Canadian Railroads > A heavy train

Yesterday morning I shot CN B730 three times in the Moontreal area. With 205 loaded potash cars bound for Saint John, NB and a train weighing close to 30,000 tons, this is certainly the heaviest trains out east on CN. Power was 4 AC units with CN 2948 & CN 3065 up front and CN 2876 & CN 2887 mid-train.

1-I was out quite early by my standards, my first shot was taken at 0723 from a pedestrian overpass in Beaconsfield. Unfortunately the sun had not cleared by that time.

2-The sun had appeared by the time I (barely) caught him passing through Ville St-Pierre, slowing down for a crew change at Turcot West.

3-25 minutes later the train is departing Turcot West with a new crew.

Michael Berry

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4-Common out west, these pink Potash Corp cars are very rare out east. Normally B730 consists of 100% Canpotex cars, but recently the train has been running so often that the colourful Potash Corp cars have been seen on this train. This is the first time I shoot them on a unit train.

5-The DP set

6-Another view of the Potash Corp cars.

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I was interested in these photos as I've always thought the Canpotex and Potash Corp were different suppliers and this is the first time I've seen them combined on the same train. Perhaps the supply was short and there had to be a combination of sources.

Can anyone comment with certainty?



Rick

205 cars, almost 30,ooo tons, just what every crew dreams of. Not. Doug

hoggerdoug Wrote:
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> 205 cars, almost 30,ooo tons, just what every crew
> dreams of. Not. Doug

Indeed, a friend of mine was a conductor on one from Montreal to Joffre and described it as a 'bowling ball'.

Michael