Canadian Railroads > A Productive Day in Halifax

Date: 09/03/24 13:28
A Productive Day in Halifax
Author: cn6218

Now that the days are shorter I'm usually lucky to just catch Z120 arriving in Halifax some mornings. Its counterpart, Z121, doesn't leave until about 20:00, so it's now dark, or at least shadowy, by that time. But last Thursday was the exception to the rule. Z120 arrived relatively early, 09:14 in Bedford, one of the few places where you can get on the sunny side of the train at that hour of the morning.

A rail train had been working on the Dartmouth Sub the day before, and had come around to Pace Yard (former Rockingham) that night. Train 930 was now almost ready to leave, and I shot them at a new spot near Bedford Quarry at 12:09, under a new overpass that has caused the trees to be cut back somewhat. There was no sun on the front of the train, but it's not every day I get to see a rail train. AS the days get shorter, the sun gets lower, so the underframes were actually fairly well lit for this one.

930 had been told by the RTC to hang back at the crossings in Windsor Jct. because the gypsum train was on the way back to Dartmouth. Since I was already on the road to Waverley, I headed there to shoot 511 at the approach signal to the junction on the Dartmouth Sub. It was only a few minute wait before the pair of ET44ACs and loaded train pulled over the Cobequid Rd. and past signal H17 at 12:22.

GTD

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/24 13:43 by cn6218.

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Date: 09/03/24 13:42
Re: A Productive Day in Halifax
Author: cn6218

Normally that might have been it for the day, but a friend sent a text to say he was working 509 in Dartmouth that night, and he thought they would be ready to pull cars out of Autoport around 18:00. Since he hadn't started his shift yet (15:00) I took that with a grain of salt, but drove over to Dartmouth later that afternoon anyway. Sure enough, shortly after 18:00 they were hauling the first of 8 cuts of cars out of the yard, and tying up traffic at all the crossings! In the first image here, GP40-2Ls 9418 and 9590 are parallel to Pleasant St. at Shearwater. They still had to make a couple more reverse moves at this point to pick up the rest of the cars.

By 19:02, with the train all together, 509 was skirting Dartmouth Cove in Halifax Harbour and passing the former Coast Guard base there. The train is nearing a pedestrian crossing for a new trail that parallels the track, which has been in the news lately. Although the trail is city property, a construction company blocked it off so they could dump fill into the cove. A standoff ensued with the local citizenry (the company doesn't have a permit yet), and the company backed off for the time being.

Finally at 19:09, 509 had dropped the brakeman at the east end and was hauling through Dartmouth Yard to put the train away. I didn't get a count of the cars, but there were probably about 30 on behind the two GP40s. I put away the camera and headed for home to fire up the barbecue!

GTD