Moncton on Saturday

I took all my kids to the Moncton Model Train and Car Show this past Saturday, April 12. We headed up the Trans-Canada Highway in the rain and arrived in Moncton at about 11:20. I wanted to shoot VIA 14, so we had about 25 minutes to kill. I drove down Delong Drive and saw that CN 4775 and 4721 were shunting the far end of the yard, while shiny clean CN 2283 and 2281 were idling near the container cars. I would guess the latter two had just brought a container train in.

On my way out, I saw a freight had pulled out of the yard and was waiting in the siding for VIA 14 to pass. It had 2 units but I couldn't get the unit numbers from where I was. Since I had my kids with me, I didn't want to stand on the overpass. I grabbed one quick shot from the overpass.

We went to Marsh Junction to wait for the Ocean there. It didn't take long for the crossing bells to start ringing.

I raced to the tripod, started the video camera, and started shooting stills as the Ocean tilted through the curve.

You can see it was raining a fair bit. VIA 6431 and 6436 were leading 11 Renaissance cars. After that, we went to the show. You can see pictures here.

Export Train Photos

Phil Ross posted two great photos of the latest export train through Dorchester and Sackville on Railpictures.net.

This photo at Dorchester is just stunning.

Saint John Railfan

Here are a few videos from saintjohnrailfan.

This one shows NBSR 3701 and a CN GP9 returning light to Island Yard.


Next, two CN units bringing empty potash cars to Island Yard.


Finally, CN 405 blasting through Rothesay.


Good show!

New Units For CB&CNS

The Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway has four "new" SD40-2 engines, HLCX 7172, 7232, 7689 and 8151. The first three are dark blue and the last one is BN green and black.

April 7 - Arrived at Gordon Yard in Moncton (Wendell Lemon)
April 10 - Left on CN 308 in the evening (Phil Ross)
April 11 - Arrived in Stellarton on train 306 (Charles Jeffrey)

Another Export Train

Someone spotted a set of export locomotives moving east through Oshawa, Ontario on Monday: "Just got a glymps of an eastbound CN at Oshawa with 8 new units under tarpaulins with CMDX 1000 through 1007 written on the outside of the tarps"

At 18:40 they were seen passing Napanee, Ontario on CN 308.

These are EMD SD70ACe locomotives headed to the Australian ore company BHP Billiton Iron Ore Pty. They were purchased from a BNSF order.

They pulled out of Joffre Tuesday morning at 09:00 with a 10,000 foot train, according to Ron Pelletier. I assume they are in Halifax by now!

Photos by Kevin Gaudet

Kevin sent me a few photos from his railfanning in the Saint John area at the end of March. Here are a few of the best.

CN 7038 and NBSR 3701 heading toward Island Yard from the east side.


CN 5765 leads CN 405 (or is it 406?) CN 406 near Harbour Station in Saint John.

And the best for last...

At the head of CN 405, CN 5665 rockets past Kevin.

That last one is Railpictures-worthy, I would say.

Atlantic Region Railway Conference

I was browsing the web a while ago and stumbled across the submissions for the 2007 Atlantic Region Railway Conference. There were submissions from Transport Canada, CN, NBEC, CB&CNS, QNS&L, the Transportation Development Center, and QRC.

The QRC (Quebec Railway Corporation) submission was most interesting to me. There is a very interesting pie graph breaking down what goods are transported on QRC on slide 6. As QRC watchers know, much of their traffic is resource goods like wood products, ore, and so forth and the graph really shows that.

If you'd like to view the presentations, I suggest going to the web site soon to download them before they are replaced with 2008 presentations.

The 2008 conference is going to be held in Moncton at the Ramada by Crystal Palace, on May 28 and 29.

VIA Videos by Kevin

Here's a few links to VIA videos by Kevin Gaudet. All were made on March 30 featuring VIA 15 with 6400 and 6436 and a Renaissance consist.

Arriving at Sackville
Blowing through Memramcook
Leaving Moncton, at what used to be called West End, it looks like.

August 21, 2002

Way back in 2002 I spent some time with my wife's family in Winnipeg. On August 21 I went to the downtown CP yard with my son Nick and my father-in-law, and did a little railfanning. Here are a few videos from that visit. Please pardon my son's yakking. :)

CN Test Train in the Area

CN is running a test train through our area to check track geometry. It was spotted leaving Joffre, QC Tuesday morning by the vigilant Ron Pelletier with CN 5417 leading two blue cars, 15007 and 15008. Steve O'Brien saw it in Grand Falls, NB doing a meet with a westbound freight. Finally Phil Ross shot it near Moncton Tuesday evening.

Photo by Phil Ross, from RailPictures.net

CP Train Video

I posted a little video I took way back in 2002 when I was a new videographer. We were on our way from Regina to Winnipeg when we overtook a CP train. We got ahead of it and I stopped at a farm crossing to tape it zooming by. Notice how I was standing on the shadow side of the train... newbie mistake.

