Canadian Railroads > More Odds and Ends from the Bay of Chaleur

To follow up on a post last month, https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4998280,4998280#msg-4998280, here are a few more photos from a trip in February, 2011 that haven't seen the light of day yet, but may be interesting to some.

We had good weather on February 17, but a late train, which meant they only went as far as New Carlisle (the division point) and turned the train there for the return trip.  Although there is a wye at New Carlisle, it has a very short tail track, so only the engine and 3 cars can fit.  After turning the first three cars (baggage, coach and Skyline), F40 6424 is running back light on the west leg to go around the wye again and pick up the remaining two Chateau sleepers.  In the second image, the sleepers are being shoved out the tail track before 6424 pulls forward on the west leg to the main line again.

In the last image, the sleepers are being shoved past one of the snow plows in the New Carlisle yard.  Once the train was back together again in the right order, the crews just parked it on the main line and then left for home.  The crew which had run the train that morning from Matapédia, would be back that evening to take the Chaleur west again.  The crew that would have gone to Gaspé, after assisting with the turning of the train, had the rest of the day off.

GTD 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/20 16:03 by cn6218.

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Nice shots Geoff.....and being from coal mining Pictou County I love seeing those old hoppers!

Great set of images.
Bob

The next day there was no Chaleur to chase, but we did document the freight activities on both sides of the Bay.  At 07:48 that morning, RS-18us 1849 and 1819 were switching at Temrex in Nouvelle before making a trip to Matapédia with lumber and woodchips.  After dropping their loads for CN to pick up later, SFG train 575 is heading back towards Nouvelle with empties at Listiguj, just before noon.

At that point we took the bridge across the river to Campbellton, and followed CN 574 east as they worked their way to Bathurst in a worsening snowstorm.  The final image here is GP38-2 4706 and GP9RM 4115 crossing the coastal highway near Jaquet River at 15:34.  There was one more shot at Irvco (lumber yard, NB Power and Xstrata smelter) before we turned around and headed for Pizza Delight in Campbellton.

GTD

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ghCBNS Wrote:
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> Nice shots Geoff.....and being from coal mining
> Pictou County I love seeing those old hoppers!

Those particular ones were for ballast, but from the frame up, they look just like those once ubiquitous CN 3-bay hoppers I remember from the '60s and '70s.  Do you know if regular hoppers were rebuilt for ballast service, or were these just a variation on the design?  They disappeared pretty fast in Halifax once they orange ones came on the scene in the '70s.  I do remember CN hauling one or two of those each day out of the Drummond Mine in Westville as late as the '80s.

GTD

Thank you for sharing more photos of the Gaspe train! :)
I have question for you if you don't mind? 
Just wondering where "Irvco" is ? I tried google earth and couldn't find it...
I used to sail into "Belledune " for Shell oil between 1980 to 1987 is this "Irvco" that you refer to?
Thank you...:):):)

cn6218 Wrote:
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> The next day there was no Chaleur to chase, but we
> did document the freight activities on both sides
> of the Bay.  At 07:48 that morning, RS-18us 1849
> and 1819 were switching at Temrex in Nouvelle
> before making a trip to Matapédia with lumber and
> woodchips.  After dropping their loads for CN to
> pick up later, SFG train 575 is heading back
> towards Nouvelle with empties at Listiguj, just
> before noon.
>
> At that point we took the bridge across the river
> to Campbellton, and followed CN 574 east as they
> worked their way to Bathurst in a worsening
> snowstorm.  The final image here is GP38-2 4706
> and GP9RM 4115 crossing the coastal highway near
> Jaquet River at 15:34.  There was one more shot
> at Irvco (lumber yard, NB Power and Xstrata
> smelter) before we turned around and headed for
> Pizza Delight in Campbellton.
>
> GTD

Irvco is the railway name for the siding and wye just south of Beldune.  Mile 132.1 of the Newcastle Sub.  Technically it's the Irvco Spur that goes to NB Power and the smelter. GTD

Thanks for sharing your images.

That's the first time I've seen a photo showing the Canadian flag between the number boards.  After doing an quick Internet search, I found out that other VIA F40s also got the same treatment.