Canadian Railroads > The Last Season of the Bras d'Or

I guess this subject could have been filed under Passenger Trains, or even Nostagia & History, but it's Canadian, so I decided to put it here.

From 2000 until 2004, VIA ran a summer-only excursion train from Halifax to Sydney, NS and return. It used equipment from the Ocean, and operated on days that normally the Ocean didn't run (east to Sydney on Tuesday, west to Halifax on Wednesday. I think the hope was to tap into the cruise ship market, but the timing (leaving Halifax at 07:30) and lack of promotion may have limited its appeal. The Bras d'Or (French for "Arms of Gold") was named for the inland salt water lakes in Cape Breton, along the shores of which it traveled. It also had the rare distinction of changing directions and train numbers along its route. Halifax to Truro on CN is westward, with number 619 (sometimes 19), and Truro to Sydney on the CBNS is eastward, when they used number 618 (or 18). The return trip used the counterpart numbers to whatever had been used the day before.

On September 14, 2004 the CBNS crew had already taken over F40 6411 from VIA and was slowly working their way through the CN yard in Truro. Parked next to the yard office in the background is 515's power (likely a 4700) and a van, ready to do local work in the yard and around Truro. At one time, the empty space to the left of the tracks had been the passenger main, but it was removed sometime after the VIA cuts of 1990, and the Bras d'Or was forced to proceed at restricted speed for the full length of the yard (roughly 2 miles).

In the going-away shot from the same bridge, Banff Park is on the tail end of the passenger train. CN 407 has backed in from the A-yard lead, and will shortly pick up CBNS traffic to add to their Dartmouth cars and gondolas of gypsum from Milford. Right behind 407's power is the CN's geometry Test Train, deadheading back to Moncton. One track over from 407 is CBNS 305 arriving from Stellarton with 3 SD45-2s and a leased CN GP40-2L. 305 has loads of coal that will end up at the cement plant in Brookfield, and the usual paper products from Pictou Co. and Port Hawkesbury. At the time an agreement between CN and CBNS stated that any cars interchanged to CN would go to Moncton for any further sorting. With Brookfield barely 10 miles from Truro, this made no economic sense, so the coal was transloaded to trucks using an excavator instead of taking an all-rail route. Fortunately in later years sanity prevailed, and 515 would deliver the coal to Brookfield.

I did follow 618 to Cape Breton that day, but got sidetracked by a freight on the island running back west, so ended up following it. None of those particular slides are scanned (yet), so to finish off this post, here is the return trip of the Bras d'Or the next day, running as 618 (since it is now eastbound on the Bedford Sub) crossing the Shubenacadie River, and about an hour away from the station in Halifax.

GTD

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Thanks for the memories of this splendid train.

With my family I made this trip just in time: in August, 2004. On our round trip the consist included only one coach because of the light load. I had seen photos of as many as three coaches. On our eastbound trip there were only about 30 passengers and on the return there were a little over 50. There would have been a very light load if it had not been for a last-minute group. A group of about 30 British tourists had been on a bus tour of Cape Breton. Their bus had frequent air conditioning failures and at Sydney they had enough. The tour leader found out there was a train to Halifax on Wednesday. VIA warned her that the cold meals (breakfast and lunch) are loaded in Halifax so they wouldn't get the regular food, but they didn't care.

The train crew arranged for a light breakfast to be obtained for the group at Sydney. For lunch, an unscheduled stop was made in Port Hawkesbury where the SM and the one attendant went shopping. We were allowed to wander the harbour area for a half hour or so. The pre-booked passengers had our regular meal, after which the crew washed the dishes and cutlery - and also the same from the previous day - in the Skyline kitchen and prepared lunches of cold meats, seafood, salads and desserts. The tour group was very impressed with this service. I spoke with many of them and they were going to sing the praises of VIA when they got home. Unfortunately the service ended that year.

We enjoyed the stop in Orangedale with a chance to visit the museum in the station.

http://www.novascotiarailwayheritage.com/orangedale.htm

Never having ridden any of the regular trains on this route, I was glad I rode the Bras D'Or when we had the chance.