Canadian Railroads > 1+1+1 = 120

CN motive power management seems to have been very conservative in the last few decades.  They were the last in North America to embrace AC traction and DPU operation.  It's a bit of a surprise, considering how the railway was on the leading edge with safety cabs and cowl freight diesels in the '70s and '80s.  Although train 120 doesn't always run with distributed power, lately it's had three single AC units spread out in its 2-mile or more length.  April 24 was one of those days, with ES44ACs 2885, 2939 and 2888 dispersed throughout the train, as it traveled the curved causeway across Moirs Mill Pond in Bedford, NS at 13:56.

GTD

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On April 28, the same routine was in effect, although the train was earlier, passing mile 25 of the Bedford Sub near Grand Lake, at 10:45.  Once again, GE ACs powered the train, 3265, 3041 and 3870.

GTD

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And on an unrelated note, we're now in the official high sun season here in Nova Scotia.  Even though the sun had been lighting the train strongly from the side here at 10:45, by the time 511 was coming back to Dartmouth from the gypsum mine at 12:25, the sun was mostly on the nose and high enough to cast deep shadows under the radiators of SD70M-2 8810.

GTD

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I thought these #120 trains, being the only eastbound train, was a mix of intermodal and carload traffic.  In these photos, they look like they are only intermodal; are they running another train now?

Just pure speculatioin here:  I wonder if CN ran this train hot and at a more reasonable size, if this train could arrive earlier in the morning so the domestic intermodal could be made available earlier that morning, thus ensuring that this business would be available to their customers on the same day - maybe they could generate more business?

I'm pretty sure 120 is always just intermodal west of Moncton, but if there are junk cars to go to Halifax, they are put on there.  So some days it's all intermodal, and others there is a mix.  Things could no doubt move more quickly if they didn't insist on having such long trains, but that is not the operating philosophy at CN these days.  121 can't even leave Moncton until 120 arrives there because there is no place to meet two 12,000 ft. trains on the Napadogan Sub.  20 years ago, it was normal for the intermodal traffic to arrive and be spotted at HIT around daybreak, but now they don't seem to care.  It will frequently sit in Rockingham until some time in the afternoon before one of the yard jobs will spot it and pick up cars for that night's 121.

And the 1+1+1 configuration is far from being a rule.  Yesterday's 120 had 2 ACs up front and another in the middle.   On May 4th it was three, all on the front.  The trains are fairly consistently 2 miles or more long.

GTD

In Montreal, 120 is intermodal only.

Ray