NB Southern From Above

YouTuber Joe shot the NBSR transfer freight from an interesting angle. This video shows two GP38s taking containers and general freight to the Reversing Falls bridge on its way to Dever Road. The shot is from an embankment just off Douglas Avenue. You can see the switch to Ocean Steel in the shot.

NBSR to the Rescue

I'm told NB Southern is lending 3 engines to the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MM&A) to help them in Northern Maine. Friday night's westbound is said to have 6 engines and be 9000' long. This must be an NB Southern record, as that is well over 100 cars!

The last time I can recall NBSR loaning units to the MM&A was in the spring of 2005 when NBSR 2319 was loaned. I posted two of Travis Bragg's videos a while ago. Here's one of them.


Keep in mind NBSR recently loaned their Jordan spreader to the MM&A too.

CN Movie Marathon

Matt the Saint John railfan posted three videos of CN 405. The first shows the train returning from Courtenay Bay with the potash empties.


The second is just outside Saint John.

The third video is at a crossing in Hampton as the train rolls through at speed. Very nice!


Thanks for posting those!

Canadian Government Railways waybill

I recently won a Canadian Government Railways (CGR) waybill from December 18, 1926. The waybill is for a snowplow to be transported from Stanley to Doaktown.


I love stuff like this!

Chasing The NB Southern Pipe Train

My wife was working Monday afternoon, so I figured since it was such a beautiful day, I should pack all the kids in the van and go see some trains. I was getting withdrawal again.

A quick phone call and I found that the eastbound was going to be a pipe train. Bonus!

I decided to go to the Fredericton Junction area and wait for it there. After a bit of driving around, I went to mile 52 where route 645 from Harvey turns back into a paved road. After some waiting, Dave Dineen arrived, having seen my post about the pipe train. He said he had heard some chatter on the scanner so the train was en route. After some chatting and waiting, I made another call and found that the train was having some trouble, with one unit down. Apparently it was 45 minutes late coming into McAdam.

At 15:05, we saw headlights in the distance and set up to take some shots. I had the video camera on the tripod and took stills with my Canon S3. Dave took shots on his own S3 and I hope to see how he did with his stills. The train featured NBSR 2318, 2317, 2610 and 2612 with 7 doublestacks and 1 single stack, followed by 1 open boxcar , 47 loaded flatcars of pipe, and a trailing open boxcar.



I stayed to tape the whole train, then we hit the road to Fredericton Junction. We caught up to it but it beat us to the next road crossing. My son Nick shot this through the windshield.


Once the tail end cleared, we continued on and caught up with it again on the long straightaway in Tracy. Nick shot this video (using the Canon S3) through the window as we overtook the train.


I elected to continue through Fredericton Junction and shoot it on the overpass just east of the river bridge. It rolled through at 15:25 and gave me a little toot as it passed.


We easily got to Blissville ahead of it, and found Dave pulled over at the same spot I was going to. Nick and I jumped out, and I shot video while he shot stills. This still was Nick's:



After that, the kids were getting restless and I had to get back to Fredericton to pick my wife up, so we turned and headed back. What a great day for chasing trains!

Export Units Arrived in Moncton

The export units on CN 306 arrived in Moncton at 20:00 Monday, with CN 4708 and 2663 for power. Thanks to Phil in Moncton for the report.

Another Pipe Train Coming

Another pipe train just left Mattawamkeag at 11:00 AM, so it should be in McAdam by 13:00 and Saint John around 15:30ish.

News on Export Train

Ron Pelletier reported that the export units on CN 306 left Joffre, Quebec at 19:43 Sunday night. That would have put them into Edmundston around 04:00 this morning, and therefore they should be pulling into Moncton right about now. Ron said the power was CN 5741, 2456, and 2663.

Export Train Update

I'm told that as of late Saturday night, the CN 306 with the export units was still in Joffre, waiting for a new crew and a new locomotive.

CN trains by Joel

Jammin' Joel has been hard at work taping trains!

Here's a local in Saint John on March 1 with NBSR 3701 and leased CN 7010 going by the Staples just outside Island Yard.


Later the same day, he shot CN 405 going through Rothesay on its way to Moncton.


On March 7, he caught two CN trains at Enfield (a little north of the airport) in Nova Scotia. First, CN 120 with CN 2618, CN 5708, and CN 6018.


Next, CN 407 going through Enfield on its way to Moncton with CN 5677 and CN 2627.


Great job, Joel!

CP 252 Plowing Snow

A very neat video of CP train 252 hitting the snowdrifts at Odelltown near the Quebec-US border.

Export Locos Coming Through

A train of locomotives destined for export from Halifax is passing through New Brunswick. It was last sighted by Ron Pelletier in Joffre, Quebec at 0830 Eastern this morning with CN 6018 leading a flatcar, 10 locomotives, and another flatcar. "There were some blue GBRf, some green Freightliners and white Euro Cargo Rail".

