Grain Elevators of the Letellier Subdivision

I am embarking on a project to photograph as many Manitoba grain elevators as I can this year. So far I have photographed a bit less than 40 elevators but there are a bit over 100 that I have not seen yet. I've created a page / map to track them and I'll be updating that as I go.

As part of that I went out on Sunday, February 23 to photograph the grain elevators on CN's Letellier subdivision. You might recall that this sub runs from Winnipeg (Portage Junction) south to Emerson on the Canada-USA border. CN interchanges with BNSF just across the border at Noyes, Minnesota.

There are 6 elevators remaining on the Letellier subdivision:

• Morris: Cargill (old and new) and Paterson (old and new)
• St. Jean Baptiste: Private
• Letellier: Pioneer

The line parallels highway 75, more or less, so it's easy to access. I set off with the kids in the morning and drove down to Morris. There are four elevators in Morris, two for Cargill and two for Paterson. I photographed the older Paterson elevator first.


To be totally accurate, I had photographed that elevator a week prior when we went down to North Dakota. At that time I did a quick dash in to capture it and then kept on heading south.


The new Paterson elevator is at the south end of Morris, and is much, much larger.




The new Paterson elevator is interesting in that it is served by both CN and CP. I'll show the interesting trackwork in Morris shortly.

The other elevator company in Morris is Cargill. Their old and new elevators are adjacent to each other.


Cargill recently announced that they are going to expand this facility, from 10,000 tonnes of storage and 54 rail car spots to 30,000 tonnes and 100 spots. Exciting news for Morris!

Now, I promised I would talk about the track layout in Morris. Here is a map I drew to show how the track connects.

CN=black, CP=red. I hope this shows how both CN and CP can serve both Paterson and Cargill. Note that the CN Miami subdivision is just a stub and extends just far enough so CN can use it to shunt Cargill.

One interesting thing I saw on the CN Miami subdivision is an honest-to-god semaphore.

This might be the only "operational" semaphore in Manitoba.

The next elevator is the one in St. Jean Baptiste.


The writing on the end says "ASSOCIATION CO-OPERATIVE D'ELEVATEUR ST. JEAN BAPTISTE SUCCURSALE No. 213 SERVICE AU PRIX COUTANT"


St. Jean Baptiste has a lovely, large church.

The final elevator on the CN Letellier subdivision is the Pioneer high-throughput elevator labeled "Red River South". It is located just north of the town of Letellier, which had a Pool elevator until its destruction in November 2006.




So ends our tour... I hope you enjoyed it, and expect to see a lot more grain elevators here this summer.

Black Trailing

I happened to see a few trains recently with a black engine trailing, so I thought I'd post about them.

On April 11 I was out on the Sprague subdivision, southeast of Winnipeg, waiting near Lorette siding to see what might come along. Eventually a mixed freight came rambling along, CN 344 with CN 2260 leading.


The trailing engine was a Norfolk Southern engine, NS 8700, a GE C40-8. I'm told 8700 went to Melville on X401 and came back to Winnipeg on Q114 prior to this train.

I decided to head to the Dufresne grain elevator to shoot it there. I arrived well ahead of the train and got into position. After blowing for the crossing, CN 2260 led the charge past the elevator.


Here's the black trailing engine. I love the look of those Norfolk Southern engines.


344 was a general freight train with a lot of potash cars.

After that excitement, things were quiet for a while until CN 116 came along. This was an all Illinois Central train, with IC 2712 leading.


The black trailer in this case was Illinois Central 1036.


After realizing that both trains had trailing black engines, I decided to go back into my photo archives to see what other "trailing black" trains I've photographed. Surprisingly, there have been a lot. These Illinois Central SD70s have been fairly common around Winnipeg and they do not lead. I found close to a dozen trains with black IC trailers and I'll share a couple here.

This was another all-IC train back on November 29, 2011.


I took a grab shot of this westbound CN freight on October 17, 2013, with IC 1028 trailing.


I'm sharing this one even though it's a bit of a cheat (the black engine isn't trailing exactly), but because it's one of my favourite train photos. This was shot on Louis Riel Day in 2010 (blog entry).


