Canadian Railroads > Chasing 120

The big train into Halifax each day, CN 120, is "scheduled" to arrive in Rockingham at 10:30, but it's sometimes earlier than that, and often later (it's a broad target).  February 5, 2017 was one of those "later" days, with 120 blasting through Oxford Jct., NS at 10:04, still roughly 100 miles from Halifax.  Oxford Jct. was once a VIA passenger stop and was also the connection to the "short line" Oxford Sub, which roughly followed the Northumberland Shore through Oxford, Tatamagouche and Pictou to connect with the Hopewell Sub in Stellarton, NS.  It was abandoned in the mid '80s, but a vestige of it remained to serve the salt mine in Pugwash, until highway construction severed the track.  A transload was setup at the junction for a few years, but even that has fallen into disuse.  The closest track in the second image is the backtrack, where frozen onions are unloaded to go to Oxford Frozen Foods.  Although the siding is still in place, and recently was equipped with new LED signals, its use is discouraged because Oxford Jct. is in a low spot on the track, and somebody calculated that it cost hundreds of dollars in extra fuel consumption for a freight to enter, stop and then leave the siding.

An hour and a half later, the same train was passing the mile 59 defect detector on the Bedford Sub in Hilden, and would be in Rockingham a little more than an hour later.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/21 15:40 by cn6218.

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