A history of the train so far:
0125 Taschereau (Montreal)
0638 Lemieux siding, Drummondville sub
0830 Arrived Joffre yard

I believe it should be in Edmundston by 1600-1700 and Moncton around midnight, and Halifax Saturday morning after sunrise. Hopefully we will see some good shots from Halifax!

Oddly enough the train is numbered CN 306, normally reserved for an eastbound freight train. The usual CN train number for export locomotives is 436.

Article on Sackville Station

There's a nice article on the Sackville railway station in the Sackville Tribune Post.

Here's a photo of the station just after Christmas, 1978, by Art Clowes. Notice the freight shed behind the station.

Photos of NB Southern Spreader in Maine

I mentioned on Saturday that NB Southern's Jordan spreader was in Maine to help the MM&A clear some snow. Michael Peverett picked up on that and took some photos of the spreader in a few parts of Maine, and was gracious enough to send me photos and allow me to use them here.

Here it is Saturday (March 15) clearing the yard in Brownville Junction with 5016 and 5017.

Brownville Junction, Maine on 3/15/08 with MMA 5016 and 5017.

On Sunday Michael chased it from Millinocket up to Houlton.

Island Falls, Maine on 3/16/08 with MMA 5016.


Ludlow, Maine on 3/16/08 with MMA 100 and 2004. This is on the Houlton Branch.

Thanks for sharing, Mike!

NB Southern Locals in Saint John

Matt aka saintjohnrailfan saw two NBSR local trains in Saint John, within 5 minutes of each other on March 17.

First, a leased CN GP9 bringing a train into Island Yard.


Then, a leased CN GP9 and NBSR 3701 bringing a train out of Island Yard toward Irving Paper. No idea if it was the same GP9. :)

INR Research

Chris M has been doing some good research on the former International Railway line from Campbellton to In one of his latest posts, he posted some maps of Campbellton with great detail on the railway lines. Keep up the good work, Chris!

CP in the Spiral Tunnels

I uploaded a video of a CP freight going down through the famed spiral tunnels in British Columbia in August 2002. I believe this is the Lower Spiral Tunnel...


Here's another shot from the same spot, by kingcab318.


And another by Terry Rowsell showing a freight going up the grade.

NB Southern Spreader in Maine

NB Southern Railway has lent their Jordan spreader to the MM&A railway in Maine to help with snow removal. It was in the Brownville Junction yard on Saturday and will be headed north on Sunday. Thanks to Shaun McGinnis for the update.

Photo by Bob Boudreau

VIA Detour Update

The extra-long VIA 15 (combined Ocean and Chaleur) left Halifax on time and proceeded to Moncton, where it was split. The Ocean section (with 6400 and 6403 and Renaissance cars) detoured on the CN Napadogan subdivision again. The Chaleur section (with 6401 and Budd cars, with passengers) went up the normal VIA route on the NBEC, where it will deadhead to Gaspe in preparation for a revenue run back to Matapedia where it will join Saturday's non-detoured VIA 15.

Jim Babcock reports the 5 derailed cars are back on the rails and are at Routhierville, Quebec. They will be moved to ERS in Campbellton to get their wheels changed. He reports that 3300 feet of track had to be repaired.

Wendell Lemon reported that today's VIA 14, headed by 6437 and 6424, detoured on CN and arrived in Moncton at noon. VIA 14 and 15 met at Oxford Junction.

It looks like VIA 14 will probably detour on Saturday but that will be the last detour.


The Chaleur near Douglastown, Quebec

VIA Detours Update

VIA 14 detoured on the Napadogan subdivision again this morning. It was expected into Moncton about 11 AM. No doubt VIA 15 will be detouring too.

Thursday's VIA 14 arrived in Halifax at about 18:10, almost 2 hours late.

David Othen said he heard about 1 kilometer of track was torn up, and may need up to 72 hours to fix. Apparently the five stainless steel cars derailed upright and are in good shape. No doubt they will need inspection and probably have their wheels replaced.

I wish I could go take some photos of VIA on the Napadogan but I am recovering from some minor surgery... no railfanning for the next few days!

Here's a photo from the July 2005 VIA detour. David Morris and I shot this on July 10 in McGivney.

VIA Detouring

Due to the derailment of the last 5 cars of VIA 15 a little west of Matapedia, VIA 14 and 15 detoured over CN on Thursday. I don't know if VIA will detour again on Friday.

The combined Ocean-Chaleur train had to go to Moncton on the Napadogan subdivision. Wendell Lemon reported that VIA 14 left Moncton at 13:45 with VIA 6400, 6403 and 6401. The train had 5 Budd cars (the Chaleur) and 13 Renaissance cars (the Ocean).

I believe the last time VIA detoured on the Napadogan sub was July 2006, but I could be wrong.

