Canadian Railroads > Another Extra 120

Last Sunday was a busy one in the Halifax area, with an extra 120 expected to arrive early in the morning with 9000 feet of traffic for the Ceres container pier, in addition to the regular 120, 407 and VIA 15.  X120s crew had been called for  something like 03:00 that morning, but of course things didn't go quite as planned.  A hot bearing at the Lutesville dectector (just west of Moncton, NB) meant they had to set out a car in Gordon Yard.  By the time all that was done, X120 was running about 50 minutes behind regular 120, which was a couple hours later than it should have been.  Meanwhile in Dartmouth, 407's crew was putting together a massive 8100 ft., 368-axle train.  And at 13:00, 15 was going to leave the Halifax station on its trip to Montreal.

The first train in the picture was the regular 120 at Moirs Mills (about mile 9 of the Bedford Sub) at 13:01 with 3010 and 2955 up front.  Much to my surprise, they were able to get completely onto the Halifax Transfer track at Millview (mile 8) before 15 got there at roughly 13:20.  Meanwhile, 407 had left Dartmouth, heading for Windsor Jct.  With over 8000 feet of train, they weren't going to be able to meet either of the 120s on the Bedford Sub, so they had instructions to hold at mile 3 of the Dartmouth Sub until directed to proceed.  With poor light for a westbound train where I was, I didn't stick around for 15, but headed to Enfield (mile 30 Bedford Sub) to see X120.

I was worried that it might be close at Enfield, but as it turned out, the crew had more problems to deal with.  The second unit, PRLX 228 (a former Santa Fe SD75M), had failed coming out of Truro, and they were on the radio to the Diesel Doc, and down to only 15 mph.  The engineer was worried that if they stopped to look at it, they might not get rolling again, so he figured slow was better than nothing.  Finally, 2618 and the patchy warbonnet appeared between the signals in the distance, and rolled past me at 14:17.  15 had been waiting in the siding for them at Sandy Cove (mile 26), and I attempted a shot of the Budd Ocean coming out of the siding after the meet, but was skunked by clouds.  Meanwhile, X120's crew was running out of time.  Their 12 hours would be up in less than 30 minutes.  They did make it to Fall River Crossing (MP 17) for the crew change, and I'm told the replacement engineer did a masterful job of getting the train moving again on the slight upgrade approaching Windsor Jct.

I had gone off after the Ocean (see https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4770181 ) at East Mines and Folly Lake, but on the way back towards Halifax, 407 had finally got past Windsor Jct. and was passing the mile 59 detector nearing Truro.  The late hour (past 16:00) meant there were quite a few locations to pick from on the Springhill Sub, and I chose the west end of Belmont siding, at mile 6.  407 had 8007 and 5736 for power and was doing quite well with their lengthy train, passing the mile 12 detector a bit farther west at 45 mph.

GTD

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/19 18:52 by cn6218.

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Pic 3 is my favorite!!

ns1000 Wrote:
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> Pic 3 is my favorite!!

... and the first photo is a gem as well; wonderful use of the curve and light.
Fred

feclark Wrote:

> ... and the first photo is a gem as well;
> wonderful use of the curve and light.

As usual Fred, you are too kind. :-)

Truth be told, I didn't have too much choice on that curve shot.  They were heading almost straight into the sun.  I did take a broader view with the other camera, but the side of the train is really quite dark and shadowed compared to the nose.

GTD