Canadian Railroads > CN Business Train Visits Halifax

CN ran one of its business trains from Montreal to Halifax over the last two days.  The trip had been anticipated for a several days, and was well documented by lineside observers.  I stayed around town for Z120's arrival, but then headed towards Truro to find P688.  I heard one side of a conversation with the RTC and realized they were traveling a lot faster than I'm used to with freight trains.  I had been hoping to intercept them at Brookfield (mile 56) but heard the RTC talking to them about the mile 59 detector well before I got anywhere near there.  Shubenacadie was the next likely spot and I heard the mile 44 detector go off, clocking them at 64 mph and 32 axles, shortly after I exited the highway.  They are shown here leaving Shubie behind, and then approaching a clear signal for Milford, about mile 39 of the Bedford Sub.

I was able to travel faster than the train on Hwy 102, but not by much.  I had less than a 5 minute wait before shooting this video at Birch Cove, about mile 7.

GTD

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The train consisted of relatively new AC44C6M 3309 (rebuilt from Dash-9 2598) and 6 cars:

Fraser Spirit, generator, CN 1710
Baton Rouge, sleeper, IC 800210
American Spirit, dome-lounge-observation, CN 99
Tawaw, reception/marketing, CN 1059
Champlain, parlour/buffet, IC 101314
Sandford Fleming, observation theatre, IC 800653

The train entered Pace Yard, and the passengers and crew disembarked there.  Somebody had a special "PPE-FREE ZONE" sandwich board made up at the steps of the passenger car so the VIPs wouldn't have to comply with normal safety rules.  As the last of the VIPs were getting into limos at the yard office, VIA 15, the Ocean was leaving town on the main line.  The Yard Coordinator had them use a little bell and horn action while passing the office so as to not collide with any pedestrians.

GTD

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Cool stuff!

Here's my shot from a heavily overcast Springhill Junction.
And a shot when it was coupled to the end of 120 on a previous trip. Sept 18th, 2023.
Also another shot before the 3309 received the wafer logo. August 25th, 2023.

...John Reay, Springhill NS



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/24 08:55 by newtonville150.

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Great shots and video, Geoff!

texchief1

Nice pictures! Very nice!!! Thanks for sharing!

Does anyone know how many business cars CN has in its fleet? Is there just one fleet - based out of Canada? Seems to me they had fewer in their fleet than some of the other Class 1 railroads. 

There appear to be about a dozen cars in the fleet that could be considered "business cars", according to the 2024 Trackside Guide.  It lists them under "Work Service Cars" which also includes air repeater, autonomous track geometry, and distributed braking cars, which don't look anything like passenger cars.  I find it notable that parlour car Champlain is 100 years old, having been built in 1924 for the Illinois Central.

GTD