PS hey, did anyone see the lunar eclipse a few days ago? I was crazy enough to get up in the middle of the night to take some photos.

That little dot above the "blood moon" is Mars.

The Napa Valley Wine Train

My wife and I were in northern California recently. I was there for a conference in San Francisco and we decided to have a little vacation and see the redwoods. We went north to Eureka and spent a few days touring. The redwoods are amazing and so are the coastlines. Eureka is the northern end of the defunct North Coast Railroad and there are several Geeps rusting away in Eureka. I think the closest engine was a GP7 and the rest are GP9s.


We spent a few days in and around Eureka and then headed down to Napa. I wanted to see the ex CN FPA4s on the Napa Valley Wine Train. As it happens, we caught up to the Wine Train as it was heading back to Napa. It does not go very fast so we were able to leapfrog it a few times.


I tried to include the surrounding scenery with the Wine Train.


Fortunately there were quite a few vineyards. NVRR 71 and 70 were the power.


I took one video of the train going by.

We left off the chase after that, as I didn't want to subject my wife to any more railfanning while on vacation. :)

I did go visit the shops later that evening to see the other engines. I stored the photos here in a gallery and recorded some information about the Wine Train on my web site.

Foreign Power on the Emerson Sub

One Sunday morning (March 9) I decided to go spend a couple of hours railfanning here in Winnipeg. Nothing was going on and it was a reasonably nice day to get out of the house after a long winter. I did a little tour of the Symington yard area and saw a few trains - nothing special - then went around the Perimeter Highway toward home. As I crossed the CP Emerson subdivision, I saw a headlight to the north, indicating a southbound train.

I hear these trains from my house, but it's rare that I actually photograph one. Sadly I live too far away to see tracks from my front steps! I had to photograph this one. I headed south on St. Anne's Road and then cut back to the tracks on Prairie Grove Road. There's a crossing there, but I figured I had time to get on the other side of the Floodway to shoot the train with the the bridge. I kept going on Prairie Grove to highway 75, then a quick jaunt south got me to winding Hallama Drive, on the south side of the Floodway.

The problem with Hallama Drive is that there is nowhere to park when there is lots of snow on the ground. I pulled over as much as I could, put the 4-way flashers on, and nobody came along... except the train.

As it pulled out of the trees and into view, I was amazed to see a CP SD40-2 leading two CSX engines.


It made a fine sight crossing the desolate snow-covered landscape.


They were not going very fast, so I took quite a few photos. I thought I might be able to get ahead of them relatively quickly, so I headed south down highway 75. The CP track diverges fairly sharply from 75 right away, so I wasn't hopeful for a quick catch, but I figured I could go all the way to Niverville if necessary.

I don't know the area but I decided to try cutting back in fairly quickly. I drove toward what I thought was the track direction, and I came to a crossing and found the train stopped there. It turns out they were going to enter the 8,327 foot siding in Grande Pointe. But first, a little shovel and broom work was required to get the switch to move. Both crew members were on the ground digging away. They yelled to me to pick up a shovel and help! Fortunately they were joking...


I took the opportunity to photograph CP 6029, CSX 442 and CSX 861.


Once they were done clearing the switch, they lined it for the siding and slowly crawled forward. I took a few snaps and then took video from the crossing.

I hope they had a good trip!

BNSF Runthroughs

I mentioned in a previous post that I saw a BNSF engine on the Canadian side of the border at Emerson, Manitoba, and that BNSF has started running power through into Manitoba. I'm going to talk a bit more about that now.

BNSF Manitoba services a number of industries in Winnipeg. One of their major industries is the Paterson elevator at Lilyfield, at the northwest corner of Winnipeg, off Inkster Boulevard. I mentioned this before.


Here's a Google Map view of the area.
The "racetrack" in the middle is the loop track serving the concrete Paterson elevator. It is reachable by CN from mile 11.0 of the Oak Point subdivision (shared with the nearby Prairie Dog Central at this point) and by CP from mile 8.3 of the Carberry subdivision. The odd thing is that BNSF Manitoba has the contract to serve the elevator.

