Disposition of ex-NBEC RS-18 Locomotives

This is what I believe happened to the RS-18 locomotives owned by the New Brunswick East Coast Railway as well as its sister company, the Ottawa Central Railway. After CN purchased the Quebec Railway Corporation's assets in late 2008, the RS-18s were retired and most met the scrapper's torch.

NBEC 1809 - scrapped May 2009
NBEC 1813 - scrapped summer 2009
NBEC 1814 - scrapped summer 2009
OCRR 1815 - scrapped
NBEC 1816 - scrapped summer 2009
NBEC 1818 - scrapped summer 2009
NBEC 1819 - to Gaspé Railway Company
NBEC 1821 - to Le Massif de Charlevoix
OCRR 1828 - to Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, then Chemin de fer Sartigan in January 2013
NBEC 1830 - scrapped June 2009
NBEC 1834 - scrapped June 2009
NBEC 1835 - to Chemin de fer Charlevoix, then to Adirondack Scenic RR
NBEC 1840 - scrapped summer 2009
NBEC 1841 - ??
OCRR 1842 - to Trillium Railway
NBEC 1845 - to Adirondack Scenic RR
OCRR 1846 - scrapped
NBEC 1849 - to l'Amiral cruise train
NBEC 1851 - scrapped summer 2009
NBEC 1853 - ??
NBEC 1854 - scrapped summer 2009
NBEC 1855 - scrapped June 2009
NBEC 1856 - to Gaspé Railway Company
NBEC 1857 - ??
NBEC 1858 - scrapped
NBEC 1859 - to Trillium Railway (out of service)
OCRR 1865 - to Gaspé Railway Company
NBEC 1866 - scrapped?
NBEC 1867 - scrapped fall 2009
NBEC 1868 - to Le Massif de Charlevoix
CFQC 3000 - to Compagnie du chemin de fer Lanaudière

Please contact me with any updates or corrections. Thanks to those who have already written me!

NBEC 1821

In my recent survey, someone posted they liked MLW locomotives and would like to see more. For those who don't know, MLW was the Montreal Locomotive Works, originally a subsidiary of the American Alco company and later owned by Bombardier. Alco/MLW engines are revered by many railfans for the smoke they produced as well as a certain sound the diesel engines made.

My personal exposure to MLW engines comes from two main sources: the former New Brunswick East Coast Railway's extensive roster of MLW locomotives and the Salem and Hillsborough Railroad's pair of MLW locomotives.

I've decided to feature NBEC 1821 in this post, as it was the NBEC RS-18 locomotive I happened to see the most, and also one of the two NBEC locomotives I saw first.

I first saw NBEC 1821 on July 5, 1999 in Miramichi (Chatham) paired up with NBEC 1866. I took some truly bad photos of the pair of them at sunset.

Well before I learned how to pan

These were the among the very first railfan photos I ever took. The very first ones I took were on May 3, 1999 I believe.

The best of the lot

If you're familiar with the area, you can see that the latter photo shows them crossing Water Street in Chatham in front of the Lafarge facility.

I didn't see 1821 again until January 9, 2001 when she was paired up with 1840 and 1864 for local switching. By then I think my film camera was broken so I really had nothing to photograph with.

The next photo I have of NBEC 1821 dates from July 22, 2003 when I was using the 1 megapixel digital camera in my Sony DCR-TRV25 video camera. I still hadn't learned to stand on the sun side of the train.

I'll take a moment to explain what type of locomotive NBEC 1821 was. MLW produced a series of locomotives designated RS-18 (Road Switcher 1800 horsepower). It was essentially the Canadian version of the Alco RS-11. CN bought the vast majority of the RS-18s (225) and ran them long-hood forward, while CP bought 72 and ran them short-hood forward. The PG and E (which became BC Rail) bought 29 and various resource railways bought a few each. All of these were delivered with high short hoods like CP 8743 here (Greg Brewer slide):

CP 8743 in Fredericton, slide by Greg Brewer

NBEC 1821 was built as CP 8741 in April 1957. It soldiered on for years until 1984 when it was rebuilt, the short hood was cut down, and it was renumbered to CP 1821. It continued in service on CP until the New Brunswick East Coast Railway bought it in April 1998.

