Canadian Railroads > March 8 in Truro, NS

Even without VIA operating the Ocean these days, Truro, NS can get a bit busy around lunch time.  Truro was once much busier than it is now, with four different railway lines converging there.  The CN Springhill, Hopewell and Bedford Subs all connected, leading northwest, east and south, while the DAR Truro Sub also provided a cross country connection to Windsor, NS to the west.  The DAR line has been gone since 1985, and the Hopewell Sub became the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia in 1993.

After I shot 120 in Brentwood on March 8 (see posting from a couple days ago),  they met 407 in the siding at Alton.  407 is the daily morning train out of Dartmouth, hauling mostly autoracks and various other freight from that side of Halifax Harbour.  Just after noon, 407 was pulling past the idle VIA station at the junction of the Bedford and Springhill Subs.  They would pull past the "A Yard" lead about half a mile ahead, and then back the entire train into an empty track in the yard.

Meanwhile, CBNS 305 had just arrived in the yard from Stellarton.  In addition to loads of paper and wallboard from the Strait, they had empty carbon black cars from Michelin in Pictou Co. and loads of lumber and woodchips from an Irving mill just east of Truro.  They left their train at the west end of an empty track, and then proceeded to run down to the east end of the yard to make their pickup.

There was a discussion on the radio with the CN crew about which tracks were empty and where the pickup was for each train.  The CBNS crew headed east down the only open track, while 407 backed in behind them on the same track.  Unseen in the last photo is 306's (number changes in Truro) pickup behind me at the extreme east end of the yard.  CN's pickup in Truro almost always goes right behind the power.  That way the cars out of Dartmouth stay intact, and they don't have to do the SBU test over again.

GTD

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