What has happened in the past is that CN brings the traffic up to the Fort Rouge yard on CN 533, then either CN takes it from there to Lilyfield using running rights over CP, or BNSF Manitoba takes it from Fort Rouge to hand off to CP who takes it the rest of the way.

What is happening now is that BNSF is occasionally running unit grain trains with their locomotives on the train to Noyes, Minnesota. There it is picked up by CN crews and run up the CN Letellier subdivison as CN 533, onto the CN Rivers subdivision/CN Reddit subdivision to Symington Yard. There the engines are put on the other end and it proceeds to the Paddington interchange in St. Boniface onto CP track, through the CP yard and the CP Carberry subdivision to the CN Oak Point subdivision. It is run by CN crews in Manitoba the entire way. Thanks to Mark Perry for the information.

On Saturday I was heading west on the Bishop Grandin Boulevard when I spotted a train (CN 533) heading slowly north on the CN Letellier subdivision. I took Pembina Highway north to try to get ahead of the train. I went all the way up to Portage Junction before I spotted the power - 4 BNSF engines! A quick exit onto Jubilee to Osborne did the trick, and I was able to get to the area near the new rapid transit bus station before they did. After less than a minute, BNSF 7630 led the parade.

The engineer was kind enough to open his window to stick his arm out and give me a wave. I appreciate that!

Next was BNSF 5498. I saw this unit in Grand Forks back in 2010.


The third engine was BNSF 1007, with graffiti on the side. It's very rare to see an operating engine with graffiti.


Bringing up the rear of the consist was BNSF 4856. You can see the bus station to the right.


TaylorOver9001 filmed the same train just south of Portage Junction.

A BNSF unit train was first spotted on February 4 (photo in Morris, Manitoba). Another BNSF engine was spotted on February 12 just outside Winnipeg.

I understand there is a possibility that BNSF Winnipeg crews could be operating these unit trains in the future. In December 2013 the Canadian Transportation Agency ruled on an application for interswitching by Richardson International for their Red River South elevator outside Letellier, MB, based on a 1912 agreement between the Midland Railway and the Canadian Northern, predecessors to BNSF Manitoba and CN respectively. CN was ordered to interswitch traffic for the elevator at Emerson. I don't fully understand the ramifications except that interswitching rates are regulated and are lower than commercial rates, so CN would be paid less. CN has appealed.

I would love to read the details of the 1912 agreement. The CTA ruling has some interesting quotes which seem to imply that BNSF could haul directly from the Red River South elevator into North Dakota but could not do local switching along the route, nor bring traffic from that elevator to Winnipeg. Maybe it's good that I am not a lawyer.

A Few Hours Around Grand Forks

My family traveled to Grand Forks, North Dakota a couple of weekends ago for a little shopping and to get away for a bit. As we approached the border crossing at Emerson, Manitoba, I saw a CN train at the Letellier grain elevator with a big engine (Dash-9?) and a GP38 for power. Just north of the border was another train with a single BNSF engine on it. BNSF has started running its power straight through into Manitoba on occasion.. more on that in another post.

On the morning of February 16, I went out for a couple of hours of railfanning. I went to the yard first to see what was around. On the west end, orange remote control engine BNSF 1730 was working the yard while green BNSF 2921 (GP39E) and 2082 (GP38-2) idled patiently.


I saw a train rolling east through the yard up to the shop. It had BNSF 4163 (C44-9W), BNSF 7499 (ES44DC), BNSF 1531 (GP28M), and old friend BNSF 3028 (GP40E) as the fourth engine.




BNSF 3028 was a familiar sight in Winnipeg for quite a while, as the BNSF Manitoba power.

Over by the turntable, three engines were arrayed quite nicely for viewing from the sidewalk. BNSF 3195 (GP50), BNSF 8168 (SD60M), and BNSF 1885 (SD40-2) provided a nice variety.


After surveying the yard, I headed back west to the Amtrak station and saw a grain train disappearing down the line toward Fargo, and headlights to the west... what to do, what to do. I decided to go shoot the eastbound train. BNSF 962 was on the point.


They were poking along so it was easy to shoot them twice.