OK, moving on. My next photo of NBEC 1821 was from October 6, 2003 in the Miramichi yard. 1821 was paired up with NBEC 1849 and was nicely parked in the sun.

Still only a 1 megapixel photo

I next photographed it down at the port of Miramichi on January 8, 2004, doing some switching with leading engine NBEC 1814.

Note the long string of BCOL and CN boxcars. This was after the CN-BC Rail deal was announced...

Later that month I photographed it and 1814 in the Miramichi yard on January 28, 2004. I was taking some detail photos, I guess.

Note the class lights above the number boards, the bell mounted right in the middle, the red safety stripes (some of NBEC's engines had black stripes) and the "NBEC" painted over the CP in "CP Rail".

On February 18, 2004 she was paired up with NBEC 1867 as yard power in Miramichi. The yard power tended to change fairly frequently as they went back to Campbellton for servicing and reassignment. The only constant seemed to be that black NBEC 1857 stayed close to Campbellton most of the time.

Hadn't really mastered night photography...

My next photograph of NBEC 1821 was taken on March 29, 2006 and here I have a different camera! The Fuji FinePix A210 was/is a 3 megapixel camera and takes decent photos as long as nothing is moving.. kind of like today's smartphone cameras.

So much better quality

Here 1821 was coupled up to derelict NBEC 4219 and 4243, locomotives used for parts. They were apparently moved to Miramichi for final scrapping and languished in the back of the yard for months before finally meeting their doom.

Next we fast forward to May 28, 2007 with NBEC 1821 at the head of an empty ore train in Bathurst, NB. You'll note yard power NBEC 1845 to the left and a string of blue ore cars to the right.

Finally, NOT Miramichi!

By this time I was using my Canon S3.

Here's a video from 2007 featuring three RS-18s including 1821 in Bathurst, pushing some ore cars back across Golf Road.

A few months later I was photographing the loaded ore train in Bathurst from the St. Anne Street overpass on September 14, 2007.

Ready to roll!

I took video of this train leaving. THIS is why people love Alcos... that chugging noise.

I chased this train... I caught it on a curve at Madran on its way to the smelter in Belledune.

A little pop of fall colours..

My next photo of NBEC 1821 was at Belledune on February 21, 2008.. apparently it was cold as there is some fog on the lens.

Note the black box behind the cab. This is new and I believe NBEC 1821 was one of the engines to get retrofitted with smart start but I could be wrong. 1821 was behind two SD40 engines on the main line train. For some reason I was back to using the Fuji camera on this trip so the resolution is not as good.

I saw 1821 again the next day (February 22) in Bathurst by the station.

I didn't know it but NBEC 1821 had less than a year of operation before she would no longer grace these rails. In fact, I would see it only for three more months.

Here's a Bathurst video from the spring of 2008 featuring NBEC 1821 and 1819.

Here it was on May 26, 2008, the last time I saw it. It was on the empty ore train, heading out of Bathurst toward Brunswick Mines.

But 1821's story doesn't end there. My friend David Morris photographed it in Gaspe meeting the Chaleur on December 2008, after CN bought the NBEC and its sister railways back.

Photo by David Morris

Michel Boudreau caught it in Bathurst, NB on February 7, 2009, paired up with a CN GP40, presumably on the ore train.

Photo by Michel Boudreau

But that still isn't the end of 1821.

It was purchased by the railroad of Le Massif de Charlevoix (together with NBEC 1868) and pulls the tourist train in Quebec.

Still operating, after 57 years. Not too shabby.

My Railfan Five Challenge

Eric Gagnon over at the excellent Trackside Treasure blog threw down the gauntlet and challenged myself and three other bloggers to share five photos from our railfan journeys.

Unlike Eric, I haven't been a railfan for most of my life. Eric said he started in early 1976. At that time I was living in Moscow, USSR and riding trains but paying no more attention to them than I would to a bus or a car.

It wasn't until late 1998 or early 1999 that I really became a railfan. It started after I visited the Salem and Hillsborough Railroad in New Brunswick. Something clicked and I started paying attention to trains.

