Canadian Railroads > A Side Trip to New Brunswick

Just before 08:00 on Monday, 120 was heading east at Springhill Jct. I was half way to Truro, and thinking about shooting 407 on the Bedford Sub, but with the same dull power that had alrady been on it for a week, I decided to take a chance on 120 instead. As the train approached the siding at Folly Lake at 08:45, the sun was still cutting across the tracks at 90 degrees, so I moved just east of the east switch where the track curves a bit to the east for my first shot of the day, a nice surprise trio of SD70M-2s with another as DPU (8869, 8961, 8834 and 8894).

50 minutes later, the same train was cresting a small hill just west of Brookfield, about mile 58 of the Bedford Sub, after passing Truro and 407 which was now tucked away in the yard there.

GTD

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At this point I would normally follow 120 back to Halifax, but the railfan rumours were flying about leased power for 406 in Moncton, and the possibility of an extra 474 train from Joffre, so I headed back the way I had just come, arriving in Moncton about 90 minutes later. I discovered that DeLong Rd. along the north side of Gordon Yard is once again passable from end to end, and just barely missed VIA 14 at Berry Mills at 13:00. 406 had gone on duty at 12:30, but didn't seem to be going anywhere yet, so I did get a very unsatisfying shot of 407 arriving at Marsh Jct. (start of Sussex Sub) in high sun at 13:42.

But by now, 406 was about ready to depart, and they got a clearance for engine 1505. That was certainly interesting. Except for CREX 1507 on a transfer a few weeks ago, I had yet to see one of these leading a train. At 14:26 CREX 1505, CEFX 1011 and ES44AC 2977, came into view on the high fill near Fundy, making what looked like track speed of 40 mph. Although the front of the train appeared to be solid potash hoppers, there was some mixed freight typical of 406 farther back and even a 5-pack of containers (along with more potash). This was the same power, and many of the same cars, that Michael Berry had seen in Montreal on B730, two days earlier (https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4554788). I'm not sure what happened to the 3056.

I had heard about the 1505, but the 1011 was a complete surprise to me, so at least a token chase was in order. I was able to get through Salisbury ahead of them for the overhead shot at River Glade (14:42), and then made it to the highway and eventually Petitcodiac for one final shot at 14:54. The Petitcodiac detector only clocked them at 28 mph, so there may have been a slow order on account of the fresh ballast. 406 was kicking up a fair bit of dust, and there was track equipment in the spur on the other side of the main line there. The disconnected rails to the left of the locomotive are the remains of the Havelock Sub, which once served a cement plant and lumber mill to the north of the main line.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/18 18:02 by cn6218.

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Wow. Well done.

KG

Maybe this will work. I seem to be getting dial-up speeds for uploading video.

Here's the whole train, just east of Folly Lake siding. The empty gons near the middle were limiting the speed to 50 mph, regardless of posted track speed.

GTD

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A very nicely-exploited opportunity, and nice shots.
Fred

Nice shots, Geoff,
thanks for posting!
George