Right after that, I headed down I-29 to try to catch up to the southbound freight train.Mile after mile went by and I finally caught sight of the tail end near Buxton and they went under the I-29 overpass just before I reached it. Too bad - that would have been a nice spot. I carried on to Mayville but I wasn't far enough ahead to take the exit, so I carried on to Hillsboro. I exited there and drove straight to the grain elevator to set up the shot. Soon enough BNSF 949 (in Santa Fe livery!) and NS 8140 came through this pretty little town.


Love those thoroughbred engines!


I took a few more photos of the grain elevators in town, as well as caboose BN 11711 on display, then headed back north on I-29 toward Grand Forks. I saw a train coming south and it was the same train I saw approaching Grand Forks! Here it is again... BNSF 962, BNSF 9850 and BNSF 2284 were the power.


I always enjoy railfanning in North Dakota.

New Name For The MMA, and Tank Cars

DOT-111 car carrying crude oil

The Bangor Daily News is reporting that the new owner of the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic will change the railway's name to the Central Maine and Quebec Railway once the deal closes, probably by the end of March.

The excellent Oil-Electric blog has a good history of the rail line. He raises the interesting question of what power will operate the railway, given that the MMA is selling 25 locomotives to raise money. Perhaps the CM and Q will lease locomotives to start. or perhaps they have no intention of actually operating This filing to the Surface Transportation Board asks for an exemption for a non-rail company to own the CM and Q and operate essentially the same routes and serve the same customers as the MMA.

Speculation on the cause of the Lac-Mégantic runaway has focused on an insufficient number of hand brakes being set on the locomotives and freight cars (I thought that too). It has come to light that the MMA was repeatedly warned about not setting enough brakes - in 2004, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

I have a number of comments I'd like to make about Transport Canada's effectiveness, but that will have to wait for another time.

Meanwhile, Transport Canada is calling for increased tank car safety (but not requiring it) and Irving Oil is voluntarily upgrading the DOT-111 cars in its tank car fleet for increased protection. I'm told that they had a backlog of cars in Saint John due to difficulties with unloading in the cold temperatures, but the backlog is almost clear now. As non-upgraded DOT-111 cars are emptied, they will be shipped off to be upgraded.

EDIT: Added STB link, thank you JHansen!

Growing Opposition to Northern New Brunswick Rail Plan

Following last week's announcement that the provincial government would invest in most of the northern New Brunswick CN track, but leave the Bathurst-Miramichi segment out, opposition is growing to the government's plan.

Members of Parliament Yvon Godin (NDP, Acadie-Bathurst) and Dominic LeBlanc (Liberal, Beasejour) are both opposed to the government plan, according to this CBC article. The other eight MPs, coincidentally all Conservatives, have not said anything on this issue that I am aware of. I'm especially curious what Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, MP for Miramichi, has to say on the matter, and I have emailed her to ask.

Some accuse VIA Rail of "deliberately attempting to discourage ridership". Ted Bartlett, acting president of Transport Action Atlantic says that VIA's decision to cut the Ocean back to three trips/week and VIA's lack of marketing have led to reduced ridership (almost precisely half what they were prior to the cut, according to some accounts), and the recent CN-New Brunswick announcement "has presented VIA with a golden opportunity to get out of a service that they really don't want to operate."

Transport Action Atlantic's report "Revitalizing New Brunswick's Rail Sector" was released on December 30, 2013 and recommends a number of key points:

• Explore options to retain CN's Newcastle subdivision;
• Restore the Ocean to daily operation and establish VIA as a full Crown corporation with stable funding;
• Revive Industrial Rail Services in Moncton.

CN has said that it would cost $10 million to restore the missing segment from Bathurst to Miramichi. A "spokesperson from Economic Development" (presumably the New Brunswick government) was quoted as saying it would cost $50 million to reroute the Ocean over the Edmundston-Moncton line. The cost to VIA was said to include the cost of buying land, building at least 5 stations, and installing signals. That cost sounds high to me but it would have to be studied and probably is being studied by VIA Rail.

I understand that VIA Rail does not have $10 million to spend on the Bathurst-Miramichi segment. Their budget has been squeezed by the federal government for the past few years and extra cash cannot be found.

