Canadian Railroads > Ending the Day Where I Started

I had some out of town work to do on the 8th and 9th that took me to Wentworth, NS and gave me almost the whole day off on the Friday. So along with the other stuff I needed for the job, I tossed the camera gear in the car too. Checking on the night of the 8th, the next day was going to start off clear and cold, and 120's crew was expected to be ordered for 05:30 in Moncton. That would mean they should get to Folly Lake (just east of Wentworth) around 08:30 or so, in the early morning light.

The first part of the plan went very well, with a clear blue sky and temperature of about -15°C (but no wind). However, the only thing I heard on the radio was 407 (manifest from Dartmouth) arriving in Truro for their pickup there. About an hour later, they had picked up the CBNS and local traffic and were ready to depart, and the RTC informed them that 120 was still about an hour out of Moncton. Clearly something had gone wrong the night before, but at least I had 407 to go after.

First shot was the East Mines trestle at 09:43, this time from a different angle through the trees at the west end. The train was lit from the rear, but it's pretty hard to do much with a westbound train in the morning. I did find some light on the nose again at Salt Springs, and then at Sackville, NB (11:39) where the track turns towards the south for a few miles.

Meanwhile, 120 had arrived at Gordon Yard, and was setting off local intermodal traffic and picking up empty gypsum gondolas from Saint John and McAdam. The RTC lined 407 into the siding at Painsec Jct., but then decided he would take them all the way to Marsh Jct. before letting 120 get under way.

GTD

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120 finally got onto the Springhill Sub about 13:10, with over 13,000 ft. of train and a 50 mph speed restriction because of the empty gons. I was waiting for them at Upper Dorchester, NB and got this first shot at 13:54. Even with 4 big GEs powering the train (there was another ES44AC as DPU) and the fact I had to wait for them to go past before I could return to the car, I still was able to get to Sackville ahead of them without breaking any speed limits, and set up in Amherst, NS for the next two shots at the old Intercolonial station there (14:35). When VIA cut back the Ocean service in 2012, the stations in Amherst and Sackville were de-staffed, and declared surplus. Fortunately, a restaurant wants to set up in the Amherst one, and VIA will lease back some space for a waiting room.

GTD

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The next spot I had in mind was the Experimental Farm in Nappan, NS (that name conjures up some interesting images in your mind, doesn't it?) There is an old iron bridge across the track there that has an unobstructed view for a mile or more in each direction. Of course, with a 13,000 ft. train, I still wasn't going to be able to see the whole thing. In the first shot at 14:46, the large building in the background is the Sifto Salt mine and processing plant. 408 will drop off and pick up covered hoppers there several nights a week.

The cut of single-stacks ahead of the DPU gave me this view of it at the same location, and finally at 14:50, the tail end of the train had passed under the bridge, with the cut of empty gons just barely visible and disappearing into the trees in the distance.

GTD

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Since this was a Friday, the Ocean would be in the picture at some point. As 120 was leaving Nappan, the RTC called to tell them the meet would be at Oxford Jct. and 15 would be there at 15:26. The Ocean did actually come to a stop in the siding, but 120 rolled past the west switch at 15:31 to meet them. The recently installed LED signals are now in service at both ends of Oxford Jct. That's the "dwarf" in the foreground of the second shot.

Although Friday's train was mostly Renaissance equipment, Chateau Dollier was included in the consist for crew accommodations, and Revelstoke Park was on the rear for passenger lounge and observation space.

GTD

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I had to be back at the ski hill for a sound check at 5, but figured I had one more chance at 120 before then. Right next to Folly Lake is the classic scene, but a little difficult to get to ahead of the train, so I settled on the recently cleared broadside of the trestle again (see a post from a week or so ago). 120's head end (3092, 3065 and 2929) rumbled across at 16:25 in very faint light, and then the DPU (2833) followed at 16:27 in somewhat brighter light (the cloud must have thinned a little bit in the intervening two minutes).

For a video bonus, here is 407 rolling past the Sackville VIA station (also dis-used, but without a prospective tenant yet). If you don't feel like counting cars, the detectors were saying "total axles, 3-0-4", so you can do the math and figure it out from there.

GTD

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A nice day's work/play; I'm particularly intrigued by the boulder field in your third shot. Is there a particular explanation for it; it adds a neat texture to things?
Fred

feclark Wrote:
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> A nice day's work/play; I'm particularly intrigued
> by the boulder field in your third shot. Is there
> a particular explanation for it; it adds a neat
> texture to things?
> Fred


Not boulders. Mud in the Tantramar Marshes.

KG

Wow. Sackville and Amherst on one chase. Well done.

KG

Well, I didn't get the same train at both Sackville and Amherst. I merely got to Sackville before 120, but didn't stop! You might be able to get away with that chasing the Ocean (which does stop), but 120 kept right on rolling.

As KG noted, the "boulders" are chunks of river ice deposited close to the tracks by a high tide. Much of the railway is built along old Acadian dykes that hold the tide back from low lying farmland. Here is the view looking up the Memramcook River, just to the left of the train shot.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/18 13:49 by cn6218.

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Great shots!!

Really nice work! Thanks.

Another wonderful series!

CN6218,

Thanks for such an enjoyable sequence! On another note I rode behind CN6218 several times!