Canadian Railroads > Chasing the Chaleur in the Rain

In July of 2009 my wife and I took a driving trip to Quebec City.  It was at a leisurely pace, and included a day on the Gaspé.  Unfortunately, it rained that day, at times quite hard!  The train was also running a bit more than an hour late when it left Matapédia, which raised the possibility of it short turning at New Carlisle.  I got a number of shots along the way, including this tall wooden trestle just before Caplan.  The silver lining of all the rain was that this shot would be badly backlit if it had been sunny.

As it turned out, despite being late, the decision was made to carry on to Gaspé, so the crews changed off at the division point, and carried on eastward.  In the second image here, they're crossing the impressive bridge (on a grade, no less) across the harbour in Port-Daniel.

Once the train left New Carlisle, I decided that since I had chased the Chaleur many times but had never ridden it, this might be a good time to change that.  I got on the phone and booked a pair of return tickets from Chandler to Gaspé, as we continued the chase.  At first the ticket agent didn't want to sell me the ticket because she thought the train was already past Chandler, but I assured her it was only at Port-Daniel, so she put it through.  We arrived at Chandler a few minutes before the train, for this shot of it arriving, I picked up the ticket from the agent there, and we boarded the Skyline car.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/20 16:39 by cn6218.

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Unlike all the seats in the dome of a Park car, the front seats in the Skyline dome face backwards, so taking pictures out the front requires some contortion.  That's what I was doing as we were about to go through the truss spans at Douglastown on the eastward trip.

The train was well patronized as can be seen at the end of the line in Gaspé.  There was normally about 2 hours in the schedule to get the train turned around (there is a wye about a mile back) and ready to head west to the connection with the Ocean that night in Matapédia.  The crew only had about 40 minutes, but even included washing the dome windows before we left.  We grabbed a very quick cheeseburger and Pepsi from the marina canteen nearby, where the person working the window seemed to know less English than I knew French, so they were subjected to my meagre French.

It rained even harder on the way back!

GTD

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Excellent.
Bob

Very nice!  Did the ride Montreal to Gaspe a few years before it was cut.  Remember a great salmon dinner in the Skyline and wonderful scenery along the water.

Chased it in winter, nice set, thanks.

Bob

robj Wrote:
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> Chased it in winter, nice set, thanks.
>
> Bob

The winter was a nice time for a chase, although the days are short.  I've got a few scenes from the winter of 2011 to post in the next week or so.

GTD

My Gaspe train ! This brings back lots of good memories.
I love the shot of the train at the end of the trip with the station in the back round...
It burnt down about 10 years ago I think , so the picture is "priceless".
Via rebuilt the station but I don't ever think it has seen a "Via" train because they stopped running around the time it was rebuilt.
I think it was used for the tourist train to Perce Rock?
Does anybody have a picture of the new Gaspe station?
Thank you for bringing back all of those great memories of the Gaspe train!!! :):):)

The VIA station didn't exactly burn down, but it was torched and unusable on my last visit up there with the Chaleur.  

The last pictures I have of VIA at the Gaspé station are in 2011.  From then until July, 2013 they only ran as far as New Carlisle because they wouldn't run passenger trains over the bridges until they were fixed to VIA's standards.

But that didn't stop SFG from deadheading L'Amiral equipment out to Gaspé to be used for the cruise ship season in 2013.  By that time the new station had been finished, but I don't think VIA had any involvement with it.  Other than the large VIA sign out by the road, the new structure doesn't have any VIA signage at all (or at least it didn't when I was there in 2013).  Here's the new "Intermodal Transportation Centre" with L'Amiral ready to depart on an excursion to Barrachois on September 22, 2013.

Things went from bad to worse with the bridges, and even L'Amiral didn't operate the next year.  RS-18-3 1849 sat there at the station until 2017 when SFG needed more power, so it was dismantled and trucked to New Richmond where they put it back together again.  Unfortunately, all that time stored next to the salt water didn't do it any favours.  It had a main generator failure shortly after being put back to work.  I've haven't seen it since then, but I understand it is back in service on the SFG.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/20 14:15 by cn6218.

