CN and NB Southern sightings 2006/1/21

I had a busy day of railfanning today with my daughter.

I decided to head down to Saint John. We arrived near Island Yard around 12:45 and the power for 305 was nowhere in sight. I heard them on the scanner talking about brake pressure so I figured I had some time. We went to the Tim Horton's at the end of the yard at Coldbrook and had some delicious chili. Just as we were finishing, I heard the thrum-thrum of engines approaching and saw a couple of big CN engines stopping beside Tim's. One of the crew came in for their snack so I took a photo and hit the road.



We went down to the intersection of Rothesay Avenue and McAllister Drive and waited for 305 there. They came by a few minutes later at 13:30 and I got them on video and took a few snaps.




I'm not pleased with the quality of the video.

305's consist was CN 2666 and 5696 with 101 cars (46 potash cars, 9 single-stack well cars, 24 boxcars, 20 tank cars, 2 covered hoppers).

I decided to get an "on the road" video of 305. I've never chased 305 before so I wasn't sure where the best spot was. I ended up going to Hampton and leaving the highway there. I drove around for a few minutes trying to find a good spot, and settled on a bridge at mile 64.4 just north of Hampton. The light wasn't great but I figured I had better get SOME kind of shot or I would have driven 25 km for nothing.

I heard the train blowing for crossings more than 5 minutes before it actually showed up at 14:12.




I just cut the nose off in this shot. Drat.



While returning to the highway to go back to Saint John, I stopped to take some photos of the station in Hampton. It's a tourist bureau now and it appears to be in great shape.





I didn't realize there was any kind of switch in Hampton. It turns out there's a lead there, switch LE56 (see the Sussex sub in CN Car Control Manual October 1983). It doesn't appear to go anywhere but it was a surprise to see it.

We returned to Saint John, had a quick look at the (almost empty) NB Southern yard and saw little but HLCX 3669 and NBSR 3701 there in different parts of the yard. There were a lot of yellow Sunbury trailers on flatcars.

We took the slow road up through Grand Bay and Westfield in the hopes of seeing the eastbound from Maine. I had pretty much given up when I was approaching Welsford and heard the hotbox on the radio: "Detector McAdam Subdivision. Two naught naught axles. No alarms." Initially I thought I was hearing the Hoyt detector, since it didn't announce its mileage (or I didn't hear it), so I crossed the tracks and then saw the headlights coming. I was trapped on the wrong side of the tracks and had to wait for the train to clear. This was 16:24.



It was NBSR 2317, 2318 and 9803 leading 47 cars (4 centerbeam flats, 26 boxcars, 12 tank cars, 1 single-stack well, and 4 auto racks).

I got them on the S-curve just off the highway at 16:32. The lighting wasn't great all the way along, as the sun was getting very low.



Then Westfield Beach at 16:38. Church was just getting out so there was a lot of traffic.



I managed to get ahead of them in downtown Grand Bay and shot my last segment by the caboose at 16:48.



With that, it was time to go home.

New video (NB Southern)

I've put a new video up on my video page.

It features NBSR 3701 and CN 7060 taking a local out to the Irving Refinery in Saint John, on a rainy Saturday in June 2003.





I'd like to point out that the quality of the videos on my video page is considerably less than what I can put on a DVD. The quality is reduced a lot to make the videos small enough for downloading.

To give you an idea, here are the sizes of a 36 second introductory segment for the upcoming VIA DVD:
- MPEG format (for web): 6.16 MB
- AVI format (for DVD): 127 MB

Web videos are about 20 times smaller than DVD videos, so the quality is less.

CN sightings in Saint John 2006/01/17

At the Island Yard, CN 7000 and 7010 were making up the refinery/Irving Paper local at 0930. NBSR 79635 was already in position and they were collecting the last few cars. CN 2507, 2666 and 5696 were resting by the enginehouse.

Farther east/north in the yard, a crew was loading steel bars onto a car:


Later, at 1550 the three CN units above (2507/2666/5696) as CN 305 were collecting empty potash cars from the Courtenay Bay terminal. I took a few shots but the light wasn't great.



The numbers on 2507 seem odd. I wonder if it was in a wreck and was repainted?

VIA pages updated

I found some time and updated my VIA in New Brunswick pages. I featured some of the photos of David Chiasson, a Bathurst-area resident who has taken some great pictures around the area. Please check them out! Here's a sample:

NBEC and NBSR menus updated

I updated the menus on the NB East Coast and NB Southern sections to use the new format.

Next, I will update the VIA section!

I'll be in Saint John tomorrow, so I'll probably have a few sightings to report.

CN section updated

Thanks to the encyclopedic knowledge of several of AtlanticRails' members, I have made corrections and enhancements to my CN in New Brunswick pages. I'd especially like to thank (in no particular order) Steve Dickie, Wendell Lemon, and Mark Rushton for their time and effort in correcting my mistakes.

Northern N.B. observations 2006/01/10

I had a quick look at Miramichi on my way through this morning. UPM 711 was working the yard around 0950. There were a lot of cars in the plant.