I believe the federal government needs to step in and provide this capital cost to upgrade the line and retain service, just as they have stepped in to join provincial governments for a rail underpass in Winnipeg ($22.2m), rail widening in the Greater Toronto Area ($8.3m), port upgrades at Belledune ($26.4m, jeopardized by the soon to be very long rail connection to the rest of the world), rail upgrades for NB Southern ($9m), and on and on... the federal government needs to come to the table.

The Minister of Transport, Lisa Raitt (Conservative, Halton), has been ducking this challenge. She spoke on February 3 to the Canadian Club of Ottawa as the Minister, and her notes contain not one word about VIA Rail. When asked by MP Bruce Hyer (Green, Thunder Bay-Superior North) about the future of passenger rail in New Brunswick and Sault Ste. Marie (also in jeopardy), she said, "We are monitoring closely. We are working with VIA Rail and with everybody who has an interest in these lines to get to the right place. That said, it is incredibly important to note that VIA Rail is an arm's-length corporation that makes its own business decisions."

With respect to the honourable minister, at the end of the day, VIA Rail answers to the federal government. They might be at arm's length but it is the federal government's arm that holds them accountable.



Time to step up. Write your Member of Parliament. Contact the Minister of Transportation. Get involved and make some noise, or this rail line will be gone forever.

What About the Ocean?

VIA 15 detouring through McGivney in July 2005

In the wake of the recent announcement on the fate of the CN Newcastle subdivision, many are asking what would become of the VIA Rail Ocean if the Miramichi-Bathurst section was abandoned. Well, there are three choices, one of which is highly unlikely.

Follow the Atlantic
It's possible that VIA could choose the route of the former Atlantic, running from Halifax and Moncton to Saint John and then through Maine to Sherbrooke and on to Montreal. This is highly unlikely for several reasons, including the customs clearing issues, traveling over two different shortlines (NB Southern and whatever Fortress appoints to run the former MMA), and the fact that I don't think through traffic through Lac-Mégantic has even resumed yet. I believe we can safely dismiss this option.

Through the Wilds
The most obvious choice is to run through central New Brunswick over the CN Napadogan subdivision and into Quebec over the CN Pelletier subdivision, rejoining the current Ocean route at St. Andre Junction. This is CN's main line through the Maritimes and is well maintained... despite a couple of recent derailments.

Here's a map I drew showing that route. Click on the map for an interactive version.

1977 Ocean Detour Schedule

The Ocean has detoured on this route before. Back in 1977 the Ocean was routed here for about six months due to a landslide on the northern route - the amended schedule is shown to the right. In better days a decade earlier, there was an RDC (Rail Diesel Car) that ran between Moncton and Edmundston. Heck, for a short time in the summer of 1967, the Cabot ran between Montreal and Sydney via Edmundston, and from October 29, 1967 to January 7, 1970 the Ocean ran via Edmundston while the Scotian continued on the northern route. This route would be similar today but since the Pelletier cutoff was built, the train would not go through Monk and Ste. Claire.

There are a few downsides to having the Ocean run over the Napadogan.

• Northern New Brunswick and northern Quebec would lose their passenger service. There is an alternative, Maritime Bus in NB and Orléans Express in Quebec, although I think you'd find most people would rather take the train.
• There are fewer available passengers over the Napadogan route, given that the Napadogan runs through virtual wilderness between Moncton and Edmundston. This would be a gain for Edmundston, Grand Falls and a few other communities, but fewer passengers = less revenue = more chance of outright cancellation.
• A capital investment would be required for VIA to provide station facilities, as nothing really exists since passenger service ceased in this area.

One upside might be that Fredericton could get indirect passenger service via a connection at McGivney.. maybe.

Give It Up
The most serious possibility is that VIA Rail will simply stop running the Ocean altogether. The chilling headline Via Rail's Maritime-Quebec passenger service in doubt says it all.

A spokesperson for VIA Rail, Mylène Bélanger, was quoted as saying: "At this time it's still a hypothetical question, but if this section is abandoned we'll look into the commercial viability of all other alternatives, for connecting between Halifax and Montreal, before adopting any other route." (emphasis mine)

As for purchasing the section of track between Bathurst and Miramichi, Bélanger said, "Via Rail does not have the financial resources to acquire or maintain this section of the tracks. So we'll wait for any developments."

