Northern New Brunswick railfanning

Today I went to Bathurst for the first time in a long time, and of course I saw a few trains on the way. I had my Fuji 3.2 megapixel digital camera with me, and I was looking forward to taking just stills.

It was foggy near McGivney and I couldn't see anything at all as I passed.

I noticed quite a few cars at the UPM-Kymmene plant in Miramichi. The outside yard was pretty full and there were quite a few inside the fence too. This is the first time I've seen it since NBEC took over the plant switching so no doubt they are doing things a little differently.

VIA 14 was reported 32 minutes late leaving Bathurst. I went to Beaver Brook and saw them go through at 10:15 with VIA 6415 and 6420 leading the Renaissance train with Evangeline Park at the rear.



I drove back to the yard and beat them there with 30 seconds to spare, even with the driver going 40 km/h in front of me. They had a quick station stop and headed out. NBEC 1854 and 1816 were shunting around at the other end of the yard, and CFMG 6907 was resting with NBEC 1819. I noted that the two dead C-424s, 4219 and 4243, were still in the yard (I saw them March 29).



As I approached Bathurst I heard NBEC 1818 West get permission to occupy main track between mileages 106.6 and 108. That's the section of track between Nepisiguit Junction and the Bathurst yard limits. They must have been coming off the Nepisiguit Subdivision.

I heard NBEC train 587 talking as I approached Belledune near noon, and as I was parking I saw NBEC 1867 and another red RS18 running light out of the plant. There was talk on the scanner about a couple of cars left in the siding off the main line, so I thought they were getting those.

When I left Belledune at 16:30, I heard train 587 again! It turns out they were working the Irvco siding off the main line, picking up those leftover cars. They rolled by at 16:35 with 1835 leading 1867 and 4 gondolas, 2 boxcars, 1 tank car, an airslide hopper, and a string of about 17 NBEC ore cars.

I almost like the going-away shot better!


I raced to the highway and easily beat them to Beresford through intermittent rain. I had some indecision about whether to shoot straight down the track or off a bit to the "sun" side. As you can see I decided an offset shot was better. They rolled past at 16:58.



The train was parked on the siding in front of the VIA station in Bathurst when I arrived at 17:10. Shortly thereafter they started doing some switching. Gotta love that Alco smoke!!


I watched them until about 17:35 when I spoke with the engineer. He said the next crew would be taking the train to Brunswick Mines around 18:00 to 18:30 and train 403 would be arriving around the same time. I figured I had time to grab a quick supper, so I stopped at Subway on my way out to Nepisiguit Junction to catch 403. As I passed over the tracks at the Junction I saw boxcars rolling by underneath. DRAT!

I turned around and beat it down to Riverside Drive. I managed to get ahead of them without breaking speed limits and shot them at the golf course at Squire Green Drive at 18:00. They were 6903, 4214, 4210 and 6902 with about 54 cars.



When I saw the IC boxcar I thought of Roman Litarchuk. :)


NBEC 403 led by CFMG 6903 parked on the main line, and NBEC 586 led by NBEC 1835 was on the passing track.


Much more about NBEC 586 (train to Brunswick Mines) later... this is enough for one blog post!

Last VIA detour

I got a call from Bill Linley this morning at about 06:45 to say that VIA 14 (the Ocean) had passed Longley, NB at 06:35. We talked a bit about whether I should go to McGivney, Cantor (Hardwood Ridge), or Chipman. We figured McGivney had been covered very well so I elected to go to Chipman.

When I passed through Hardwood Ridge I looked at the west-facing signals and they showed dark-over-red. I arrived in Chipman at about 08:05 to find red-over-red signals facing east and the westward signals unlit. CN 6025 was shut down on one leg of the wye with two empty bulkhead flatcars coupled on. There was noone around.

CN 6025 in Chipman, New Brunswick

I set up on the highway bridge beside the railway bridge to wait. Armed with bug spray, sunscreen and scanner, I was all set! The only question was.. when would VIA show up?

I waited.. and waited.. and waited. There was no discussion on the scanner so I had no clues about when the Ocean would come. Meanwhile, my bladder was demanding attention but I dared not leave my post for fear the train would come while I was attending to Nature. I talked with Bill on the cellphone a couple of times and he assured me there was no way the train could have reached Chipman before me. I called VIA and they told me it would be on time into Moncton.