I stumbled across this little video someone took of the restaurant aboard one of the Bristol railway cars. The restaurant is called Fresh Fine Dining and is a high-end restaurant with a fine menu. The videographer is a bit of a giggler but it is neat to see the inside of the car.


The restaurant is located in the first of three cars. I last visited this site back in August 2007.

Another Kick in the Teeth for Dalhousie

Olin announced today that they will be closing their Dalhousie, NB plant. They acquired the plant in August 2007 when they purchased Pioneer.

They will "close its Dalhousie, New Brunswick, Canada chlorine, caustic soda, and sodium hypochlorite operations by early June and its sodium chlorate operations in August. A caustic soda storage and distribution terminal will begin operating in June at the facility."

Just what Dalhousie needs, another closure, another 50 jobs lost on top of the 330 lost when Abitibi-Bowater closed up in January.

I don't know if the distribution terminal will get any rail business, but this may spell the end of the Dalhousie branch of the NBEC. This might become a thing of the past:


Other coverage: CBC, Canoe.ca


NBEC 1857 shunts the yard outside the paper mill in Dalhousie, 1999/05/03 - one of my very first railfan photos.

Snow Removal on NBEC

Michel aka NBECMich has a pair of very nice videos of snow clearing in the Bathurst yard on March 3. It includes train 597 moving cars around the yard as a wheeled snowblower gets the snow out.


Part 2, with a cameo by NBEC ore train 587 with NBEC 1821 as lead power.

CN 405 by Saintjohnrailfan

Matt aka saintjohnrailfan posted a few videos of CN 405.

Here's CN 405 at Bloomfield Station Road near Hampton on its way to Moncton, with 2 units on March 11.


Also at the same location on March 6, CN 405...

Photos from Kevin's Saint John Adventures

Here's the best of the photos that Kevin sent me.

NBSR local rounding the corner near the former shipyard.


CN 7010 as part of the local


CN 5676 leading CN 405 as it gets potash empties at the Courtenay Bay terminal.


The next day it was CN 8847's turn to do the same.


I liked this shot of 8847 going by Staples just before Island Yard.


Finally, CN 405 blasting through Hampton on its way to Moncton.

Thanks, Kevin!

Kevin and Saint John

Kevin posted a number of videos to YouTube. Since he has disabled embedding, I will present links to what I consider to be the best ones.

One day, he chased CN 405 (CN 8847 and 2548 with 116 cars, including 40 potash cars).
Rolling through the Island Yard
Through Hampton
CN 405 near Sussex

He also followed the NB Southern local around Saint John.
NBSR 3701 and CN 7010 in East Saint John - nice little pacing shot in the middle.
NBSR 3701 and CN 7010 crossing Thorne Rothesay Avenue

Ottawa Central 1815

I'm quite a bit late in posting this, but OCR 1815 was through the Maritimes a while ago. It spent some time in Sydney, Nova Scotia at the SCR shops, having arrived there back on January 25. 1815 left Sydney on February 21 behind RailLink GP9 4004 (report by Mike Whitty). It was spotted in Truro by Andrew Blackburn in the evening of February 23, and left Moncton on February 25 on CN 123 (thanks to Phil Ross).

There's a nice roster shot of OCR 1815 on Railpictures.net.

Canon S3 IS Woes

As I hinted back in January, my Canon S3 IS digital camera died. The last photo I took was on January 19.

My camera suffered the infamous E18 error, aka "Lens Failure". It's well-known enough to have its own web site. :)

On many digital cameras, including mine, the lens extends out of the body when it is turned on. On the S3 the lens normally leaps out within a second of turning the camera on. The problem started around Christmas when it hesitated for several seconds before extending the lens. It got progressively worse until January 19, when it refused to come out at all. The camera would grumble away and then make a beep-beep noise, with the message "Lens failure, please restart" appearing on the LCD screen.

I tried replacing the batteries with fully-charged ones - no go. I looked at the E18 Repair Instructions but I wasn't willing to abuse the camera. Finally I called Canon's 1-800-OK-CANON line and talked to a live person. They advised me to send it in, so I did. It's out of warranty, alas.

I sent it via Xpresspost on February 11 and it was received at the Canon depot in Quebec on February 13. I called on the 18th and they said they had looked at it and would charge a flat fee of $149.00 plus tax and shipping. I agreed, and they had it back in my hands a week later.

I would hesitate to buy another Canon, given the number of these E18 messages that seem to plague people. Anyone out there have a similar problem?

No Train Show For Me

I didn't make it to the train show on Saturday. Between the iffy weather and my bad back I wasn't up to travelling. Hopefully I'll get to Riverview in April? for the annual show there.

See you tomorrow?

Weather permitting, I will be at the annual Saint John model railroad show at St. Malachy's High School tomorrow, March 1. I'll probably be there in the afternoon. I'm looking forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. I normally don't buy much at these shows but I keep my eye open for railway paperwork and photos.

