Canadian Railroads > Ballast Extra on CN

After Hurricane Juan hit Halifax in October of 2003, CN had some major repair work to do on the Bedford Sub where it runs along the Bedford Basin.  The north track had been badly undermined by wave action, and although the roadbed was restored, the north track between mile 8 and Bedford Quarry never saw a train again.  During the repairs, C44-9WL 2502 was assigned to work train duty with ballast cars, shown here near mile 9 of the south track, on November 8, 2003.

Later the same day they were back at Bedford Quarry (Municipal Spraying and Contracting) to refill the ballast cars.  Some side dump cars of rip rap are also visible in the background.

Although there is easy access to the quarry here, there doesn't seem to be much rock being loaded any longer.  The tracks shown are now used by General Liquids Canada for unloading asphalt from tankers, and there is a new switchback off one of them towards the quarry, but CN seems to be getting ballast somewhere else these days.

GTD

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I hated ballast trains, short, heavy and poor braking.
Doug

That's a really nice second shot!
Fred