At the NBEC yard, CFQC 3000 and NBEC 1840 were running around dodging snowplow 61612. They were getting out of the way for VIA 14 to come in. This was the first time I've ever seen 3000, so I was pleased it was such a nice day for photos.







At 1006 VIA 14 rolled in with three-eyed 6420 and 6415 leading a Renaissance train. They saw a fair bit of snow on the way from Montreal!





Around 1130 I heard NBEC 587 working at the Belledune smelter but I didn't have a chance to have a look.

CN section of web site revamped

I've made some significant changes to the CN section of my web site.

I've included a couple of pages detailing the CN trains that run through and in New Brunswick, freshened the pictures, and changed the format to the new format you see in sections like the home page and the rail documentation area.

As always, comments welcome here or at blog@theboykos.com.

Video camera recommendations

A few people have asked me for recommendations for a video camera. I've talked about this before. I don't have any specific brand recommendations, but I will tell you what I think is essential, useful, unimportant and unwanted for me.

Essential:

• A good lens (Carl Zeiss is a good name)
• Minimum 10x optical zoom
• Easy to use on-camera controls
• FireWire (IEEE 1394 or i.LINK) interface to computer
• At least 90 minutes battery life
• Night vision mode
• A/V pass-through mode (can play a VCR through it to a computer and vice versa)
• MiniDV tapes

Useful:

• USB interface
• Digital camera built-in
• Shoe on top for external light
• S-Video port
• Port for external microphone

Unimportant:

• On-camera editing
• Digital zoom (it's misleading - the zoom comes at the expense of quality; only optical zoom is important)
• Size of flip-out screen

Unwanted:

• Direct to DVD - it's convenient but the quality is less than MiniDV
• Controls you have to press on the LCD screen to use

For the record, I have a Sony DCR-TRV25 that I bought in 2002. I guess the equivalent Sony model today would be the DCR-HC32. Of course, that's a better camera than I have, mainly due to the better optical zoom.

Have a look at this link: 10 Questions to Ask When Buying A Cam-Corder.

New CN video online

I've put a video of CN 306 through McGivney on 2004/05/22 online on my video page. Enjoy!

Rail history pages modernized

I've started updating the New Brunswick Railway History pages. It's a long process! I need a lot more content too. If anyone is willing to write a few paragraphs on any of these railways, leave me a comment or email me at blog@theboykos.com. Proper credit would be given, of course.

Main New Brunswick Railways web page updated

I've updated the main page of the New Brunswick Railways web site. Now the major sections are represented by icons and the menu system has been updated to hopefully better show the sections and subsections. I would appreciate your comments as a comment here or email to blog@theboykos.com!

New VIA video

I've put a video of VIA 14 arriving at Moncton on my video page. This is the train I talked about in my previous blog entry.

VIA 14 and other traffic at Moncton, 2005/12/28

My wife, daughter and I went to Moncton to do some shopping... and catch a few trains in the process.

My main target was VIA 14. We arrived in Moncton and I went to Delong Drive to see #14 at the overpass. I waited, and waited. On the scanner I heard CN 539? looking for clearance to go onto the Franklin Spur. "Go!" said the RTC, wanting to clear them before #14 came through. So CN 4713 and CN 4723 pulled five cars (covered hopper / boxcar / covered hopper / boxcar / tank car) out of Gordon Yard at 11:57.



CN 307 was mucking around in the yard. I saw the units once but mostly I just heard them switching.

I gave up on Delong Drive because my girls were waiting in the van, and I took them to the mall. On my return through downtown I heard #14 tell someone that they took the light at West End, so their arrival at the station was imminent. I managed to get in position at the station to tape their arrival at 12:40. They had the three units (6420/15/16) with Budd baggage car 8623 and 17 Renaissance cars. I didn't get all the numbers but here's what I have:

VIA 6420 / 6415 / 6416 with 8623 / 7011 / 7223 / ??? / 7225 / 7513 / 7504 / 7309 / 7400 / 7313 / 7500 / 7517 / 7522 / 7515 / 7512



I walked around and took some photos with my 1 megapixel video camera, totally forgetting that I had my 3.1 megapixel camera in the van.


VIA 6420's extra headlight.


6420's truck. I guess there's a bit of snow out there!


I especially liked the wreath on the Irving truck.

I was slow getting away from the station and I was pacing them on highway 15 as they crossed the viaduct. I made a fatal mistake and continued out highway 15 and found I had to go all the way to Scoudouc. I really should have gone onto the Trans-Canada and caught them at a crossing farther down. Anyway, they got away.

Any suggestions on where to shoot them after the station, close to or in Moncton?

I heard a lot of chatter from Dieppe, so I went there. A snow broom was working there. I heard them talking with CN 534 about what switches they needed cleared. As I arrived back in Dieppe I heard the broom asking the RTC for clearance to go to the Point du Chene spur, then down to Painsec and to Upper Dorchester. I found CN 534 working Master Packaging. It was CN 4728 with a covered hopper.



