Canadian Railroads > A Surprise at Aulac

Aulac, in the southeastern corner of New Brunswick, used to have a short siding where the Ocean and Scotian would frequently meet.  Once the Scotian was discontinued, there was no need for it, and any meets could use the longer sidings at Sackville, NB or Amherst, NS.

The former siding was on the Tantramar Marsh, a place where the wind is always blowing, and perhaps as a consequence, the trees have not yet taken over, leaving a wide open vista.  On August 21, 2017 I was there to record the passage of VIA 14, the eastbound Ocean.  I'd been tipped off that it had some extra cars, but didn't really know what to expect.  Although VIA has banned private cars from being hauled behind the Park cars on the Ocean and Canadian, they don't seem to have a problem substituting a Skyline, and then tacking their own cars on the rear.  Apparently these were for some sort of VIA function going on in Halifax (AGM perhaps?).  They deadheaded back to Montreal a few days later.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/20 07:34 by cn6218.

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Wonderful view of the whole train!  And the others really accentuate the different profiles of the Ren cars (a fascinating story, I think) vs the standard equipment.

And yes, the brush free view is nice.  We have too few places like that this side of the border, too.

Andy

Thanks for posting these great photos. Nine sleepers is impressive.

There was a function of some sort in Halifax. The honoured guests were to be piped into the station. The Ocean was delayed and arrived in Halifax after dark. I don't know if the piper waited for the late arrival. There was a video on-line of the train's arrival. Then CEO Yves Desjardins-Siciliano looked rather embarrassed as he led his guests down the platform.