Canadian Railroads > Canada questions

I've never been to Canada's Maritime Provinces, so next spring or summer I want to do something about that. Halifax looks like a nice place to walk around, enjoy the maritime feel and good food and drink. I like to see ships as well as trains, and Halifax can deliver in that respect. How is Saint John? Worth consideration? Thanks in advance.

I really don't know about the train situation or about ships but will Saint John NB is a really neat place to visit. I was there with the Motor Bus Society a couple years ago and there by myself almost twelve years ago. In fact both Halifax and Saint John are great places to visit.

Perhaps one of the most interesting things in Saint John is the Reversing Falls. When the tide is high the water runs out of the Bay of Fundy and into the St John River, when the tide is low the water runs out of the St John River and into the Bay of Fundy. There is a road and Railway bridge across the Falls which be an Image of the Day type situation if you could get a train crossing with the Reversing Falls doing their thing.

Some slides from March 2006. The GM New Look that the last two pictures were taken from has been retired.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/17 18:27 by tq-07fan.

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I lived in Fredericton, New Brunswick from 1985 to 1990 and got to Halifax several times and Saint John quite often.
Both are great places to visit.
There were some really great seafood restaurants in both cities.

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

I've never been to Saint John other than to get off the Digby Ferry there and drive west, and my last visit to Halifax was 21 years ago. But rail traffic in Halifax was relatively sparse then, and even thinner in Saint John, and I doubt that has changed for the better since then in either place. CN runs container trains in and out of the Halifax port, while the Dartmouth side of the harbor features -- or at least used to feature -- a refinery, an auto terminal, and a gypsum terminal; the latter transfers gypsum rock mined near Milford, N.S. onto ships. And of course VIA comes into and out of Halifax several times per week in daylight.

I suggest taking the Ocean to Moncton and renting a car. You could then head for Saint John (2 hrs)....take the ferry to Digby (3 hrs) and continue onto Halifax (3 hrs) through the Annapolis Valley. You could return to Moncton (2.5 hrs) or do a one-way car rental and board the Ocean in Halifax.

CN runs from Moncton to Saint John where they meet the New Brunswick Southern Railway. CN runs twice a day each way between Moncton and Halifax and interchanges with Genesee and Wyoming’s CB&CNS at Truro. Also the tri-weekly Ocean.... but that’s about it for the southern Maritimes. CN does have two other routes west and north out of Moncton and the Ocean uses the route via Campbellton.

Halifax (pop 400,000) has a big city feel but the waterfront is very walkable. Same for Saint John and spend some time in Moncton with its Acadian culture...bilingual with people switching effortlessly between English and French.

And in Moncton....you are only an hour from Prince Edward Island on the 8 mile Confederation Bridge.

If you are arriving and/or departing Halifax by train there is no more convenient hotel than the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel. It is also the best hotel for observing ships, both cruise and container. For about $25 extra you can get a guaranteed high floor with harbour view.

Some of the cruise ships go around Georges Island on arrival or departure, so it is possible to get a good view from the boardwalk. But many ships just slide into or out of their berth and the only way to get a good view is from the hotel. When it is very busy some cruise ships will have to use the container terminal (berths 31 and 34) making it nearly impossible to get a good photo. Many container and Royal Canadian Navy ships pass by the hotel as well.

In case you haven't seen this site, here is a list of cruise ships and their pier assignment. It will be updated early in the new year. This year's information is still available, just to give you an idea of how busy it can be:

http://www.cruisehalifax.ca/our-visitors/cruise-schedule/

Here is a map of the pier locations:

http://www.portofhalifax.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Halifax-Seaport-and-Ocean-Terminals-Map.pdf

The first photo is the RMS Queen Mary 2 seen from inside the VIA station in Oct. 2016. At one time there was a covered bridge to Pier 21 from this location. The second photo shows the departure of the "Ocean" taken from the top deck (Deck 14) of the Queen Mary 2. The third photo is not mine. It was published on one of the tourism sites, showing the Queen Mary 2 on its inaugural call in Halifax in 2004. The "Ocean" and station and hotel can be seen near the bottom-left. I took my photos and video from the 10th floor of the hotel.

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Be a nice trip, but I won't spring for a sleeping car and I will not endure a night in REN coaches, which are really Corridor cars - no leg rest and seats backs do not go back sufficiently for me. Did that twice on the Enterprise. They need a HEP-I coach in the consist, perhaps behind the loco.

Saint John is a fine city for visiting. The Moosehead Brewery is a walk uphill from the reversing falls. I believe the New Brunswick Southern Rail still switches the area. I saw it back in 2005, IIRC.

The fine colony of New Brunswick almost became a member of the (US) North American Confederation, with the 13 colonies that later formed the United States. That was thwarted, and New Brunswick remained part of Canada. Later, in 1812, the British seized about 2/3 of Maine and held it to the end of war. Keeping northern Maine as part of Empire would have changed the history of Canada and Confederation.

New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada -- French and English.

Although there is almost no railway action left on Cape Breton Island, it has incredibly nice scenery and a rich history. The "Cabot Trail" is a scenic highway along the northern coastline of Cape Breton.

Depending on when you visit, seafood, especially lobster is really good in many parts of Atlantic Canada.