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!

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.

Pan Am Railways Business Cars

The NB Southern Railway has borrowed two business cars from the Pan Am Railway for the New Brunswick Day celebration in McAdam on Monday. Gary Lee shot them behind NBSR 2319 in McAdam... good catch, Gary!


The coach is ST 101 and the observation car is ST 100. (ST=Springfield Terminal, a subsidiary of Pan Am). Here's a photo of it on its way to Mattawamkeag for pickup.

Calais Branch

As I mentioned yesterday, the Springfield Terminal Railway (aka Pan Am) will be leaving the Calais Branch on Friday. There is a nice article in the Bangor Daily News about this. They have some good quotes from engineer Doug McLellan and conductor Terry Diadone.

Springfield Terminal Leaving

MEC 320 in McAdam, November 25, 2006.

I understand that Springfield Terminal (owned by Pan Am Railways) will be pulling their equipment out of the Domtar mill in Woodland, Maine on Friday. They have an engine, a few cars and an old snowplough that will be leaving. The NB Southern "south job" will pick them up at Milltown Junction and bring them back to McAdam for shipment back to the U.S.

Too bad the forecast calls for rain on Friday!

Northern Maine Junction

I did my first Maine railfanning today (if you don't count my very brief time in Vanceboro in May last year) at Northern Maine Junction in Hermon, Maine just outside Bangor.

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