That was enough for the day.

New Brunswick Railway Museum web site

It's not quite "ready for the public", but you can view the New Brunswick Railway Museum website now - beat the rush!

Please comment here or email me at nbrm@theboykos.com with any comments you may have. There are a few more things to be added before it will be fully publicized.

NB Southern MOW pages updated

I've updated the NB Southern maintenance-of-way pages to the new format. Next I will tackle the business train pages. I have a bunch of photos from 2005 to add there.

As I update these pages I notice that some of the photos are quite small. As I mentioned in my last post, I try to make pictures about 600 pixels wide at most. Many of the older NBSR photos are 400 pixels wide or less, due to the typical screen sizes from that time. I may end up rescanning some photos to get better quality for today's screen sizes.

How big should my pictures be?

One of the things a web designer has to deal with is how big should the pages be. In general you want to deliver concise, readable web pages that people can easily read. One of the design criteria is what screen resolution people are using. Services such as Google Analytics can tell you what your visitors use.

For my New Brunswick Railways site, I can tell you these stats:

• 53% have 1024x768 pixel resolution


• 30% have 800x600 resolution


• Only 1.24% surf at 640x480


• One visitor uses 1440x900

From that I can determine that the vast majority of my viewers use screens at least 800 pixels wide. I should set my own screen at 800 pixels wide to test the site. Ideally visitors should never have to scroll left or right. I typically design photos to be no more than 600 pixels wide to allow for margins.

Saint John railfanning guide up

I have created a railfan's guide to Saint John and put it on my web site. I hope you like it!

Please email me at blog@theboykos.com if you have any comments or, Heaven forbid, corrections.

Saint John Sightings 2005/12/09

It wasn't a bad day. To start off with, I saw an NB Southern high-rail truck near Westfield Beach, so that said "no trains for you" on the McAdam sub.

At 09:40 I saw CN 2629 and 5709 snoozing in the Island Yard, with CN 7015 shunting the yard throat.

At 12:20 I just managed to catch the NB Southern local heading out, caboose first, to switch Irving Paper, the Irving Refinery and so forth.



A quick shot through the windshield. After the train cleared the crossing, I got turned around and caught it at the overpass over the rails by Irving Paper. It wasn't going fast.



The consist was NBSR 79635, about 8 boxcars, NBSR 3701, CN 7000, 3 boxcars and 3 tank cars trailing.

CN 305 was alive by this time, with the two big units above moving through the yard throat to start assembling their train. CN 7015 went to bed at this time. Around 13:00, they had most of their train together and the far end was all the way out the other end of the yard. NBSR 3702 and 3703 were at that end, waiting for 305 to let them out of the siding. CN 305 had 10 gypsum cars, 13 doublestacks and 6 singlestacks near the end of the train. There was a blackened CN generator container on FEC 71642 as part of the consist.

Once 305 pulled its tail out of the way, 3702 and 3703 went on their way to Dever Road. I caught them several times on the way, first going under the road near Harbour Station:



The next location is obvious:



and finally over the Reversing Falls bridge:



With that I went home. I heard CN 305 calling the RTC around 14:00, I assume to get their clearance to go to Moncton.

Pittsburgh sightings 9, 10, and 11

I was out this morning and at lunch looking for trains, but none came by. In fact, at lunch I heard a foreman get a TOP (Track Occupancy Permit) not one mile away from where I was waiting, so that put the kibosh on any hope of trains.

Tonight I went to Station Square near downtown Pittsburgh to railfan the CSX main line. I figured I had seen enough Norfolk Southern for one visit and it was time to see a few of the "other" Pittsburgh class 1 railroad.

At 1636 a westbound train led by CSX 8617 (SD50) and a faded CSX 7505 (C40-8) roared by with 62 autoracks.



There were quite a variety of class 1's represented in the consist, including CN and a few CP:




After much waiting I decided to go up on the Smithfield Bridge and try for an overhead shot. A short eastbound obligingly came by at 1821, led by CSX 61xx (GP40-2) with about 20 cars.



The shot was not great. I'm beginning to think that head-on overheads at night don't make for good video. There's just not enough light.

I went over to the other side of the bridge to hopefully catch a westbound. I waited and waited, and finally decided to pack it in. I was down on the ground when I heard a train blowing for a crossing. I was too far away to get back on the bridge so I had to shoot over a fence (like I said, get the shot you can get)



At 1900 CSX 384 (AC4400CW) led UP 7316 and 7282 (lashed up elephant style) and a motley collection of coal hoppers.

I should mention that during this time about 8-9 Norfolk Southern trains roared past on the Mon Line, their main line. Railfan & Railroad was right - there are a lot more NS trains than CSX ones in Pittsburgh

I expect those will be the last trains I will tape in Pittsburgh this trip. I'm heading out on a plane just after lunch so my next train videos will likely be in Canada. I'm happy to be going home.