Canadian Railroads > CN W933 on the dormant La Tuque subdivision

Hi everyone,

Today, I had the unexpected chance to follow CN 933 on the dormant leg of the CN La Tuque subdivision. This line has not seen regular freight traffic since May 2008 following the cancellation of daily Joffre/Garneau wayfreights 427-428. The worktrain was carrying rails that had to be layed at multiple spots on the active part of the subdivision in the Donnaconna area. For some reason, CN officers preferred to route the train through Garneau in order to prevent any traffic slowing on the south shore mainline.

The last train to have polished the rails between Hervey Junction and St-Marc-des-Carrieres was a detoured freight bound for Senneterre in November 2009, after a bridge collapsed in St-Tite on the Lac-St-Jean mainline. The line is currently dormant between the Lauralco spur (mile 36) and Hervey Jonction (mile 71). Surprisingly, the line appeared to be in somewhat good shape ; an observation that was confirmed by the foreman as we had a chat in St-Casimir.

It felt somewhat nostalgic ; it allowed me to discover lots of interesting spots. I remember chasing 427/428 back in the early 00s. We used to have pretty busy days in the area as the schedules were convenient and the lighting was gorgeous. Although I hope finding new spots will serve me in the future, I have to be realistic ; it might be the last train I ever follow on that specific leg of the old NTR project.

Here are some of the pictures I have taken today :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/66248054@N06/18028810646/in/photostream/

Cheers, Sam




 

Great!  Thanks for the report.


Frank

That is a rare move.  I'm surprised the line was passable.  Did the crossings have to be shovelled out in advance?

KG

I believe it was a last minute decision, because the Joffre crew was called last night for a "special move from Garneau" and were not even aware of the exact plan or reason ; at a moment I almost thought they were going to lift up the tracks, eventhough I had not read any CTA decision yet.

A foreman preceded the train all the way down, making sure the track was passable, but apparently the track is still inspected on a weekly basis.  As you mentionned Ken, at a few occasion it really did felt like a sandstorm as the train came by crossings but surprisingly the signaling was working properly. 

At numerous occasion, as the train whistled, people literally ran to the tracks. I noticed a young mom with her 6 year old son saying she never thought he would ever have the chance to see a train travelling through his hometown again. Maybe a future railfan.

ST

I remember this was a detour route for the Ocean around Christmas 1999 when the Ultra Tank-Train derailed near St Hyacinthe blocking its usual route on the south shore.

Now that would have been a Rare Mileage Run!

Since the track changes at Hervey ...is there still a route through the Jct that would allow this now?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/15 01:56 by ghCBNS.

In French, but interesting. Sorry for the poor quality. Dated scanned.


 

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Thanks very much for posting the track plan. I knew of the reconfiguration but wasn’t sure of the details.

I spent an interesting afternoon there back in ’07 watching as the Abitibi and Saguenay were separated just as a freight passed thru (link below) and also caught a Park Car on the Saguenay on a previous trip.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1463132,1463142#msg-1463142

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Great document Sam, thanks for sharing!

Michael

There was seriously a La Tuque Sub???

Squeeee!

(Murican who loved the MacKenzie Brothers)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/15 20:44 by NH2006.

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NH2006 Wrote:
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> There was seriously a La Tuque Sub???
>

It’s named for a town in Quebec that's adjacent to the CN xNTR divisional point of Fitzpatrick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tuque,_Quebec