Dominion Atlantic Railway

A fellow named Steven Meredith has created a site to preserve the history of the Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR). The DAR was a shortline of the Canadian Pacific in Nova Scotia that ran from Windsor Junction to Yarmouth. The remnant of the DAR is owned by the Windsor & Hantsport Railway.

Visit the Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Initiative.

The timetable cover at right is from a 1934 DAR public timetable.

Update on VIA Railfan Trip

(this is an update to my last post about a planned Montreal railfan trip)

Railfan’s Weekend

Train number 15 the Ocean will depart [Halifax] at 12:35 P.M., Saturday, April 19th and arrive in Montreal on Sunday, April 20th at 8:15 A.M.. On arrival in Montreal the group will travel to the C.A.D. plant for a three-hour tour. The C.A.D. facility is where VIA Rail is modernizing the F-40 engines and is a very large group of buildings. After the tour a high traffic spot for picture taking will be on the agenda with a return to the Montreal train at 5:00 P.M. for a 6:30 P.M. departure. HEP equipment will run both ways with this being the last set coming into Halifax. There will not be a Dome car on the train but the Sky car will be in use.

Costs

Section (Upper and lower berths) Two people $336.18 each tax in return
Bedroom Private room and bathroom Two people $403.41 each tax in return
Lower berth One person $363.86 tax in return
Upper berth One person $308.50 tax in return
Roomette Private room One person $403.42 tax in return
coach seat Per person $240.00 tax in return
Drawing Room triple bedroom Two people $468.96 each tax in return
Drawing Room Three people $375.16 each tax in return


Approved Safety vests and Hardhats are mandatory.

Transportation to and from CAD and for Railfaning to be arranged by the group.

For more information contact Ron Jackson at 902 494-7920

e-mail thetrainguy@eastlink.ca

New Brunswick Videos

Michel R posted a video of NBEC 402 leaving Bathurst for Miramichi on February 21, shortly after I saw it in Belledune!


Dave Dineen got his own train fix with a chase of NB Southern's eastbound freight NBSR 9802 East on Saturday February 23. He describes in his blog how he got the pacing video using a tripod in the front seat of his vehicle.

VIA Video Online

I put a video of Friday's VIA 14 at Belledune online. Sorry for my shadow in the foreground. :)

Day 2 in Northern NB

Bright and early Friday morning, NBEC 1821 was waiting at the Bathurst station.


I headed north from there. As I approached the tracks at Belledune, I saw VIA 14 stopped just north/west of the crossing. They had to stop to reline the switch that the NBEC ore train had left. Within a few minutes, VIA 6406 pulled the stainless steel train past me on its way to Halifax.


Right after that, I heard NBEC 1821 (as train 597) request permission from the RTC to proceed from Bathurst to Nepisiguit Junction.

Later on in the day, I was just approaching Miramichi when I heard someone calling the RTC at about 15:00. I couldn't hear the conversation but I assumed it was NBEC 403 getting clearance to leave. When I got to the yard, I talked to the crossing guard and he said the freight left at about 15:10. I called Chris M and let him know, and Chris was able to catch the train as it approached Campbellton. He wrote about it in his blog.

I also heard the NBEC local train entering the Loggieville subdivision, which explained why there was no power at all in the Miramichi yard. I assume the local was taking the Ultramar tank cars over.

That was it for trains for me on Friday!

Wallboad Plant Ships!

Steven O'Brien reported that four centerbeam flatcars (probably the ones that Ron Grant saw on the 16th) have been loaded, and were pushed into Island Yard "shortly after five p.m. today [Feb 21] after their little journey from the new wall board plant." Thanks for the report, Steven!

I Got My Fix

I'm writing this from Bathurst, NB tonight and boy, is it cold! I shouldn't complain too much, as the prairie provinces seem to be having a far colder winter this year, but -12 (or -20 with wind chill) is cool enough.

I passed through Miramichi at about 09:40 this morning. I was surprised to see that half of the NBEC yard is not plowed... I guess it shows how little local business there is now. NBEC 6905 was idling away in the yard but there were no RS18s to be found. Tim Dryden has seen SD40s on the Loggieville Sub so perhaps the RS18s are rare in Miramichi now.


I passed Bathurst and there was no talking at all on the scanner. I was beginning to wonder where NBEC 402 was, when I heard it near Belledune. I went to the west end of the Belledune siding, and there was NBEC 6904, CFMG 6903, and NBEC 1821 rolling light out of the Chaleur Lumber spur. They coupled up to the four lumber loads and pushed them back onto the rest of the train. They must have just put some empties in when I arrived. Train 402 left Belledune at 11:15 with 42 cars. (4 lumber loads, 6 boxcars, 3 empty log cars, 5 woodchip cars, 3 CN covered gondolas, 1 tank car, 3 86' boxcars, and the 17-car Ultramar ram).


