Canadian Railroads > Top and Bottom of the Hill

John Reay already featured these two trains, Thanksgiving weekend down east (trainorders.com), but in his case they were about 6 hours apart.  For me, there was less than an hour from the time 120 arrived in Rockingham, and 407 left, on October 9, 2021.

Just before 11:00, 120 was rolling across the causeway at Rocky Lake, about mile 14 of the Bedford Sub.  The four GEs, 2285, 2299, 2289 and 2605 were just about to start the descent to sea level and give their dynamic brakes a good workout on the 1.5% grade.

Waiting  for them on the main line at Millview (mile 8) was 407, more modestly powered by 2321 and 5763, but with over 8000 feet of double-stacks tied on behind.  As soon as 120 had cleared the switch at Millview onto the Transfer Track, 407 got a green light and took a run at the hill.  They hit the bridge (about mile 10.5) at 11:43, doing about 30 mph, but by the time the last car went by (there was no DPU) I would guess they were down to less than half that speed.  As John's photo showed, they did make it up the hill in Bedford, and then Folly Mountain a couple hours later, but luckily there was no pickup that day in Truro.

GTD

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