Canadian Railroads > Boxing Day Road Trip Finale

Continuing on with the chase of the Budd Ocean on December 27th, we didn't bother with Moncton, but instead went directly to Upper Dorchester, New Brunswick for the next sequence of shots.  Dorchester wasn't originally going to be on the route of the Intercolonial Railway, but good old political interference dictated that the route be redrawn, and track was laid right along the Memramcook River, before climbing over the height of land and crossing the Tantramar Marsh where Sackville, NB is today.

In the first image, the 18-car Ocean is heading towards the mile 98 detector at 70 mph, below the imposing Dorchester Penitentiary (probably was some political influence in that location too!)  The adjacent river dumps into the Bay of Fundy, and the ice along the right of way is a result of the very high tides there.

At Sackville, VIA 14 is shown crossing the twin 250 ft. spans across the Tantramar River, with more evidence of the high tides.  This through truss bridge was built to accommodate two tracks, but installation of CTC in 1944 meant that measure wasn't necessary.  The town of Sackville was actually relocated when the railway was built, so that it would be on the line.  Until 1988 it was also the junction with the Tormentine Sub, which funneled rail traffic to Prince Edward Island.  

The video is shot from the same location as the first image, but looking the other direction.  As usual, there was a stiff wind blowing.

GTD

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Drool!!!! Great pictures and video! 
Thank you for sharing!!! :):):)

Continuing east after Sackville, we skipped the station stop in Amherst, NS and went right to Nappan for this picture of the Budd streamliner crossing a pony truss bridge with the Sifto Salt mine in the background.  Those distinctive truss bridges seem to be a feature of the Intercolonial, and are also located in Jacquet River, Barnaby River, and in the Matapedia Valley.  Although Sanford Flemming insisted on building the line with all iron bridges right from the start, these have replaced the originals at some point.

As the train was leaving Moncton, we heard on the radio that Dartmouth manifest freight 407 was also leaving Truro, NS, much later than usual.  The RTC hadn't decided yet where the meet would be, but when he called to find out if there were passengers for Springhill Jct. (there weren't), it became obvious that would be the location.  With the Springhill Jct. "platform" on the mainline side of the track, that meant 14 would take the siding, and 407 wouldn't have to slow for a switch.  As it turned out, it was a rolling meet with a very short 407 (about 2 dozen cars, none of them autoracks), and the Ocean was soon back on the main line and back up to track speed.

We did get to Truro ahead of the train for some time exposures at the station, but once again they didn't turn on the platform lights, so we didn't really get the best shots there.

GTD

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Great stuff, Geoff! The meet shot is beautifully executed, and your first photo, the distant going-away shot, is so striking, one of the best of its kind I've ever seen. Having a Park car on the tail certainly helps.
Fred

Oh, to be aboard! Thanks for sharing these.

Great post . . and sound of jointed rail in your video is something so rare these days . .  nice series on the other side of our country

Craig
mcmrailvidoes.com