When I came to Bathurst after supper, I found the ore train NBEC 586 at the VIA station. RS18s 1813 and 1868 were idling at the head of a short train. Plow 616-20 was just finishing plowing part of the Bathurst yard. NBEC 586 left at 16:37 with 13 cars (8 NBEC ore cars, 3 CN covered gondolas, and 2 AOK covered hoppers). Probably the same CN gondolas that came in on 402! No photos, as it was dark.

For my final trick, I went to the Bathurst station to see VIA 15 arrive. As I watched the light approach from the distance, I realized the tape in my camera had less than one minute of tape left. I quickly but calmly swapped a new tape (#24) for the old one and put the camera back on the tripod in time for the train to arrive at 20:04 with 6415 and 6418 leading 11 Renaissance cars. They headed out within 8 minutes.


After whining about not having seen any trains for exactly one month, it feels good to be back. :)

Acadian Railway Update

Here is the latest news from Peter Swire, the promoter of the Acadian Railway:

"Based on confidential submissions from area shippers and our own assessment of the likelihood of migrating from road to rail on a shipper by shipper basis, it is probable that shipments could be as high as 100 cars per day. The volume is across a broad spectrum of former rail shippers now relegated to road transport; small road oriented shippers and two (and maybe three) new bulk commodity businesses being courted to locate within the Acadian Peninsula. Forty percent of the traffic is inbound and could reach parity in about 10 years. The peat traffic, while significant, will hold a reducing share of total loads as the line develops."

"Assuming these levels, the locomotive of choice will be the EMD SD 70 ACe. Two new units will be ordered. We do have pricing which is reasonable. We still need to develop a logo for the line. I would like to see a logo which, if possible, incorporates the both the spirit of the people and the hard working nature of local business leaders."

"As mentioned previously, we will be purchasing new rolling stock the bulk of which will be jumbo boxcars to meet the needs of two larger shippers. These cars will be utilized in both directions leaving very little empty movements. The balance of the rolling stock will be an assortment of flats and gondolas."

"The EA [Environmental Assessment] planning process will begin shortly and we expect their draft report by the end of the summer. It is this process that will determine which route that we should make application to construct."

"As things would happen, the rail contractor of choice is also the one the tore the line out nearly 20 years earlier. In discussions with them, we have agreed on using CWR the entire length including the sidings. The switches will more than likely be № 12 so that the line speed can be kept up. The size of ties is still being discussed vis-à-vis the soil stability. The contractors draft quote should be ready by the end of the month."

"Before the end of the summer, I fully expect the financing package to be in place on terms which are commercially attractive."

"We have identified potential traffic for the NBEC line which we will share with them in the not too distance future. We have had some productive discussions for some short-haul movements between NBEC and our firm that make sense for the shipper and the carrier alike."

New CN Videos

After a long drought, I have posted two CN videos to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.

The first has CN 305 through McGivney on August 5, 2004 with three units, 5707, 5720, and 5250 with 102 cars. Quite a high-speed transit!


The second features an eastbound CN freight between Portage la Prairie, Manitoba and Winnipeg on July 27, 2004. The train had two units. I liked this location - you can hear the wildlife chirping away as the train rolls by.

Next Pipe Train

Another pipe train is due through New Brunswick on Wednesday. I think this is the fifth one.

Photo by Bob Driscoll

New Timetable Online

Thanks to the generosity of John Falconer, I have a new public timetable online for your viewing pleasure here. This is the Canadian National Railways (and Grand Trunk Railway System) public timetable issued April 27, 1941. I scanned the first 25 pages, which includes all of the Maritime schedules and the national ones as well. There are 86 pages inside the covers and I couldn't see ever finishing scanning the whole timetable!

Saint John Gypsum Plant Receives Empties

Ron Grant reports that there are three empty centerbeam flatcars at the Irving Wallboard plant in Saint John. The line into the plant was completed in late September 2007 but has not seen any traffic until now.

Ron confirmed that finished loads will be the only rail traffic for the plant. The incoming gypsum is stockpiled near Irving Paper and trucked to the plant. As I reported before, some of the gypsum is brought by rail from Belledune.

Thanks for the report and photos, Ron!

Withdrawal

The last time I saw a train with my own eyes was January 21. I swear I'm getting the shakes from withdrawal.

An Interesting Phone Call

I get the occasional email or phone call out of the blue. People do a web search and stumble across my web site and/or blog, and then contact me about their question. I usually enjoy getting these contacts!

Last night I took a call from a woman named Nikkie who was looking at a house in Ontario that was near some tracks, and wondered how heavy the rail traffic was. I was curious how she decided to contact me, in New Brunswick, about Ontario rail traffic. It turned out that she knew the line was a Canadian Pacific line, and was searching for CP timetables and came across my site. As it happens my site is #1 on Google for Canadian Pacific Timetables. (try it yourself: Google)

I told her I didn't have any idea what the traffic would be, but I knew where to find out. I took down her address and contact information, then posted a message to the Yahoo groups C-P-R mailing list. Within a couple of hours I was told that the house was on the CP MacTier subdivision, CP's main line between Toronto and Vancouver, and that traffic would be quite heavy. I called her back and left a message to that effect.

