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.

A VIA Chase

David Morris sent along these photos of his chase of VIA 14, the Ocean, from Petit Rocher to Moncton in New Brunswick. The lead engine was VIA 6432 and the date was October 17.

First, Petit Rocher.


Next, this great shot of the Ocean crossing the Miramichi River at Nelson Junction.


He shot it at the station in Rogersville, NB.


Another great shot, a pan near Kent Junction.


Finally, the Ocean comes into Moncton amidst a riot of colour.


Thanks for the shots, David!

See Also

• Chasing VIA 14 and 15
• All VIA Rail posts

VIA 15 Friday

David Morris and I are in Tide Head tonight, after a chase of VIA 15 from Rogersville to Campbellton in the rain.

We arrived in Rogersville with plenty of time. I was resolved not to stupidly watch the train go by like last time, so we were ready when the train rocketed past at 18:36 with VIA 6415 and 6414.


We gave chase to Miramichi. The rain was persistent but so were we! We arrived at Miramichi ahead of the train and shot him coming into the main yard at 19:11.


CN 5346 and 5299 were in the yard.


After a short stop, VIA 15 was on the road again.


6415's headlight was in sight when we passed over the track on highway 11 just coming into Bathurst, and we decided to get him at Jacquet River next. It was getting dark but I think the video will turn out OK. The train stopped there to drop someone off, then headed out.

We gave chase and arrived at Campbellton about 15 minutes before they did. We stood at the platform to give the "rollby inspection" but didn't take any shots in the dark and rain.

The word is that VIA 14 was delayed about 3 hours leaving Montreal, so we plan to go to Amqui tomorrow to shoot him there before following him to Matapedia. From there we plan to chase the Chaleur as far as it goes. David expects they will turn at New Carlisle rather than go the full distance to Gaspe. Hopefully the rain will not be too bad!

Transloading in Rogersville

This article in L'Acadie Nouvelle caught my eye. If I understand the text of the article correctly (it's in French) the town of Rogersville is studying the potential for a facility in town to transload between trucks and trains. It's an interesting idea. It could provide a boost to the NBEC.

Another Detour Video

Not by me... by grignosse from the Rogersville area, I believe. It looks like it was CN 120, judging by the solid container consist and the ZIM and Canadian Tire containers. It's a nice overhead shot.

View the video

YouTube videos of the Ocean

While browsing through YouTube I found a few videos of the Ocean I hadn't seen before.

This video, taken March 25 2007, shows VIA 14 with 6421 and 6403 leading a Budd train, with RDC 6135 on the tail. A very interesting video.


This video was shot at St. Lambert, Quebec on September 8, 2006. I can't read the unit numbers but it had a Spiderman unit trailing, with a Renaissance consist and (I think) Assinboine Park on the end.


I met the author of the first video in Rogersville last November when we were chasing the War Brides train. He showed me the following video he took. I do not recommend trying this at home!

The War Bride train chase

The Fredericton Railfan Gang chased the VIA War Brides train from Miramichi, N.B. to Oxford, N.S. today. This is our story. (insert Law and Order boop-boop here)

Introduction

Peter Gough and I left at a bright and early 07:15 to get Ken MacDonald and hit the road for Miramichi. After Monday's snowfall I was a little concerned about road conditions, but my fears were unwarranted. Highway 8 to Miramichi was clear and we experienced no problems on the way.

As we approached Miramichi I called VIA and the nice lady told me that VIA 14 was about 20 minutes late leaving Bathurst.

Beaver Brook

We decided to go to Beaver Brook north of Miramichi. We arrived and set up, and within about 15 minutes VIA roared through at 10:07.

I'm glad they were flying the Canadian flags like last year's Veteran Train did.