But What About The Gaspé?
One more thing - don't forget that the train serving the Gaspé peninsula (the former Chaleur) ran as part of the Ocean between Montreal and Matapedia. If the Ocean was to run a different route, or be cancelled altogether, the economics of the Gaspé train would be even worse as it would have to bear the entire cost of the Montreal-Matapedia section.

You may recall that the Gaspé train has not been running for quite some time, due to track problems. These track problems have been solved between Matapedia and New Carlisle, yet VIA has not committed to returning to the route.

The future of passenger rail east of Montreal is more and more in doubt.

EDIT: Thanks to Tom Box for a few corrections.

NB Government Invests in MOST of Northern New Brunswick Rail Line

The CBC is reporting that the New Brunswick government has agreed to give CN up to $25 million to upgrade and maintain most of its rail infrastructure in northern New Brunswick, with a matching investment by CN. This is a most puzzling announcement.

You may recall that in August 2012 CN applied to abandon the section of track from Catamount (the junction with the CN Napadogan subdivision) to Irvco (in Belledune), citing poor economics. This would have resulted in no rail service to Bathurst, Miramichi and Rogersville. CN would have retained the section from Irvco through Campbellton and into Quebec.

Today's announcement shortens the amount of track to be abandoned, but does not eliminate it. The entire Campbellton to Catamount track is to be upgraded and retained, with the exception of the section from Nepisiguit Junction to Nelson Junction just south of Miramichi which is to be offered for sale in February.

CN's own maps show it best. These photos were taken by Marc Genuist of CBC and kindly sent to me.

The double blue line areas are to be retained and upgraded. Both the southern and northern portions will have ties and ballast replaced and bridges remediated as required. The Loggieville spur (shown in the inset and below) will also have turnouts remediated and will have a "new Moncton connection". I'm told this is an east leg to make a wye at Nelson Junction so trains to/from Moncton don't have to cross the Miramichi, as they currently do.

So... what does this mean?

VIA Rail's Ocean will not be able to run through northern New Brunswick any more. Understandably, local mayors and residents are very upset.


The agreement also means that existing shippers will continue to have rail service. To my knowledge, these are the major shippers on the northern portion of the line and their locations. Note that not all of them may be active rail shippers at this time.

• AV Cell, Atholville
• Irving Oil Limited, Campbellton
• Chaleur Sawmills, Belledune
• Xstrata Smelter, Belledune, Irvco spur
• Port of Belledune, Irvco spur
• NB Power Generating Station, Belledune, Irvco spur
• Superior Propane, Beresford
• Holcim cement, Nepisiguit Junction
• Fornebu Lumber, outside Bathurst, near Nepisiguit Junction

What this also means is that traffic from northern New Brunswick will have to go all the way across Quebec before it rejoins the CN main line at Rivière-du-Loup. Effectively northern New Brunswick would be at the end of a long, long spur. This does not bode well for the future of rail freight in New Brunswick.

There are no shippers between Nepisiguit Junction and Miramichi, nor have there been for quite some time.

On the southern portion of the line, these are the only two major shippers that I am aware of.

• Arbec, Miramichi, Loggieville spur
• Ultramar, Miramichi, Loggieville spur

CN lifted the Miramichi port spur last year, which removed Miramichi Lumber Products as a potential shipper.

The province's press release says that "CN, the province and local businesses will continue to work together to increase freight traffic in future years, with benefits to be shared between the two partners". I don't know what the terms of the sharing would be. Would CN repay some of the investment?

The federal government was very noticeable in their absence from the announcement.

More to come.

Other coverage:

• CTV News video (they're in Chatham!)
• CTV News Article
• CBC article
• NB Government Press Release
• CN Press Release

MMA Sold

The auction has been held for the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) railroad and the winner was the "stalking horse" bidder, Fortress Investment Group of New York.

The Eastern Maine Railway and the Springfield Terminal Railway Company made a bid for the Maine portion of the MMA but the trustee wanted to sell the entire railroad to one bidder, so Fortress won. There is some speculation that there were other bids but since the auction was "closed door", it may never be made public.