One poster pointed me to the Proximity Issues web site, run by the Railway Association of Canada, that has maps of different regions of Canada showing which railway owns which line. That's a useful resource!

Ain't the Internet great?

Montreal Railfan Adventure 2008

From Andrew Reid:

Given the resounding success of the Railfan trip to Montreal on VIA Rail in the spring of 2007, it was decided that, perhaps, we should look into planning another event of similar nature. The people who went on the trip last year had a great time, VIA Rail Canada seemed impressed with the trip, and the VIA Montreal Maintenance Center (MMC) employees couldn't stop talking about it! With that in mind, Ron and I met to discuss various options for a trip this year.

This year, to keep things different, we're planning on doing the tour at Canadian Allied Diesel (CAD), the company contracted to do the rebuilds on VIA's F40 locomotives. Ron has spoke with CAD already, and not only are they willing, they're excited about the possibility, and Ron mentioned that our large group would be broken into several smaller groups and taken around on more personal tours by some of CAD's upper management. The tour would likely be 3-4 hours, leaving us the afternoon to do as we please. More on that later, though.

So, I come to you with some of the options for the year…

I had originally planned on trying to arrange this trip for October sometime…fall foliage, different scenery, and a generally different experience then we had last spring. I figured this, and the greater time between trips might encourage some people to come, and perhaps bring their families to see the scenery on the trip up and back. The problem with October is that Ron, who has hinted in the past he wouldn't be with VIA forever, will very likely be retired by then. He also noted that the odds of the stainless coming back in the fall were, right now, fairly slim. Thus, he suggested we go in April again, allowing us to ride the Stainless Steel HEP equipment. I agreed that it would be nice to have Stainless. October would be a bit more expensive then April…VIA would have Winter pricing in effect, but wouldn't yet be into their half-off winter booking sales, like they would be in April. My preference for traveling would be in October, however, I'd like the chance to work with Ron one last time before he leaves. Having met his potential replacement, I have no doubts that we'll be able to do this in the future…but Ron's been good to me so
far, and I'd like to do one last trip with him.

Something else we discussed was the possibility of a 3-day trip, versus last year's 4-day trip. Ron suggested a departure from Halifax on Saturday the 19th of April, traveling to Montreal in HEP Stainless cars. We'd then have all day Sunday to tour the CAD facility, as well as the afternoon to do what we wanted. We'd board the train in the evening on Sunday, and return to Halifax in Stainless HEP cars, arriving late-afternoon on Monday. The 19th is the last round-trip weekend of the Stainless Steel equipment for this year.

A 3-day trip means some cost savings…there's no hotel rooms to pay for, there's one less day of missed work, for those who have to worry about such things, there's less meals to purchase, and overall expenses would be lower. Transportation is a bit of a sticky issue - it proved troublesome last year, and I'm reluctant to go through the trouble of vehicle rental again, if only for the one partial day's events. Ron suggested that taxis might be the way to go, since as long as we agreed in advance were we were going, travel would be fairly limited, and thus, not stupidly expensive.

A 4-day trip is a possibility…it does mean we should rent vehicles again, which adds to the cost and confusion. A hotel would have to be factored in, as well. The downside to a 4-day trip, however, is the returning trip would be aboard a RenSet, not the HEP equipment. Those who went last year can attest that the trip on the RenSet was less enjoyable. The lack of a dome made it that much less enjoyable. The HEP wouldn't have a Park Car, however, it would have the Skyline Dome like last year, and we would have access to it again (albeit in moderation, right David? *really big grin*) we'd also need something to `do' on the extra day…I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Essentially, what I'm looking for right now (the sooner the better, really) is some form of confirmation from you folks…would anyone like to do this trip again? What time of year would you prefer? 3 or 4 day trip? Opinions on transportation? Suggestions on places to go if we do a 4-day trip? Any and all comments are welcome! This is in no way democratic - I'm just looking for what the masses would prefer, and we'll arrange everything from there. I appreciate the input!

If you're interested, contact Andrew Reid at redgreenshow1@gmail.com.

Congratulations

I want to congratulate railfan and fellow blogger Dave Dineen and his wife Christina on the birth of their son, Joseph, on Monday morning. Word is that Joey was born with a video camera in his hand, ready to shoot his first GP38. Congratulations to the Dineen family!

Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad Equipment For Sale

The home page of RailMerchants.net has a bunch of B&ML equipment for sale. For example, their steam engine is listed for $175,000, the RDC is listed for $165,000 and the passenger cars are listed for $10,000 to $55,000. (PDF)

There's a story about it at the Waldo County Citizen.

A real shame.