Finally the scanner crackled to life at 09:50: "Clear signal". I sprinted to the video camera to the sound of a horn blowing for the highway 10 crossing. Then I heard "Clear signal" again as the engineer called out the bridge signal, and VIA 14 rolled into view.

VIA 14 detouring through Chipman, NB

VIA 14 and Revelstoke Park on the bridge at Chipman, NB

As you can see the light was not great. I had to work around the wires between me and the railway bridge too. I probably wouldn't choose this location again.

VIA 14 appears to have had 6425 on the head end and Revelstoke Park was bringing up the marker(light)s.

After that I drove around a bit, trying to figure out if any other trains were coming soon. A friendly CN foreman called the RTC and determined that the next train would be 149, called out of Moncton at 11:30. Since I didn't want to wait two hours, I went home.

Here's the video.

I understand the detour is over and VIA will be using the NBEC route again. I'm glad I caught one train on the Napadogan sub.

Other Detours

• Appointment at McGivney
• CN Detour on the NBEC
• VIA 614 at McGivney

An extended chase of VIA 15

How to chase the Ocean even when you're not there... read to the end...

I was in Moncton today and decided to catch the westbound Ocean (VIA 15) on my way out of town. I set up at the Mountain Road overpass to photograph him coming into the station. I didn't have my video camera with me so I was just shooting stills, which is rare for me these days. He rolled into view at 17:01:


I hopped the guardrail and dashed across Mountain Road to get the going-away shot of Evangeline Park at the end of the Renaissance consist:


There were a lot of people boarding the train at the Moncton station:


I didn't get the complete consist, but what I know is: 6415, 6426, 7003, 7223, 7232, 7226, 7227, ... Evangeline Park (8704)

Note the splash of brighter yellow on the engineer's side. That has been there for a while.

I decided to shoot him at West End just out of the station. I waited there until he rolled slowly by at 17:32.


Then I thought I'd be clever and try to beat him to Berry Mills. I raced there to find no train, so I convinced myself I got there first. I waited and after a few minutes I heard a hum... from the WEST. Then CN 308 rolled through with CN 5625 on the point. I barely had enough time to take the photo.


After that I knew I had missed VIA 15 and I figured that was it. Little did I know that there was a DERAILMENT in St. Noel, Quebec and the Ocean was detouring on the Napadogan subdivision like it did last year about this time. I had no idea.. although now that I know, some of the discussions between the VIA crew and the RTC make a lot more sense.

Anyway, my good friend Peter Gough made it up to McGivney this morning and this evening to catch both Oceans and he was kind enough to pass along a few photos.

Green over red... it's train time! (RG309, the rail grinder train, is in the siding)


At 19:45 VIA 15 blasted through McGivney:


Thanks for those photos, Peter.

Several of our AtlanticRails railfans are out near New Denmark shooting Oceans near and on the massive Salmon River viaduct. Hopefully they get some good shots.

The derailment is supposed to be cleaned up by 18:00 Sunday so VIA 14 will detour but VIA 15 will not. I'm going up to McGivney Sunday morning to get #14 there. If I'm successful I will of course post the photos!

Tags: via, derailment, detour, ocean, moncton, mcgivney

CN 305 today

CN 305 was in Moncton's Gordon Yard this morning (July 13) at 06:00 performing a brake test. The SBU dumped the air from the train, so a new SBU was attached and the brake test was completed successfully by 06:15. I didn't hang around to see it leave but it had 3 units on the head end (CN 24xx (2418?), another 24xx, and a smaller unit, perhaps a GP38) and quite a long train.

There were two GP38s in the yard near the former tower. The Delong Drive dirt road is in great shape for most of the way along the yard but even at 06:00 there was truck traffic.

No sign of CN 149 - I assume it had not arrived yet. There was a string of loaded doublestacks alongside the dirt road that workers were loading containers onto.

Tags: moncton, railfanning, cn

Loram Rail Grinder

Loram Rail Grinder RG309 has been working in New Brunswick today. It was spotted working toward Island Yard in Saint John this morning, and working back on the Sussex sub around 8 PM tonight.

Saint John sightings 2006/07/08

My family went down to Saint John to do some shopping and spend some time on the beach, and of course I kept an eye out for trains at the same time.