ONE

The first photo I'm sharing with you was taken in what was then Chatham, NB and is now part of Miramichi. I was driving north to Belledune or Dalhousie when I spotted a pair of red locomotives across the river. I actually turned around and drove back to cross the river to see these engines - you could tell I was a railfan by that action. I was a bit confused because they looked like CP Rail engines to my new railfan eyes but I was 75% sure that CP didn't have any track in New Brunswick any more*.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this "NBEC Rail" thing. It was NBEC 1866 and NBEC 1867 working the Loggieville Subdivision, but I didn't know anything about them. This was the first railfan photo I ever took. I had a Minolta Maxxum 5000i film camera at the time and I'm surprised I actually had it with me.

* actually, CP still had a small section of track near Edmundston.

TWO

This one was taken in the fall of 2007. Until that time my railfan photos were usually roster photos, or generally unplanned photos taken whenever I saw a train. To me, this photo marks the start of when I began to intentionally seek out photogenic locations for trains. I credit David Morris for this. I went on a few railfan trips with him and he had a set of locations that he liked to use, and I could see why one would want to step away from the yards and photograph trains in a nice scene.

I took this photo with the intention of photographing the VIA Rail Ocean with fall colours. I went to this location at the west end of one of the Miramichi River bridges, hoping to get some foliage. I had never been to this location before but fortunately it delivered the goods.

(buy this print)

THREE

After my Minolta Maxxum broke (the mirror jammed, photographing an Ontario Northland engine in Saint John), I bought a Canon S3 and used it for several productive years. The VIA Rail photo was taken with that. I still have the S3 and use it for video now. It's not HD but it works.

In 2010 I decided it was time to move to an SLR. You may remember on my blog that I talked about my decision. In the end I went with a Canon T1i DSLR. The following photo is the first ralifan photo I took with that camera, unedited.

I was delighted with that camera, and I still am... although I'm hungry to get the Canon 7D Mark II. I'm going to have to save my pennies!

FOUR

I decided in 2012 that I should try to sell my photos online to make a few $$$ toward more camera purchases. The following, "Bridge Over Tranquil Waters", was my first sale, three packs of postcards for a decent amount of money.

Since then I have sold a few prints here and there, made a few commercial sales, and I look forward to more.

FIVE

This last one is just a favourite of mine. I like the Rocky Mountaineer and whenever I'm in Banff* I look for it. I first photographed the Rocky in 2010 and I managed to catch it again in 2013. This photograph was taken at Muleshoe between Banff and Lake Louise. I left Banff ahead of the train, intending to shoot it at this location, and got there about 5 minutes ahead of the train. After scrambling down a hill and firing off a few test shots to adjust for exposure, I was ready. The Rocky didn't disappoint.

(buy this print) (see the video)

* I say "whenever I'm in Banff" like I go there a lot. I think I've been there five times in my life, but we're on schedule to go back in 2016!

THE CHALLENGE

I'm going to challenge four other bloggers to come forth and share their own Railfan Five.

• Jim at Jimbaux's Journal
• Gene at Rusted Rail Images
• Michael at The Beachburg Sub
• Robert at Oil-Electric

Go have a look at their blogs! Thanks again to Eric for the challenge. I'll be donating to the Winnipeg Railway Museum.

Inauguration of l'Amiral Excursion Train

Saturday (July 27) marked the inaugural run of the l'Amiral excursion train in the Gaspé peninsula. The train left New Richmond and traveled to Bonaventure and back. They offer coach service with finger foods as part of the ticket price, with beverages available to be purchased on-board.

Here's their promo video:

There are two upcoming public runs (schedule):

• August 15: New Richmond - Bonaventure
• September 22: Gaspé - Percé

It looks like they are hoping to catch some cruise ship traffic. Gaspé had 11 cruise ship visits in 2009 and I see there are six scheduled for September and October 2013.

For the railfans among us, the train has ex-CP and ex-NBEC 1849 for power, followed by a former CN steam generator car SFG 602 (now with a generator to supply power for the rest of the train), and three coaches (ex-AMT cars SFG 1059, SFG 1047, among others). The coaches have been completely refurbished from their AMT days.