VIA 14's consist was engines 6406 (Spiderman), 6415, and 6403 (CBC) leading 20 stainless steel Budd cars: baggage 8623; deadhead sleeper Chateau Maisonneuve; coaches 8139, 8138, 8108, and 8110; Skyline 8510; diner York (8418); Chateau sleepers Cadilac (8204), Lasalle (8211), Salaberry (8226), Jolliet (8210), and Lemoyne (8215); diner Acadian (8401); Chateau sleepers Denonville (8206), Laval (8214), Richelieu (8222), Papineau (8220) and Rouville (8225); and Revelstoke Park (8711).

Miramichi

We raced from Beaver Brook to Miramichi, and found 14 approaching the station at 10:22. There was an enthusiastic crowd waiting for the train.

Good crowd at Miramichi!

We quickly shot a few NBEC engines (SD40 CFMG 6907 and RS18s NBEC 1854 and 1867) and some odd cars in the yard, then headed for Rogersville.

Rogersville

I called Luc Doiron to give him a heads-up and we met him and his daring uncle Bob a little west of the station. The Ocean showed up at 11:06.

The VIA Rail "War Brides" train approaching Rogersville, NB

He did not stop at Rogersville, so we were behind the 8-ball after that. We caught up to him a few times but we never got ahead of him for more shots. I took a few shots through the window (and no, I was not driving). This one was at 11:20.

VIA Rail at speed

Moncton

Ken wanted to shoot him at the Moncton station, so we took highway 15 to the Riverview exit. There we waited our turn in the line-up to enter the circle, while 14 rolled on by at 12:04.

Oh, traffic, the bane of all railfans

We arrived at the station about a minute after 14 did, and took some time to shoot the train from a few angles.

VIA 14 in Moncton, NB

Painsec Junction

Painsec Junction outside Moncton was our next selection. We drove down to the junction, only to find CN 307 rolling through the siding. We realized it would block the light for the Ocean, so we went back to the road crossing at the west end of the siding. There was a CN foreman there waiting for VIA to go through.

Railfans Tim Dryden and Luc Doiron showed up after a little while. I set up farther down the siding from the rest of the crew to get the "meet" shot between 307 and 14. We had quite a wait for 14 - it finally came at 13:07.

The War Brides train passing CN 307 in the siding

The crew of 307 was out for the roll-by inspection.

The rollby inspection

The CN foreman told us that CN 534 would be following VIA 14, to drop some cars at the Junction and then go to Amherst.

As we travelled east we kept hearing CN foremen calling the RTC to get TOPs after VIA went by.

Aulac

The next stop was Aulac. We wanted to shoot from inside the arc, so we exited at Fort Beausejour and made our way to the berm.

We had quite a wait there for 14 to come. We heard it blow its horn as it approached Sackville, shortly before another crew of railfans showed up. Steve Dickie, David Morris and Fred Angus joined us on the berm. Even a few of the locals came over to have a look at the War Brides train.

I don't have any stills of Aulac because I was shooting video, but the Ocean came through at about 13:50. It was running about an hour late by this time. I had a call from another Atlantic Rails member at Folly Lake wondering where the train was. Glad to help!

We decided to try to get VIA 14 at the highway overpass just east of Amherst. Again, no stills but it was a good shoot.

Oxford Junction

For our ninth and final shot, we went to Oxford Junction. Another Atlantic Rails member, Dara Legere, was there when we arrived. I set up well down in the siding to get the train going around the curve, while the rest of the Gang set up nearer the CN depot. We heard the train well before it arrived at 14:39.

Capture at Oxford Junction

Bye bye, train!

Revelstoke Park trailing on VIA 14

We took the time for one group shot before we left the Junction.

Left-to-right: Peter Gough, Ken MacDonald, Dara Legere, Steve Boyko.

The Video

Here's a video showing the train outside Amherst and through Oxford Junction.

A Bonus

As we approached Amherst, we heard CN 534 on the scanner getting ready to head back to Moncton. A bonus train! We took the Fort Beausejour exit and waited for it to arrive. Here it is at 15:43 with CN 4711 leading two cars.

