Canadian Railroads > Keeping the RTC busy

The RTC for the CN Montreal sub has his hands full on Friday morning, with 5 trains passing in a span of 20 minutes. While the subdivision is triple tracked here (just east of Turcot West in Montreal, Qc), it narrows down to two tracks at the de Courcelle crossing not too far east of here. This would necessitate CN 120 stopping for a couple of minutes.

1-CN 120 is eastbound on the freight track CN 2905 and CN 2941 as head end power (along with CN 3000 mid-train) as the signal bridge shows two westbounds lined.

2-VIA 33 is seen passing CN 120.

3-VIA 63 passes 5 minutes later.

Michael Berry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/16 16:41 by Mberry.

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4-The combined VIA 605/VIA 607 passes CN 120. The train will remain combined until Hervey Junction where the two trains go their separate ways (Jonquière and Senneterre respectively).

5-CN 149 passes with CN 2146, CN 2533 & CN 2616 for power.

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CN is busy hauling the freight that CP used to have the contracts for.

Posted from iPhone

Is left-handed running 'normal' on this segment of the CN?

Tom

UP3806 Wrote:
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> Is left-handed running 'normal' on this segment of
> the CN?
>
> Tom

All three tracks here are used for trains going in both directions, so there's not really any 'normal'. The south track is mostly used for VIA's going in either direction as 99% of VIA trains make their station stop at Dorval on the south track. 

The Jonquire section always seem to have baggage car rear. Is that in case of a wreck, and the Senneterre engoine does not rip through the rear Jonquire coach ?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> The Jonquire section always seem to have baggage
> car rear. Is that in case of a wreck, and the
> Senneterre engoine does not rip through the rear
> Jonquire coach ?

I can't say for sure, but I doubt it, as VIA runs many J-trains between Toronto and Brockville with an engine coupled up to a passenger car. Here is the middle of VIA 52/62 in Lovekin, Ontario in December 2014. At Brockville VIA 52 will head to Ottawa and VIA 62 will head to Montreal.

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UP3806 Wrote:
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> Is left-handed running 'normal' on this segment of
> the CN?

Also note the left-hand running of the highway through the Turcot Interchange!


joemvcnj Wrote:
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> The Jonquire section always seem to have baggage
> car rear. Is that in case of a wreck, and the
> Senneterre engoine does not rip through the rear
> Jonquire coach ?

The former configuration of the trains was power, power coach, baggage, baggage, coach. The two baggage cars were together so only one stop was required at short platforms.
With the J-Train configuration it probably still keeps the baggage cars close enough together for a single stop.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/16 04:40 by ghCBNS.