Canadian Railroads > CBNS on Cape Breton Island

The Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway has been in the local news lately, and not for the right reasons. New owner G&W wants to abandon the eastern 100 miles of the Sydney Sub, which only sees about 500 carloads a year. The province has been subsidizing the maintenance of the line, but G&W doesn't appear to be interested in just breaking even.

With a possible abandonment date of this September, I figured I had better make a long overdue visit. The weekly train had left Port Hawkesbury a day early on August 5th, and with the knowledge that they would return the next day, I hit the road at 04:00 that morning for the four and a half hour drive to Sydney.

I checked in at the shop (their only indoor shop space is in Sydney) and was told that the train had run out of time the day before because of a broken rail, and they had only made it as far as Bras d'Or. The crew had started work again at 08:30, and would be switching industries on the way to Sydney.

I found them in the Northside Industrial Park, switching Copol Industries, which receives loads of plastic pellets for manufacturing rope. Copol is probably the most vocal opponent to the abandonment. Losing direct rail access would likely shut them down, or at least force them to move. GP15-1 1563 was working hard pushing 4 loaded cars up to the storage silos.

Later, the small train moved on to the Sydport industrial park, delivering more plastic pellets and building supplies to two other customers before arriving at the end of the line in Sydney. They took about an hour to get the 2259 and westbound train together before heading out, switching a propane depot and picking up an empty feed hopper at Bras d'Or. In the third picture, the train is crossing the beach at Big Pond between the towns of Sydney Mines and Florence, under threatening skies. Unfortunately, the weather kind of fell apart after this, and with the slow track speed, they didn't even make it back to Port Hawkesbury before they ran out of time (and light) at 20:30.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/14 18:14 by cn6218.

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With my appetite whetted, and another week of vacation still available, I made plans to visit again the next week. This time the eastbound trip would occur on the usual Wednesday, but CBNS had just received an SD40-3 from QGRY, and it was going to go to the shop in Sydney for commissioning. Rumour has it that it will be joined by another from QGRY for ballast train work this fall.

This train was unusually large, with roughly 20 cars for the Sydney area. CBNS has recently bought (and had painted) some long term leased units, and the Helm SD40-2s were rumoured to be included, but they are still sporting HLCX reporting marks, so I don't think it has happened yet. The train consisted of long time CBNS resident (GEXR reporting marks until recently) GP40 3022, SD40-2 HLCX 7869 and SD40-3 QGRY 3327.

The train is shown here at McIntyre Lake, Orangedale, and the Ottawa Brook trestle. The station at Orangedale is the only example of a wooden ICR station still standing next to the main line in the Maritimes. There is a small museum located there, with some rolling stock and indoor displays. The museum society was successful is putting a badly needed new roof on the station in the last year.

Although the track doesn't look nearly as bad as some I've seen, track speed is generally only 10 mph, with sporadic sections of 25 or 30. That makes for a very long day for the crew and anybody chasing, but at least I didn't have to decide between too many close locations.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/14 18:21 by cn6218.

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Great shots and a very useful commentary.

KG

At roughly 14:00, the train reached the engineering masterpiece of the line, the seven-span, 1400 ft. Barra Strait bridge between Iona and Grand Narrows. After getting permission from the bridge tender, they crossed at 10 mph. The swing span closest to the camera stays open most of the time, and the bridge tender just gets called twice a week to close it while the trains cross.

By 17:20, they were crossing the beach at Big Pond, this time seen from the other side of the track, and under much more pleasant weather conditions.

After stopping to switch Copol Industries again at the Northside, and another propane dealer at Leitch's Creek, by 19:20 the light was waning as the train backed up on this causeway to pick up the conductor for the rest of the ride to Sydney. They made it to the shop before running out of time, but there wasn't much to spare. I would have liked to have stayed overnight in Sydney, and then chased them back west again, but with commitments in Halifax the next day, that wasn't possible.

GTD

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Sounds like the Islands at both ends of the country are in trouble for rail service. I wish it wasn't so.

Rick

Thanks for the post and really nice series of images ... the Atlantic Provinces of Canada or on my bucket list to visit/photograph ... looks like I could be a little too late cuz it ain't gonna happen this year. Time to move it up a notch or two.

Again thanks for the scenic images!

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

It's amazing how much rail mileage has disappeared in the Maritime provinces over the past thirty years or so ---- and it's apparently not over yet. It looks like eventually there will be just a single line from Montreal to Halifax and nothing more.

I'm glad I rode VIA's BRA D'OR back on August 28, 2002. Certainly can't do THAT anymore. The train even made a photo stop at the Barra Strait bridge and also stopped for a few minutes at Orangedale to tour the museum.

I'm kicking myself that I procrastinated too long in riding the Newfoundland narrow gauge and the Dominion Atlantic route from Halifax to Yarmouth.

Too late now.

Great series. ... Was there in the days of the MLW's and missed them, totally.

Yukon Yeti

Wonderful images from a special corner of the world. Thanks much.

Fantastic images. Thanks for the coverage!

rschonfelder Wrote:
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> Sounds like the Islands at both ends of the
> country are in trouble for rail service. I wish
> it wasn't so.
>
> Rick

The Island at the Eastern end of Canada has no rail service!

4489

Fantastic post....thanks for sharing..

4489 Wrote:
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> rschonfelder Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sounds like the Islands at both ends of the
> > country are in trouble for rail service. I
> wish
> > it wasn't so.
> >
> > Rick
>
> The Island at the Eastern end of Canada has no
> rail service!
>
> 4489

Newfoundland, which you refer to, goes without saying as it was abandoned several decades ago. I was referring to Cape Breton which currently has rail service, is in the EAST and is an Island as well.

Rick

Wow! A cour weeks ago I watched the Rail Innovations program on the CBCNS Railway. It's amazing how much the line has declined since the days of the big black C630M's. Great shots!

Trevor

Posted from iPhone

The maritime provinces have seen a considerable hollowing out of basic manufacturing like steel, extraction of coal, etc. Devastating for so many families. And railroads.

Great pictures. When I was up there, the bridge was closed at Grand Narrows when I was at the Highland Museum. Went down to see the train and it was a hi rail truck.LOL I will be back next year for hopefully a train to see. Wish they could've kept the tracks on Prince Edward Island. Way too much truck traffic on the island and hope Cape Breton doesn't get overrun like they have.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/14 21:15 by ep75.

Thanks for making the trip Geoff for the rest of us that can't get up there.

Orangedale station? Is that the one in the song?

PoconoFlyer Wrote:
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> Orangedale station? Is that the one in the song?

Yes, I'm pretty sure Jimmy Rankin was thinking about that station when he wrote that tune.

I first heard the song Orangedale Whistle in the late '80s while doing sound for some Rankin Family concerts. Even as an inactive railfan back then, it was a favourite tune of mine, and still is to this day. It was another 10 years before I actually made it to Orangedale to see the place.

GTD

GREAT stuff...!! Thanks for posting.