CN 534 at Fort Lawrence, NS

What a great day - good companions and lots of train shots!

See other special VIA Rail trains:

• VIA Veteran Train
• Coors Light Train

Chasing VIA

A motley group of railfans set out to chase VIA 14 and VIA 15 this sunny Friday. David Morris, Peter Gough, my son Nick and I left Fredericton to get VIA 14 at Rogersville and pursue it deep into Nova Scotia.

We thought we had plenty of time to get to Rogersville... we were wrong. A little pressure on the gas pedal brought us to the station, where we found the sign out indicating a stop was requested. We went just up the line from the station, and there was the train approaching.

VIA 14

We just had time to bail out of the car and turn the cameras on. (10:37)

The train was VIA 6428 and CBC unit 6403 leading 19 Renaissance cars and Evangeline Park.

We set up on the south side of the station to wait for 14's departure at 10:43.

VIA 6403 in second position on VIA's "Ocean"

From there we chased it down the highway but never caught up to it. A few fleeting glimpses of the Park car in the distance were all we got. After refueling at McD's we proceeded to Memramcook to David's favourite barn location. 14 trundled into view at 12:36.

VIA Rail's "Ocean" near Memramcook, NB

I did some very bad panning with my video camera here. One example of why trying to take a couple of stills while videotaping is not a great idea.

We caught up to it as it entered Sackville, so we went to the other end of the station to catch it crossing the bridge to the Tantramar marshes at 13:05.



I like how the sun caught the Park car here.

VIA's "Ocean" passing the radio towers on the Tantramar Marshes

The RTC told 14 he would meet the CN local at Amherst. We figured we might catch 14 leaving Amherst, and so we did at 13:25 as it crossed under the Trans-Canada Highway.


The group consensus on the next shot was to get it at Folly Lake. David wanted to shoot it at the lake itself, and Peter and I wanted to get it on the East Mines trestle. We dropped David and my son at the siding and went the 11 km or so farther to the trestle. We set up and waited. We weren't sure what kind of warning we would get, and sure enough we had absolutely no warning before 14 rushed across the trestle. I quickly hit "record" on the video camera and caught the engines halfway across.

VIA Rail on the trestle at Londonderry, NS

That was the end of 14 for us.

VIA 15

We went back to Folly Lake to rejoin David and Nick to wait for 15 to come back. We had heard on the scanner that they were meeting at Belmont as usual, so we knew it would be a little wait. We had some lunch. The cars in the siding have been there a while!

VIA 15 appeared at 15:04. VIA 6410 and 6406 led 19 Ren cars and the Revelstoke Park.


We beat it back to the Trans-Canada and headed toward Moncton. As we approached the Springhill exit we heard the Salt Springs hotbox chatter away, so we knew we were just behind the train. We decided we would get it at Aulac next. I parked across the tracks and we climbed the berm to wait. 15 arced gracefully through the curve at 16:15.



Once again we got on the highway. As we approached Moncton we thought we might be ahead of 15, so we pulled off the TCH where the tracks go under the highway and waited. She showed up at 16:58.


I included the latter one to show how the Park car towers over the Renaissance cars.

Our last chance was on the other side of the Moncton station. We voted and decided to go to Gort. As we crossed over the tracks on Delong Drive we saw CFMG 6902 leading NBEC train 402 into the yard. It had 4 boxcars in tow.

CFMG 6902 in Moncton, NB

A group of three CN engines rolled out toward the main line, then reversed and disappeared out of view. I believe one of them was CN 5737 but I can't be sure.

VIA 15 appeared at 17:40 and rolled underneath us and away. I got my best still shot of the day here.

VIA 15 at CN Gort in Moncton

And so ended a great railfanning day. Thanks to David, Peter and Nick for being such great company.

Video

Here's the video!

PS - here's a photo of the same VIA 14 at Windsor Junction, by Bruce Hollett.

See Also

• A VIA Chase (by David Morris)
• All VIA Rail posts