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Thank you for all of that information Geoff.
I think the main bridges that were causing most of the trouble were at "Haldimand" beach bridge crossing the St. Jean river just outside of Gaspe.
Then there was a huge curved trestle between "Barachois" and "Bridgeville". I think.
Then the other trestle was right after you left  the Perce station for Gaspe.
I can't remeber if they were made of steel or were wooden? Can you help me out  these? I know the Haldimand beach bridge is  made of steel.
Another thing is the windmill blades they make in Gaspe and are trucked up to New Richmond or New Carlisle and then loaded on to flatcars for shipment.
Is this correct?
I know the Quebec government rebuilt the line down to Port Daniel because they are shipping some sort of cement by- product if I'm correct?
I think the Quebec government committed $100 million about a year ago to finish the line to Gaspe in about 3 years if I remeber?
Sorry about all of the questions...:):):)
 

All the big trestles are steel.  The one at Caplan is the highest wooden one, although the ones on the approaches at St-jules-de-Cascapedia may be longer, but they are in the process of being replaced now.

Windmill blades are manufactured near Gaspe, and they could travel out all the way by rail, including the tunnel at Port-Daniel, if all the bridges were in good shape.  For now, they are trucked to New Richmond, which is the end of operable track.

The trestle at Perce was being worked on during my last visit in 2013.  I'm not sure about the big curved one in the woods, because you can't get very close to it.  The train didn't seem to slow down much when it crossed however.

The bridge at Haldimand is a problem, not so much because of the steel, but the piers it sits on.  That may be a long expensive process to fix.  The bridge at Chandler had similar issues, but it has been fixed up, although the track along the beach was badly washed out during a winter storm in 2017.

More money was announced a month or so ago, and the plan is to have the line upgraded for 286K cars all the way to Port-Daniel ASAP.  Cement is mined and refined there.  2025 is still the target for getting the whole line operational, and 2024 for Gaspe to Barrachois so L'Amiral can operate again.

Of course, all that was before COVID-19.

GTD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/20 18:42 by cn6218.

Your vertical on the wooden trestle might be the prettiest shot of a VIA 6400 I have ever seen; it's perfect!
Fred

You are treasure trove of information for me ! :)
Thank you for the information on the Halidimand bridge always intrigued me.
I can remember walking across that bridge as ai kid( didn't know any better :):):)) and the tide going in and out was pretty "nasty" under that bridge .
I wouldn't wanted to have fallen in there!!!
It must have under mined the supports?
If I'm still around in 2024 or 2025 I hope Via brings back my Gaspe train I'm hopefully going to be able go on it.!
You are welcomed join me too !!! :):):)

cn6218 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All the big trestles are steel.  The one at
> Caplan is the highest wooden one, although the
> ones on the approaches at St-jules-de-Cascapedia
> may be longer, but they are in the process of
> being replaced now.
>
> Windmill blades are manufactured near Gaspe, and
> they could travel out all the way by rail,
> including the tunnel at Port-Daniel, if all the
> bridges were in good shape.  For now, they are
> trucked to New Richmond, which is the end of
> operable track.
>
> The trestle at Perce was being worked on during my
> last visit in 2013.  I'm not sure about the big
> curved one in the woods, because you can't get
> very close to it.  The train didn't seem to slow
> down much when it crossed however.
>
> The bridge at Haldimand is a problem, not so much
> because of the steel, but the piers it sits on. 
> That may be a long expensive process to fix.  The
> bridge at Chandler had similar issues, but it has
> been fixed up, although the track along the beach
> was badly washed out during a winter storm in
> 2017.
>
> More money was announced a month or so ago, and
> the plan is to have the line upgraded for 286K
> cars all the way to Port-Daniel ASAP.  Cement is
> mined and refined there.  2025 is still the
> target for getting the whole line operational, and
> 2024 for Gaspe to Barrachois so L'Amiral can
> operate again.
>
> Of course, all that was before COVID-19.
>
> GTD

>If I'm still around in 2024 or 2025 I hope Via brings back my Gaspe train I'm hopefully going to be able go on it.!
>You are welcomed join me too !!! :):):)

I hope to be around for that day too.  This time I'll ride the whole thing first, rather than chasing it.  I don't think VIA has written off the route entirely.  It's still just "suspended".  Right now, they have bigger things to worry about though.

GTD

This was a train that was packed full of GREAT scenery on its way from Matapedia to Gaspe. Rode it several times right till it its end. Glad I got the chance. Hopefully I get to take the train to Churchill before it is discontinued! Missed the Vancouver Island RDC's - the Malahat.