Of course, they have a Facebook page as well as a Twitter account.

Thanks to Bernard Babin for the information on the power car.

I wish them good fortune!

Two More Cuts

There were two more deep cuts recently in the "death of a thousand cuts" affecting rail service in northern New Brunswick.

The first was the planned end of mining at Brunswick Mines (outside Bathurst) on May 1. Once the largest zinc mine in the world, it was in operation for 49 years. Here's a great video on the history of the mine.
This was the major customer for CN on the Nepisiguit subdivision. The last train to the mine (CN 566) ran on May 3 and it returned as CN 567 on May 4 to unload at Belledune at Xstrata's smelter, which will remain open for the time being. Michel Boudreau posted this video of the last of the blue ore cars used in the mine service leaving Bathurst a few days afterward.

Here's a video I took of two New Brunswick East Coast Railway RS-18s powering the empty ore train on its way to the mine.

The second cut, a direct result of the first, is the final closure of the Campbellton shops. Since there are no more ore cars to repair, CN has laid off the last five of the car repair crew at the shops and their final day was yesterday.

The shop area dates back to the opening of the Intercolonial Railway. At one time Campbellton boasted a roundhouse, turntable, and workshops.

The shops dwindled in importance over the years, but enjoyed a resurgence during the New Brunswick East Coast Railway years when the NBEC (and subsidiary Eastern Rail Services) was based out of there. I had the pleasure of touring the area in 2009 but by then it was being sold to CN.

Tim Jaques, editor, wrote a nice article in the Campbellton Tribune about the closure of the shop on May 31. I can't show it here because it's behind the Brunswick News paywall. However, if you are a member of the excellent RailsNB group on Facebook, you can read it here.

More cuts, and more to come. It's hard to be optimistic about the future of rail service in northern New Brunswick.

See The Light?

One of the most basic mistakes made in railfan photography is not paying attention to the direction of light. I know this because I made this mistake many, many times.

Here's an example of terrible light. I shot NBEC 1855 in Campbellton, NB in May 2009 shortly before it was scrapped. This is straight out of the camera with no editing.

Awful, right? Where's the sun? Off to my right, creating terrible shadows on the unit..

Now some creative editing in Adobe Lightroom or other programs can help bring details out, but the result is going to look artificial. Keep in mind that in digital photos, bright areas hold more information than dark areas, so when you lighten a dark area it will be very pixelated. I did some serious smoothing on this image to try to get rid of the pixelation.


It's much better if you can walk around and take the shot from a different angle.



The common rule of thumb is to have the light source (usually the sun) behind you, over one shoulder. This should give your subject decent illumination, not quite head on but enough to get rid of most shadows.


Of course, you cannot always get the angle you want. I was fortunate in this case but in many cases you're stuck with the sun in front of you. What to do?

Some people would just not take the photo. I figure, it's digital, why not? Maybe you can get something good out of it.


Here you sacrifice all ground and engine detail but you get a lovely sky and some nice light on the side of the train. Notice I'm still on the "sun side" of the train. If I had walked across to the other side before the train came, I would have been shooting right into the rising sun.

Shooting into the sun? Well, we can make that work too.

The trick is to expose it properly. The sun is going to make your camera sensor underexpose everything. If it is a static scene like this one, you can use HDR like I did and take several frames at different exposures and combine them. Or, you can go for a silhouette shot and expose for the sun and let the subject go totally dark.

But what about a moving target, like a train? Well, chances are, unless you are super prepared you are going to be using automatic exposure and you're going to get a dark train. Your best bet is to not do it.

Here's an example. I was up near Symington Yard in Winnipeg when I saw an interesting train leaving, led by GTW 5948 and new-to-CN 5442. The problem was they were heading north out of the yard in October at 1:30, so the sun was basically high and behind the train. Hence this kind of light:

Terrible, right? I knew this was a throwaway shot but I took it anyway to make sure my camera was working. I took side shots of each engine as they went by, and the light was better.


A "going away" shot would have been even better for light, except that I was on the wrong side of the train!

In this case there was no way to get on the other side of the train without being unsafe and trespassing, and I won't do that. Take what you can get.