The Eastern Maine Railway, along with sister companies NB Southern Railway and the Maine Northern Railway, are owned by J.D. Irving. The Springfield Terminal Railway Company is a subsidiary of the Pan Am Railway, formerly known as the Guilford Rail System.

Fortress owns the Florida East Coast Railway and used to own RailAmerica before selling it.

The editor of the Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports newsletter was nearby and reported that John Giles was Fortress' representative at the auction and that the auction apparently took about 40 minutes. Mr. Giles is a veteran railroader and presumably will helm the MMA.

The deal still has to be confirmed in both Canada and the USA. This is supposed to take place on Thursday in both countries.

Plaster Rock Derailment

Earlier this week, CN 308 derailed just outside Plaster Rock, New Brunswick on Tuesday January 7. A number of the tank cars on the train caught fire and burned, quite spectacularly, but fortunately no one was hurt. The CN Napadogan subdivision was blocked until early Saturday morning. During that time, CN detoured trains through northern New Brunswick over the ailing Newcastle subdivision.

CN 308 had three locomotives on the head end, one DPU engine near the rear (CN 2684), and 122 cars. 19 cars and the remote locomotive derailed. Two of the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cars burned, and officials conducted a controlled burn to put the fire out.

Preliminary reports indicate that a car near the head end (13th car?) had a broken wheel. The initial Transportation Safety Board (TSB) findings indicate that the broken wheel tore up the track and rails for 10 miles before the derailment, and they found 17 broken rails and 50 impact locations on the rails.

About 150 people in the area were evacuated as a precaution. They are now permitted back in their homes but have been instructed not to drink local water, as it may have become contaminated.

Here's a TSB photo of the offending car. Notice how both wheels are sitting on the ground between the rails.

There's a closeup of the wheel showing a big crack in it. I wonder if they will be able to determine if the crack was there prior to the derailment, or whether it was caused by banging on ties and crossings and so forth for 10 miles.

All of CN's regular trains detoured through northern New Brunswick: CN 120, 121, 305 and 308. CN 120 was the last detouring train on Saturday morning. Here are a few of the detouring trains:

• CN 120: CN 5611, CN 2438, and CN 2646
• CN 121: CN 2652, CN 5693, and CN 8900 

The challenge with detouring on the north line is that there are few places to meet, given the short and infrequent sidings. CN 120 and 121 met in Campbellton and there was another meet at Irvco near Belledune.

Photos courtesy of the TSB's excellent Flickr page. Thanks to all of the railfans (Wendell, Nicolas, Michel and more) for their sightings.

UPDATE: The cleanup is nearly complete as of January 22.

UPDATE: The wreck site is now open to the public, as of February 10.

Unhappy New Year

I was going to write about the CN derailment near Plaster Rock and the subsequent detours, but sadly there is something more important to talk about.

Railway historian, author and activist Jay Underwood passed away yesterday evening (January 8). Jay was ill for quite some time but it was still unexpected to most railfans. This is a huge loss to his family and to the Nova Scotia railway community.

Jay was quite active on the railway mailing lists, despite his near blindness from a sudden illness about 15 years ago. You could always count on him for an accurate answer to many Nova Scotia railway questions, and he was generous in sharing his knowledge through email and also through his many books. In fact he founded his own publishing house, Pennydreadful Publishing, to publish books that traditional publishers wouldn't take. I consider his book Built For War one of the best historical railway books I have.

Jay was the president and most active member of the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society. He cared passionately about Nova Scotia's history and heritage and campaigned for a number of causes, including attempting to save Kentville's roundhouse and Elmsdale's station.

I met Jay at least once, at a train show in Dartmouth when he was manning the NSRHS booth. He seemed like a very nice man in person, and he certainly came across that way in email.

My condolences to his wife and family.

Trains Return to Lac-Mégantic Today

More than five months after the rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, a freight train will roll through town today. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) railway is running a short six-car train loaded with prefabricated panels from Tafisa, a local manufacturer of particleboard and melamine panels. No dangerous goods will be on the train.

Meanwhile, a bidder has emerged for the bankrupt MMA. Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, believed to be a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group. It is expected that more bidders will emerge before the deadline of January 17, 2014.