mill in Maine. Good news. Thanks Jody for the news and the photos.

Matt aka Saintjohnrailfan got out to Enniskillen today to catch the westbound freight. As it happens, it had HLCX 6318 on the point with the aforementioned MEC 380 second and NBSR 2319 trailing. You can catch a glimpse of the high hood on 380. Great snow action!


Dave Dineen aka NBSRfan was out on February 9 to shoot both the eastbound and westbound freights. Each train had one of the leased Helm SD40s on it. It's a typical quality video from Dave.


It kinda makes me want to be back in New Brunswick to shoot the mean green trains!

Friday's Trains

On Friday afternoon I drove from Halifax to Moncton. I tried to time it so I could catch VIA 14 (the Ocean) somewhere between Truro and Halifax. I looked at Enfield but didn't find any angles I really liked, so I made my way to Elmsdale amongst some very bad drivers. I parked on the Elmsdale Road near where it crossed the tracks, and tried to find a good location. There is a bridge there over the stream, but there is no good place to shoot eastbound trains from. I ended up walking to the former station, and as I was getting my camera out, I heard the train. Quickly I took a shot as they blasted by.

The engineer gave me an extra toot as they passed.

After that, it was back on the highway and off to Moncton. As I neared Moncton I heard CN 539 call the RTC to say they were heading out to Amherst. The RTC said they would have to stop at "Kinsac" and get further orders. I was confused because Kinsac is near Dartmouth! I eventually figured out that he said "Painsec" with a French accent.

I took the Shediac Road (route 134) exit and headed north to the tracks. There CN 9584 was waiting at Painsec West, just west of the crossing, for their light.


It looked like they might be a while, so I went to the actual Painsec Junction where the Point du Chene spur branches off to the north. I had never been there before. There's not a lot to see - the two tracks of the main and siding, and the Point du Chene line branching off into the wilderness.

In due time the CN foreman gave up his block and CN 539 got their orders to proceed. They rolled by with their two engines and two freight cars.


I proceeded to Gordon Yard to take inventory of the units there. Two GP40s were shunting in the yard (CN 9468 and CN 9433), which was nice to see because I don't see GP40s very often in Winnipeg.

That was the end of the evening for me, and probably the end of my railfanning in the Maritimes for this trip. Thanks for reading!

Foreign Power in McAdam

I'm told the February issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine reported that "On November 23, 2010, New Brunswick Southern and Pan Am Railways implemented a new runthrough freight service between Saint John, New Brunswick, and Waterville, Maine, using pooled motive power. NBSR crews handle train SJWA and WASJ between Saint John and Mattawamkeag, Maine, with PAR crews west of there. The preliminary schedule calls for a 5:00 a.m. westbound departure from 'Keag' on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with eastbounds running on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays."

So far there has been no sign of foreign power in New Brunswick, with the exception of MM&A 2000. That changed today with the arrival of MEC 319 and MEC 516 in McAdam.

Rail enthusiast Gary Lee was there to take shots of these visitors.


MEC 319 is an EMD GP40, built in November 1968 for the Penn Central as #3213. MEC 516 is an EMD GP40-2LW, built in April 1976 for CN as #9657.

They left McAdam for Saint John shortly before 5 PM local time. Could this become a regular occurrence?

Here's a walk-around video taken by Gary.

Thanks for the pictures and video, Gary! Thanks also to Danny McCracken for the text from Railfan & Railroad.

EDIT: Gary informed me that they headed out for Saint John.

Halifax and the TEST Train

I'm in Halifax for the week, my first trip back to the right coast since I moved to Winnipeg this summer. After my plane landed on Sunday (November 1), I drove into the city and found myself driving to the CN Rockingham yard. Imagine that. I saw a few units at the yard office, notably including CN 9639 and the two-car TEST train. I shot this in the fading light around 5 PM.

The TEST train is CN's Track Evaluation SysTem, which does exactly what it says. They run it along the line and it reports defects in the rails.

Geoff Doane reported that it came into Halifax today as CN train 482. They ran out to Autoport on the end of the Dartmouth subdivision, then backed up to Windsor Junction, then ran to the end of the Bedford subdivision at Halterm (HOT) by the VIA station and turned on the loop track there, before testing the transfer track to Millview and backing to Rockingham.

I took video as it left at 18:50 but I'm not sure how well it will turn out. Night video is tricky and I wasn't really ready.

Also in the yard were CN 4805 and 4725, power for the locals.


At about 19:00 the power for CN 121 came up from Fairview, with CN 5710, CN 5296, CN 2249 and CN 5609. It was too dark to take photos by that time.

I didn't hang around, since I had not had supper yet and I had to check in. I did chat with a couple of AtlanticRails members, Bruce and Doug, before heading out.

I don't know how much time I will have for railfanning while in Halifax... we'll see.

CN 9416 on the Chaleur

You may recall that CN 9416 has been leased by VIA Rail for about a month to give the Chaleur some more traction over the fallen leaves. The Chaleur typically has a lot of problems slipping on the rails in the fall due to the leaves covering the tracks, especially since there are no regular freights to help keep the rails clear. In previous years the Chaleur has had to abandon trips due to slippery rails. CN 9416 is a GP40-2.

tjmfishing shot CN 9416 leading the Chaleur into New Carlisle, Quebec on Saturday October 10.


Earlier that week (October 5), Errol Robertson shot CN 9416 and VIA 6419 at Gaspe in the pouring rain!


David Morris caught what I think was the inaugural run of 9416 on the Chaleur, on October 3. Here is CN 9416 at St. Simeon on the way toward Gaspe.


On that day the Chaleur had to turn at New Carlisle. David shot the train in the midst of the turning exercise at New Carlisle.


EDIT: Removed the comment about the GP40-2's gearing, as it is obviously not a bonus for the slow speeds that the Chaleur travels at on the Gaspe. The GP40-2 is added and removed at Matapedia so it never travels the Corridor with the Chaleur. Thanks Peter for the comment.

NBEC Update

Michel Boudreau reports that an RS18 is back as the power for Bathurst local train 587. Here's a shot of NBEC 1849 at work.


He noted CN 9461, 9452 and another GP40 powering the ore train on January 12.

Farewell

Nicolas Kiss reported today that NBEC train 402 left Campbellton at 09:30 hrs with CFMG 6903, NBEC 6901, CN 9402, CN 9513, and CN 9461. The CN units are GP40-2L(W), which will replace the RS18s on the Brunswick Mines-Belledune turn, and the Bathurst switcher.

This means there are no Alcos running on the NBEC any more. :(

History-minded railfans will note that GP40s used to be on the Brunswick Mines-Belledune turn, as evidenced by CN 9457 and 9548's presence on the runaway train of March 9, 1987.

CDAC 40 at McAdam

Danny McCracken was kind enough to pass along a few winter photos of CDAC 40, a GP40 leased by NB Southern back in the late 1990s.

Here it is in McAdam on January 10, 1998 with ex-CP plow 401017.


On May 12, 1998 CDAC 40 was leading NBSR 3700, 3787 and 3735 at McAdam.


According to my records, CDAC 40 went off lease in 2003.

Thanks for sharing those, Danny!

NBEC - CN Update

Nicolas Kiss reports that SD75I units CN 5705 and 5703 have been the power on CFMG 402/403 for the past couple of days. He reported that CN 2660 brought a rail train into Campbellton just after midnight on Dec. 2.

Also, he said GP40-2L(W) CN 9513 was tucked in behind the two SD75Is early yesterday morning. Rumour has it that the GP40s will replace the RS18s on the Brunswick Mines - Belledune run.