At about 12:40 I saw a small NBSR transfer freight heading away from Island Yard by Harbour Station, led by a leased CN GP9 and a green NBSR unit - it looked like a GP38. Right afterward I heard some chatter between the RTC and someone, and it sounded like someone was getting their orders. It was hard to understand over the background noise in the van.

As I drove toward Rothesay Avenue I clearly heard, "OK RTC, we'll be away in about 5 minutes." That told me it was probably CN 305 to Moncton, and they were likely down getting their Tim's coffee if their departure was imminent. Sure enough, that's where they were.



CN 5645, 5696 and 5764 were the power as usual. They seemed to have a pretty short train today, with the usual mix of boxcars and tankers and a few container loads. The conductor boarded with the coffee and goodies and they started rolling at 12:45.

Later we headed for the beach by the Irving Nature Park. I heard a train blowing at 17:00 and I assume that was the eastbound freight arriving in the Dever Road yard. As we passed by the Island Yard around 17:45 I saw CN GP9 7010 and NBSR 3701 doing some shunting.

I did take a spin by the Dever Road yard around 20:15 and there were a number of green engines by the engine house. I was hoping to see 2318, and perhaps it was there, but it was too far to distinguish engine numbers.

Pulp transload car in McAdam

I recently had the opportunity to see the interior of the NB Southern pulp transload car in McAdam. I blogged about this earlier - basically it is a static boxcar used to transload pulp from Nackawic from trucks to boxcars on an adjacent track.

Here's the whole car, showing the open door with a forklift inside. There are several propane bottles to the left of the car, which I assume are used to power the forklift. You can see the boxcars to be loaded on the track behind this boxcar.


Here's a view of the forklift, with the folded-up loading ramps in front.


This boxcar used to be CP 52296.


Here's a view of the pulp loads. The adjacent boxcar is MMA 20242.

Tags: mcadam, pulp, nb southern

More McAdam pictures

Peter Gough passed along some more photos of the Canada Day celebrations in McAdam this past July 1.

An exterior shot showing what appears to be a yard sale?


CP 29 lives on in McAdam through this float.


The Saint John Society of Model Railroaders had a display in the dining room.


The lunch counter in the station.


The station is looking really good inside.

Saint John sightings

Around 13:30 I saw CN 7015 (GP9) shunting 305's consist, while CN 305's power was returning from Courtenay Bay terminal with a string of potash empties. CN 5764, 5696 and 5645 were the engines. 305 will have the potash empties, some gypsum empties, the usual tankers and boxcars, and a string of single and doublestack cars on the end. No photos today - sorry!

Photos from the July 1 NB Southern excursion

My friend Peter Gough went to McAdam for the Canada Day celebrations. He took a few photos of the NB Southern business train there and was gracious enough to share them with me (and you).

First, the train by the McAdam station.


Next, on the way to Harvey. This was a new route for the train, which normally runs either Saint John-Welsford or less often McAdam-St. Stephen.


At Harvey, the engine ran around the train before proceeding back to McAdam.


Note the Canadian flags flying from the engine.


My favourite, the train passing the (defunct) signals at the west end of the Harvey siding.


Thanks, Peter!

Tags: nb southern, railfanning, excursion

CP TEC train photos

Roman Litarchuk was kind enough to send me a link to his photo of CP 8217 as well as a couple of interior shots of the train. Thanks!

NB Southern passenger excursion Canada Day

Don't forget about the upcoming charity excursion using NB Southern's business train. They are running from McAdam to Harvey and back, a different route than normal. They will depart McAdam at 13:00 and return by about 16:00. I assume the train will come up from Saint John in the morning.

I won't be chasing it but I would appreciate any photos from those who do!

Digital SLR conundrum

I've been looking at digital SLR cameras for a while now. I've narrowed my choices down to the Olympus E-Volt E-500 and the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. Both are 8 megapixel SLRs, both fine cameras as far as I can see. I think the Canon body is slightly better in terms of capabilities, but the Olympus kit comes with two lenses instead of the one Canon lens. Decisions, decisions.

