Canadian Railroads > Intermodals, westbound and eastbound

Yesterday morning I went to the Angrignon overpass in Montreal and shot two intermodal trains in quick succession (as well as an NS-led CN 529 just before). The first was CN 120 with 614 axles, followed by CN 149 with 522 axles.

1-CN 120 is through Turcot West with CN 2815 and CN 2642 at the head end and CN 2880 mid-train. It is eastbound on the north track of CN's Montreal sub, at left the south track is lined for a westbound intermodal, CN 149.

2-A wide shot of 120. On the north side of highway 20, a lot of infrastructure work is ongoing which will lead to big changes in this area.

3-The DPU on CN 120 is visible as CN 149 is seen approaching a curve.

Michael Berry

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4-CN 149 has an ES44DC leading two SD70M-2's as it approaches the overpass

5-Stacks are visible on two tracks, with the skyline of downtown Montreal visible in the distance at left.

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120's power is returning tonight from Halifax on 121.  Except this time, 2880 is the leader.

GTD

So does CN originate two stack trains in Halifax, 149 and 121, but have only on stack train coming in, 120?

Thanks in advance,

Rob L.

rob_l Wrote:
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> So does CN originate two stack trains in Halifax,
> 149 and 121, but have only on stack train coming
> in, 120?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Rob L.

Both used to originate in Halifax, but 149 originates in the Port of Montreal since about 6-7 years ago.

Posted from iPhone

Mberry Wrote:
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> rob_l Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So does CN originate two stack trains in
> Halifax,
> > 149 and 121, but have only on stack train
> coming
> > in, 120?
> >
>
>
> Both used to originate in Halifax, but 149
> originates in the Port of Montreal since about 6-7
> years ago.
>
​148/149 operated between Halifax and Chicago with CN's highly touted "2nd day delivery" for quite a few years.  However, they kept padding 148's schedule until it was arriving in Halifax during daylight hours instead of the middle of the night as had been the norm.  I seem to recall they would hold it in Montreal to add traffic from another train (maybe junk?) that wasn't always on "schedule".  Eventually in 2007 they terminated 148 in Montreal, and put the Halifax traffic on 122, which had previously terminated in Moncton.  That wound up delaying the Chicago traffic almost another full day, but no doubt it was more profitable for CN.  That only lasted for about a year, when they figured they could just run one monster train to Halifax (120), dropping off the Moncton boxes at Gordon Yard and picking up any junk for Halifax at the same time.  I'm not so sure about the facts behind the westbounds, but there was a 123, which IIRC, departed Halifax in the mid afternoon until it too was discontinued with 122.

GTD

Nice pics!!