Canadian Railroads > The Railroad Never Sleeps

15 years ago I contributed to a book project called The Railroad Never Sleeps, one of those "Day in the Life" type things, but focused on railways across North America.  The date, May 10, was chosen because it was the anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental railroad (UP/CPRR).  The various photographers collected images from the 24 hours (local time) of May 10th, and that turned out to be my first real experience with available light night time photography.  Digital was a big help with that.

I started just after midnight in Truro, NS, and then moved east to Cape Breton to pick up the CBNS Sydney job, 301, which was making the twice-a-week trip to Port Hawkesbury that day.  Here are a trio of pictures that didn't make the cut for the book, starting with 301 picking up gons of scrap from a yard near the old VIA station in North Sydney at 11:15.  The station hadn't been used for passengers since the VIA cuts of 1990, but the edge of the platform is still visible in this scene.

While the crew got the train back together, I couldn't resist getting a shot of local landmark A&K Lick-a-Chick in Little Bras d'Or, before the chase along the lake to Grand Narrows.  A&K tried setting up a franchise in Halifax during the 1980s, but it never really caught on, the one shown here remains as a unique operation.

Just past Grand Narrows and Iona on the Bras d'Or Lakes is this giant gypsum outcropping at Gillis Beach.  Gypsum is pretty soft, so the original contractors must have had an easy time digging the ledge that the track runs along, but they had to dump some rip rap over the side in later years to prevent the lake from eroding it away.  GP38-2 LLPX 2269 and GP40u GEXR 4022 were tracing the edge of the cliff at 13:18.

If you're interested in checking out the rest of the photos from the day, it looks like new and used copies are still available from Amazon.  The RR Never Sleeps was edited by Brian Solomon and published by Voyageur Press.

GTD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/22 18:08 by cn6218.

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cn6218 Wrote:
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> While the crew got the train back together, I
> couldn't resist getting a shot of local landmark
> A&K Lick-a-Chick in Little Bras d'Or, before the
> chase along the lake to Grand Narrows.  A&K tried
> setting up a franchise in Halifax during the
> 1980s, but it never really caught on, the one
> shown here remains as a unique operation.

> GTD

LOL!!  Classic sign.  Thats another side hobby of railfanning.  I've seen and photographed several that made me say to myself "what were they thinking?"  Once saw a small pharmacy in semi rural Nevada and all the store sign said was "DRUGS".  And a "womens doctor" is rural Northern California who's name above the office door was Dr. Seymore B****r.  I have the slides to prove it!

Allen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/22 10:59 by bradleymckay.

Pic 3 is nice...