I've only been talking about the direction of light. Another whole blog post would be about the quality of light - noon, sunrise, sunset, "blue hour".

Here's what I want you to take away from this:

• Know where the light is coming from
• Try to keep the light behind you, over one shoulder
• If the light is in your face, try a different angle or be inventive to save the shot

Miramichi Port Spur Torn Up

In the latest of the "death of a thousand cuts" affecting rail service in northern New Brunswick, CN started removing the rail leading to the port of Miramichi on Wednesday. This prompted Hal Raper, chief financial officer of Miramichi Lumber Products, to complain to CN (and the CBC) that they had plans to ship wood chips and lumber to Saint John starting this spring. CN says the line had laid dormant for seven years and they needed the rails elsewhere.

Mr. Raper said they planned on shipping about 700 cars/year. CN says they will put the rails back if there is sufficient business to justify it.

Miramichi Lumber Products was known as Newcastle Lumber until a few years ago, when the family-owned business went into receivership. It is back in operation with a new name and new equipment.

I don't think the rails will ever go back. The northern line is in dire danger since CN filed for abandonment in August last year and nothing has come up since then to indicate they will change their minds. There is simply not enough traffic to justify CN making the investment to repair the line's many faults. The various levels of government, private business, and community leaders need to work together to get more industries using the rails to make the business case for retaining the line. Organizations like this are good but there needs to be more... much more.



I remember seeing New Brunswick East Coast Railway trains coming down to the port many times to spot boxcars, and even to switch the Irving propane facility there when it still had rail service. I have a note that I saw an SD40 / C-424 combination coming away from the port on February 13, 2001 but in general I only saw RS-18s there. Of course, the above photo is an exception as the second unit after NBEC 1867 is NBEC 4230.

In January 2004 it was a pair of RS-18s (NBEC 1814 and 1821) working the port. Note the BC Rail boxcars. There was a shift around this time from a dog's breakfast of boxcar roadmarks to more uniform CN and BC Rail boxcars in northern New Brunswick.


The last time I saw a train at the Port was in the evening of July 18, 2006 when NBEC 1854 and NBEC 1816 were working. Clearly this was shortly before the end of rail service if CN says the line has not had customers in seven years.


Notice how my camera quality improves with each picture! ;)

CN Moves to Abandon Most of Newcastle Subdivision

CN detouring past the now closed UPM-Kymmene mill in Miramichi, May 2008.

CN has begun to abandon 139 miles of the Newcastle subdivision in New Brunswick. This stretch of track runs from Catamount (where it joins the CN main line at Pacific Junction) to Irvco (at Belledune). This track includes the communities of Bathurst, Miramichi and Rogersville, as well as the Nepisiguit Subdivision serving the Brunswick Mines.

CN purchased the Newcastle subdivision when they acquired the assets of the Quebec Railway Corporation in November 2008, including the New Brunswick East Coast Railway that operated this portion of track. At the time, many wondered why CN would be interested in a line that did not seem to have any growth potential. Now it seems CN is wondering the same thing.

CN was talking about abandoning this track about a year ago. Now the news articles say CN is looking for $50 million to maintain service. I assume this is deferred maintenance on the track.

The current shippers on the affected portion of the line include the Brunswick Mines (slated to close soon), Ultramar in Newcastle, the lumber mill on the Nepisiguit subdivision, and probably a few small shippers. The CBC article says CN has 12-15 customers on the line.

Of course, VIA Rail would be affected, since they run over this line. VIA has made some hints recently that they could consider running over the Edmundston-Moncton CN line instead. Obviously they had prior knowledge of this announcement.

Opinion: Obviously I think this would be a tremendous loss for the province and the area. Rail lines provide a vital link in the transportation infrastructure of this country and once they are gone, they don't come back. Even if there is insufficient traffic at the moment to sustain the line, it could come back and without rails it would have to travel on our roads.

The provincial government has already stated it will not purchase the line, but is willing to "work with" other parties. I know the province is already deeply in debt, and it has never supported railways in the province in any meaningful way, other than a meager contribution to NB Southern's maintenance in 2009. Colour me bitter but nobody should expect any significant help from the provincial government, even though they should help out.

