Thursday, May 01, 2008

CN Detour, Day 1, Morning

As I mentioned, CN is detouring on NBEC due to flooding in Edmundston. CN's state of the railroad says "Due to the overflow of the Saint-John River, CN interrupted train service between Moncton N.B. and Saint-André-Station, Quebec as of 1230hrs EDT on Wednesday, April 30th.". It has since been updated to indicate the river has crested.

As luck would have it, I was scheduled to travel north today. I navigated the flooded streets of downtown Fredericton and headed up highway 8. As I approached Miramichi I heard CN 122 receiving a clearance from the NBEC dispatcher to proceed south/east to Pacific Junction. I made the best time I legally could to Red Head, but I missed the head end of the train and settled for watching my first container traffic on the NBEC at 09:30.
CN 121 containers in Miramichi

NBEC 6904 was in the empty Miramichi yard with two loaded CFMG ballast hoppers behind it.

As I passed Bathurst, I heard at 10:52 that CN 120 (8001 leading) got a clearance from mile 164 (Charlo) to 132 (Irvco/Belledune).

I had called VIA earlier and they told me VIA 14 had engine trouble and would not be in Miramichi until noon. A little calculation showed that it was time for VIA 14 to arrive at Bathurst. I exited the highway at Beresford, crossed the tracks (nothing in sight), turned at the gas station, crossed the tracks again and saw headlights to the north! Good timing. At 11:04 VIA 6421 brought 14 through Beresford.
VIA 6421 Beresford

At 11:19 CN 120 was reported at mile 159.
At 11:27 NBEC 402 (6907 E) got a clearance from mile 184 (Campbellton) to 159 (Charlo).

At 11:51 CN 120 was reported underway at mile 156. It must have had a hotbox problem. They asked for a lineup and the RTC (Dawn) said CN 121 was still at Moncton and there was no data on CN 123.

From Tim Dryden and Luc Doiron, I understand 122 went through Rogersville at 10:15 and was in Gordon Yard by 12:30. Geoff Doane reported it in Millview just outside Halifax at 20:20 with 56xx leading and CN 6011 trailing.

My night was even more exciting. I'll talk about it in my next post.

EDIT: "Upon further review", it is clearly VIA 6421 in the picture, not 6431.

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