I'm still accumulating the cash so it will be a while before I make the jump. I currently shoot with a point-and-shoot Fuji Finepix A210 and it is terrible for shooting moving objects (like, um, trains). The 1/2 to 3/4 second delay between pressing the shutter button and it actually taking a picture make it impossible to compose a good shot of a moving object.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a digital SLR in the $800-$1100 range? Don't even both mentioning something like a Nikon D200 to me - it's way out of my price range.

Data on the CP TEC train

CP 68 - 89 tons, 84 feet
CP 424993 - 55 tons, 65 feet
CP 63 - 143 tons, 86 feet

That CP 63 (the observation car) is one heavy car!

They set out from station 400 (Saint John) to station 484 (McAdam). There must be a master list of CP station numbers somewhere...

Tags: cp, tec

CP 8217

Here are some photos of CP 8217, the power for the CP TEC (track geometry) train that passed through New Brunswick this past week. 8217 is a GP9 built in 1954, with a 1750 horsepower engine. The engineer told me it was one of the most uncomfortable engines he's ever driven. The seat is not adjustable so it was pressing into the backs of his thighs and turning his legs numb. From the outside you could see the nose bouncing a little bit as the engine idled.






It looks pretty normal inside. There's nothing to indicate it's pulling the TEC train except for some writing above the engineer's window.


If you can't read it, the writing says "TEC: 60 MPH max, 35 testing, 25 reverse"

NBSR freight 2006/06/20

As I mentioned in my last post there was an eastbound freight waiting in McAdam for the CP track evaluation train to arrive. The crew from the CP train went over to the freight engines , and started shunting after the CP train went down the St. Stephen sub. They were using the beginning of the St. Stephen sub as their switching lead, because the yard tracks all had cars on them.


The train had NBSR 2319, 9802 and 2318 with the crew in 2319.

After they did a bit of switching there, they picked up a few boxcars.


I thought it was neat that many of the MMA bulkhead flats still said CP Rail on them.


The writing on the first photo says "1-800-WAH WAH". I don't know why!

I spoke at length with the very friendly engineer. He was looking forward to going back home as he had been on duty since 0630. He told me that the track geometry train created three GBO's (track slow orders) for their return trip. I guess it doesn't take long for them to transmit their findings.

They still had quite a bit of switching left to do before I left at 1530 for home. Their train had about 12-13 empty gypsum cars on it together with quite a few MM&A bulkhead flats.

I'll leave you with a "how to take a terrible picture" shot. This was against the light with the station obscuring part of the loco. Notice the transformer sprouting from the top of the locomotive. NOT one of my best shots. :)

CP Tec Train in Harvey and McAdam today

NBSR train 907-400, consisting of CP 8217, CP 68, CP 424993, and CP 63, made its westward trip from Saint John today. It left Saint John sometime in the mid-morning, passing through Fredericton Junction around noon.

I arrived in Harvey at 12:30, after getting a little intelligence that the train would be arriving in McAdam around 14:00, meeting the eastbound freight there. I shot a few photos of NBSR 420306, some kind of MOW vehicle (a tie spiker?), at rest in the third track at Harvey. I thought I'd scout around a bit and I found Shawn Duren waiting down by the ball park. We talked for a bit before I went back to the siding to wait for the train. The weather was sunny off and on, with nice puffy clouds, a nice change from the predicted thunderstorms.

At 13:06 I heard the hotbox detector at mile 59.4 (Cork) go off, reporting 18 axles and no alarms. Incidentally, the detector reports "NBSR". I understand the detectors in Maine still report "CP". Right after that someone had a conversation with the RTC, and I realized it was the TEC train. The RTC said the freight was just clearing Vanceboro at that time.

After a few minutes I heard the hum of engines and the train came around the bend at 13:15. It blew for the crossing and was gone, with the observation car's lights disappearing in the distance.

CP 8217 leading the TEC train through Harvey, NB

The CP TEC train through Harvey, NB

I hopped in the car (already pointed the right way, of course) and raced for McAdam. I arrived well ahead of the train, and had a chance to chat with a friend of mine and wave hi to Shawn as he pulled in. Then I heard the train blowing for a crossing as it approached the yard. It pulled into view at 13:53 and slowly rolled through the yard.

(aside: my source predicted a 14:00 arrival time and it arrived 7 minutes before that. Not bad)

They went past the station on the north side, then backed up past the south side of the station to park by the crew shack on the St. Stephen subdivision.