The only possibility of saving this line, as far as I can see, is for someone like J.D. Irving to step in and purchase it. From afar, I do not see a good business case for them to purchase the line but they were able to make a go of the old CP lines, so there may be efficiencies they can bring that CN cannot.

Let's cross our fingers and hope for some solution to retain the rails.

SFEX 4204 Update

SFEX 4204 in Miramichi, NB 2006/07/18

Ed Weisensel reported that SFEX 4204 was spotted on Norfolk Southern's train M4NB22 in Ohio. He confirms it is heading to the Morristown and Erie Railway in New Jersey.

You may remember that SFEX 4204 worked on the New Brunswick East Coast Railway for a time before its retirement. When CN purchased the NBEC it became CN property and made its way to the boneyard in CN's Woodcrest facility in Illinois. At that time I figured it was destined for the scrapper.

Apparently 4204 left CN's Woodcrest shops over 4 months ago and has been rattling around the system in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and so forth before returning to Woodcrest before heading to its "final" destination.

The Morristown and Erie Railway is a short line railway in New Jersey and Maine. They also operate the Maine Eastern railway. They operate a number of Alco units including other C-424 engines. See their all-time roster.

It's nice to see the old lady is still around!

By the way, check out Ed's photos on Flickr. He has quite a few nice Canadian Pacific shots.

Newcastle Sub To Be Abandoned?

CTV is reporting that CN is considering abandoning all or a portion of their northern line in New Brunswick and Quebec.This is the former NBEC / CFMG territory they purchased a scant 3 years ago in November 2008.

CN's Julie Senecal said that the line has not experienced any growth in traffic. No doubt the line is losing money for CN. The CTV report goes on to say that once Brunswick Mines shuts down in 2013 as planned, VIA Rail will be the largest customer on the line. CTV went on to say that if VIA were to shift to the CN main line, it would be "quicker and faster".

Now my opinions. First off, I have never understood why CN bought the line back from NBEC / CFMG in the first place. It was obvious that there was not going to be any growth on the line, with the pulp and paper mill closures, and nothing has emerged. It has been suggested that CN bought it to prevent any competitors from purchasing it. Perhaps.


CTV missed the obvious point that if VIA were to switch the Ocean to the CN main line between Edmundston and Moncton, VIA would not be serving the communities of northern New Brunswick and Quebec, major users of the Ocean... and don't forget that the whole Gaspe coast would be cut off and the Chaleur would be lost as well.

Personally, I think CN is making a case for government support of the line to retain VIA's route. I'm not against that, given the economics of the situation. CN is in business and is not going to keep supporting a money-losing line. Government should step in and help with the maintenance cost.

I'm still wondering why CN bought the line in the first place...

PS - it would be nice if CTV actually took a photo or video of the line in question. Their footage shows VIA in Halifax and apparently the Corridor, with a few shots of the CN Gordon Yard in Moncton. Do they still have any reporters in northern New Brunswick?  The shots in this blog entry were actually taken on that line! ;)

Gaspé Diesel

An article came out a few days ago on Radio-Canada about the possibility of a local Gaspé Peninsula company getting the contract to maintain the diesel locomotives in operation on the peninsula.

The company, Gaspésie Diesel, is in the running to take over maintenance of the three ex-NBEC RS-18 units and 10 pieces of rolling stock. Currently they are maintained by CN in Campbellton for about $100,000/year.

Gaspésie Diesel does work on diesel engines, mostly for trucks. They recently won a contract to repair a couple of wreck-damaged stainless steel VIA cars. Gaspésie Diesel's CEO, Gilles Babin, stated they intend to build a car repair shop in New Richmond, Quebec in the spring of 2011.

Read the article.

West Chester 4230 Slide

One of my eBay searches turned up this interesting slide. It depicts West Chester #4230 in fresh paint. This was NBEC 4230, originally CP 4230 built in 1965. The old girl looks brand new in this paint, even though she's 45 years old.

I shot 4230 in Miramichi in 2002:
.
NBEC 4230 was commonly seen in Miramichi in the early 2000s.

West Chester apparently also painted ex-CP 1803, by this slide.

