Canadian Railroads > Another Road Trip - 20 Years Ago

20 years ago today I made a trip up to Pictou and Antigonish Counties to chase the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia eastbound freight, 306.  CBNS generally used 3 of their 4 leased SD45-2s on the road freights, and it seemed like the only one not in purple Helm paint, 912, was always leading.  January 15, 2003 was no exception, but at least their was plenty of clean snow on the ground and enough sunshine to expose a few rolls of Kodachrome.

The train got away from New Glasgow at 09:55, and less than an hour later they were charging up the hill at Marshy Hope, with a train of mostly empties.

In the second image they are stopped in Antigonish at 11:15, just short of the old CN station (now a museum).  There was a small wood yard there, and eastbound would often drop empties with westbound trains picking up loads of logs on the return trip.  But it doesn't look like any work was done this day.  There was also a nearby Tim Hortons, and it's likely that this was a stop for sustenance rather than work.

In the final frame, 306 is arriving at Havre Boucher at 12:40, the division point between the Hopewell and Sydney Subs, and usually the terminus for 306.  However on this day the 3 SD45-2s, along with the empty hoppers on the headpin and two flatcars continued on to Port Hawkesbury.  Switching between Havre Boucher and Pt. Tupper was usually done by local 701.  The yard at Havre Boucher was created in 1955 with the building of the Canso Causeway, and the new track that connected it to the Hopewell Sub at Linwood Jct.

GTD

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Those SD45's look great.  Thanks for your excellent photo posting.
ALLEN

Very nice..!!