Observation car CP 63 by the McAdam train station

I couldn't resist the shot of a CP engine by the former CP station.

The crew got out and the new crew got in. The crew from the CP train were going to take the freight back to Saint John, while the crew that brought the freight from Maine were taking the TEC train down to St. Stephen and back. Got it? :) Here's the crew that brought the train from Saint John, checking their notes before going to start shunting with the freight train.


Wait - what's that on top of the bell?

That's right - it's a camera. The crew told me that the CP crew in the trailing observation car have screens to show the front and rear cameras of the train at all times. Everything is taped for future reference.


A big shout out to Jonathan and his friend who came out to see the train too. Keep on watching those trains.

At 14:27 the train started rolling backward down the St. Stephen subdivision. CP 63 bravely led the way, in air-conditioned comfort.


Here they are backing by the gypsum unloading point.


I'll blog about the freight later. I haven't even looked at the video I took yet.

I should give a shout out to teacher Jody who reads my blog - it was great to meet you!

What a GREAT day!

Tags: cp, harvey, mcadam, tec, railfanning

Photo of CP train in Saint John

Dave Dineen photographed the CP inspection train at NB Southern's Dever Road Yard. It's a long distance shot but there is really no better shot available without trespassing. Thanks Dave!

Tags: cp, tec

CP train is in Saint John

The CP train travelled from Brownville Junction to Saint John with NBSR 980x, 231x, 2318 and CP 8217 with three cars. It is currently in front of the NBSR shops at Dever Road. Unfortunately I was not able to view it but maybe someone will post some photos!

Tags: cp, tec

Still more on the CP track inspection train

My source tells me the CP TEC train will be coming through New Brunswick to Saint John TOMORROW (Saturday) after it is done its work on the MM&A. No time was given. The train will lay over all weekend in Saint John before working its way east on Tuesday as I previously said.

Tags: cp, tec

More on the CP inspection train

I spoke with a reliable source yesterday and found some information on when the CP inspection train will be visiting New Brunswick. My source told me they will be working west from Saint John on Tuesday, scheduled to arrive in McAdam at 14:00. They will then work the St. Stephen Subdivision, returning to McAdam late at night. They will then proceed to Brownville Junction on Wednesday and presumably continue on to Montreal if they have no further work in Maine. My source did not know when they would make the eastbound trip to lay over in Saint John, but he assumed it was on the weekend.

Based on their slow performance yesterday between Brownville Junction and Derby, I don't expect to see them in New Brunswick anytime soon! (Of course, I probably won't see them at all, alas)

Tags: cp, tec

CP inspection train coming?

The CP track inspection train ("TEC train") may be on its way to New Brunswick. It was spotted in Farnham Quebec a couple of days ago and it was in Sherbrooke PQ last night, so it's probably on its way to the MM&A. Based on past years it will do the MM&A then do a quick trip up to Saint John and back, probably in 4 or 5 days. We'll see!

Tags: cp, tec, train, mm&a

Upcoming NB Southern passenger excursion

NB Southern is running another excursion, on July 1. They are running from McAdam to Harvey and back, a different route than normal. They will depart McAdam at 13:00 and return by about 16:00.

If I were to chase it, I would get a shot departing McAdam, then get them across Harvey Lake. I'd take a few shots of the runaround at Harvey before going to Prince William Station for a straightaway shot and then back to McAdam.

I'm assuming the eastbound freight will depart before them.

Hopewell and Oxford subdivisons, 1978

I've uploaded scans of the Hopewell and Oxford subdivisions from the April 30, 1978 CN timetable to my web site, by request.

The Hopewell Subdivision ran from Truro to Havre Boucher and the Oxford sub ran from Oxford Junction to Stellarton.

VIA 14 hits truck

Yesterday at approximate 11:30, VIA 14 (the Ocean) hit a truck near Adamsville, NB. The truck was empty and crossing the track to a peat moss factory. The photo on the Chronicle Herald web site shows how the train punched right through the trailer.

Noone was injured. There was some fairly superficial damage on the lead unit and a few broken windows on an empty coach.

The lead unit (6418) was set off at Birch Ridge and the trailing unit took the train to Moncton, where a CN unit was added to bring the train to Halifax, arriving at 20:05.

Halifax Chronicle Herald story

Tags: news, via, collision