NOTE: I wrote over the slide image to "ruin" it. I hate when people "borrow" my images and use them without attribution. If you want the image, go buy the slide.

CN To No Longer Market Gaspé Line

The owners of the Gaspé line plan to terminate the marketing and network operation agreement with CN by February 1, 2011. This article says they feel they can operate the line cheaper and market it better using local knowledge. The fact that CN uses unionized labour was also mentioned.

You may recall that CN was pulled off the maintenance of the line in April 2010.

I do question who is going to supply cars for them... I assume CN will still do that since the Gaspé line is captive to CN.

This Day, 19 Years Ago

Here are two slides, shot at McAdam, NB 19 years ago on July 3, 1981. CP 8776 and CP 8784 were apparently doing some switching.




CP 8776 was built by the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) in May 1958. It was rebuilt as part of CP's RS-18 rebuild program in 1985 and became CP 1834. It served CP for just over a decade before being sold to the New Brunswick East Coast Railway in April 1998, becoming NBEC 1834.

NBEC 1834 served for a little over five years, before going to sister railway Ottawa Central in November 2003 and becoming OCRR 1834. It does not appear to have been repainted, given this photo taken in March 2006 showing it in tattered CP colours and NBEC lettering.

After CN purchased the Quebec Railway Corporation properties, OCRR 1834 was sent to the scrappers in Chicago in June 2009.

I personally saw NBEC 1834 9 times before it went to the Ottawa Central. Here's a video of it, shunting in Miramichi with NBEC 4210.


CP 8784 had a less exciting history. It was also built by MLW in May 1958, and was rebuilt in 1989 to become CP 1852. It ran for a mere 8 years before being retired in March 1997 and presumably scrapped.

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.

Heartbreaking

Here's a sad little video someone took, of a dead line of ex-NBEC and CFMG locomotives in Chicago last year.

The units shown are RS-18s NBEC 1813, 1851, 1857; C-424 NBEC 4235; and SD40s NBEC 6905 and CFMG 6906, 6907, 6909 and 6910.

Sad.

User Favourites - Alco chugging as NBEC 587 leaving Bathurst

Here's another user favourite video, with 9,577 views... little Alco power!

I blogged about this one. This was NBEC train 587 taking loaded ore cars to the smelter at Belledune on September 14, 2007.

I love that Alco noise!

CP 1867

Brian Barchard emailed me after my post about NBEC 1867 and others sent for scrap and had this to say about CP 1867:

"Nice clear shot of NBEC 1867 on your blog today.

Here is a view of CAR Extra 1867 North, on the Gibson Sub, Feb. 08, 1992, with 20 cars.......6 tank, 4 box, 1 covered hopper, 9 reefers..........at 2:30 pm, snowing at the time. RS-23 8042 was running mate to 1867.

1867 made four additional trips over the Gibson, my last recorded one being Feb.14, 1992. In fact, I sighted no more RS-18's, as RS-23's became the regular road power, to the end of service, Nov. 1993.

Thus, 1867, according to my extensive log book entries, was the last RS-18 to operate over the Gibson Sub."

Thanks for that, Brian!

CP 1867 was built as CP 8765 in April 1958 with a high hood. It was rebuilt by CP and renumbered to 1867 in 1989. It was sold to the New Brunswick East Coast Railway in April 1998.

There are only two photos of NBEC 1867 on RailPictures, one of mine and one B&W photo by Pat Schmidt. There are no photos of CP 1867 on RailPictures at all, and all the photos of CP 8765 on RailPictures are of the shiny new ES44AC.

I personally saw NBEC 1867 on 17 different days. It was an active unit in the NBEC fleet.

51 years old.. now off to be scrapped. Sigh.

NBEC Power Update

NBEC 1867 in Miramichi, NB on September 14, 2004.

Canadian Railway Observations is reporting that ex-CFMG SD40 units 6902, 6903, and 6906-6910, as well as RS-18s ex-OCRR 1838, ex-NBEC 1857 and 1867 are all going to Alabama to be parted out and scrapped.

The last time I saw 1867 was on November 7, 2006 in Miramichi, in the middle of our War Bride train chase.

By the way, if you haven't read Canadian Railway Observations yet, you should really check it out.