Another Pipe Train

Looks like another pipe train on the move.

"RJMA 347 has permisson into 169 at 19:32hrs on 2/11/2008 but NO
permission in to Greene Just leaving 169 moving Eastward"
Tom Nanos, GRS_Railfans

I can't parse that very well but it sounds like a Wednesday arrival in New Brunswick.

Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad Closing Down

Press release

Regretfully, the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad aka the Unity Train Museum in Maine is shutting its doors. The current management took over the operation in 2005 and had two losing years before deciding to give up.

I am glad I visited it last August. Too bad for them.

NBEC Plow Train

On Sunday, Chris M caught an NBEC plow train returning from the Gaspe. His photos of NBEC 1816 and the plow are on his blog. Check it out!

NBEC Videos a-plenty!

Chris M, aka clam502, took a video of NBEC 595 with NBEC 1813 returning to Campbellton from Dalhousie. I enjoyed the sound of his child yelling "here comes choo-choos!" Nice to see the kids enthusiastic about trains!


Michel Boudreau, aka NBECMich, took a few videos in the Bathurst area of NBEC 402/403 (the mainline freight) and NBEC 597 (the local shunter).

First, here's NBEC 597 with 1821 as power, leaving Bathurst for Superior Propane in Beresford with 3 tank cars. Poor Michel got a bit shook up by the horn.


Next, NBEC 402 became train 403 in Bathurst. They had no traffic for Miramichi so they didn't need to go there. Power was 6900 and 6904.


1821 came back light from Beresford, just before 403 left for Campbellton.


Thanks for posting those, guys! Someday I'll be trackside again, I promise...

NBEC and CFC videos, with a twist

Michel R posted a video of NBEC 586, the ore train, leaving Bathurst in the evening for the Brunswick Mines site on the Nepisiguit subdivision. The train had NBEC 1868 and NBEC 1819 with 10 of the short ore cars (345xxx series), 12 CN covered gondolas, and 3 AOK covered hoppers.


This one from Nicober100 is a little different! It features a Microsoft Train Simulator view of former NBEC 4214 on the Chemin de Fer de Charlevoix (CFC) with two LLPX GP-15 units.

As I blogged earlier it appears 4214 has gone to another Quebec Railway Corporation line.

VIA Ocean and Chaleur Combined

As many of you know, VIA often runs the Ocean and Chaleur trains together to Matapedia, Quebec, where the Chaleur is detached and runs up the Gaspe peninsula. Sometimes they run separately all the way from Montreal.

This weekend, there was a storm and there were problems with two of the engines. The combined train had Operation Lifesaver 6411, 6413, and Spiderman 6434. At Matapedia only 6434 was still working, but they managed to restart 6411 and it departed at 10:30 (5.5 hours late) on Saturday February 2.

Photo by Jim Babcock

Chaleur passengers were bussed from Matapedia. However, the train itself continued on to Halifax as part of the Ocean. It was an odd train, with three engines, 5 stainless steel cars, and the Ocean's 10 Renaissance cars on the end.

The train finally arrived at Halifax station at about 23:00, or 6.5 hours late. It departed on time the next day.

David Chiasson caught the weird Ocean coming into Bathurst.


He caught it again at Gloucester Junction on the other side of Bathurst, lead engine smoking like crazy.


Good catch, David!

Pipe Train Today

The third pipe train should be coming through New Brunswick today. It was reported leaving Portland, Maine "yesterday at 1030 with 4 units heading to NMJ".

Here's a link to photos of the pipe train from yesterday.

Link Posts

For those who read my blog by going to the web site, this will make no sense to you. :)

For those who read it via an RSS reader, you probably noticed a deluge of link posts. I occasionally stick an interesting link on del.icio.us, a global bookmarking site. I just updated my RSS feed to post those to my blog and it sent all of the links to the feed. From now on, it should only post them when I put a new link there. Sorry for the avalanche. :)

NBSR 3700 and 3701

Here are a few recent photos (from an anonymous source) of NB Southern GP9 units 3700 and 3701. You may recall that 3700's engine was removed in September 2006 and put into NBSR 9803. 3701's nose was chopped in the summer of 2006.

Punching Snow

I love this video by Julien Boily. He took it near Shawinigan, Quebec.

NBEC and VIA Videos from NBECMich

Michel R has posted a few videos from the Bathurst area. Welcome!

Here's NBEC 402 arriving in Bathurst with 6902 leading, on January 30 2008.


This one shows the Bathurst shunter, train 597, moving some cars around in Bathurst with NBEC 1821 on January 15 2008. It's a bit long but worth watching. I like the overhead view.


Next, two VIA videos. This one shows VIA 15 arriving in Bathurst with the Operation Lifesaver unit (6411) leading on January 5 2008.


Finally, VIA 15 leaving Bathurst on December 29 2007. It still seems weird to see a stainless steel train without a Park car on the end. It's like a sentence without a period at the end