Canadian Railroads > Z121 Out of Halifax in the Morning

As John Reay noted, there have been some X123 trains out of Halifax recently (latest one was yesterday).  These are usually scheduled quite early in the morning, often before daybreak.  But an even rarer morning Z121 ran back on February 10, after failing to get out of town the night before.  We were in the middle of a cold snap here at the time, but once CN had a rested crew available, they decided to run a monster 13,800 ft. train, with 4 units up front and 2 separate DPUs.  Although the crew had been called for 03:15, various problems assembling it and air tested meant they didn't actually get away from Pace Yard until just after 08:00.  The first photo here has them about an hour after that, approaching Stewiacke, NS with a solid train of containers.

Z120 was late that day, but still in the picture.  A meet was set up for Springhill Jct., and Z120 took the siding there about 10:45, while L507, which had left Dartmouth that morning at its normal time (about 07:00).  Z120 ran up to the east end of the 11,350 ft. siding and 507 told them they were about 4 cars past the light, as the manifest headed west to Moncton on the main line.

After waiting for about half an hour, Z121 showed up at 11:26.  It was snowing lightly now, but I waited as 3099, 3924, 3148 and 3217 rolled underneath the Hwy. 4 overpass.

GTD

---

---

---

Z121 had a mid-train DPU, ET44AC 3153 (not pictured), and a DPU on the end of the train, ES44AC 2758 (former CREX 1211).  I was a bit surprised that the train had no marker, since the ex-CREX units don't have the red lights that the CN units do.  Not even a dim headlight, as far as I could tell.

With the weather getting thicker at this point, I decided the best course of action would be to follow Z120 back to Halifax.  I waited at MP 54 for them (about 4 miles east of Springhill Jct.) until they went under the Hwy. 142 Springhill Connector.  I had a surprisingly long wait, but the train had been stopped on a 1% uphill grade, so it probably took a while to get moving again, and they would have been limited to 15 mph going through the switch at the east end anyway.

The track and highway diverge after Salt Springs (mile 53) so rather than try to drive into Oxford Jct., I went directly to the east end of Folly Lake.  I could hear the SBU a few miles away as they climbed the mountain, and I was less than 5 minutes ahead of them before I got this shot of them passing the new signals at the east end of Folly Lake at 12:31, about mile 23.

Other than getting a bad light in Truro because a foreman hadn't cleared yet, Z120 made good time to Halifax, and I got one last shot near mile 7.5, at 14:26, as 3245, 3933 and 2952 rolled along the Halifax Transfer Track.  3829 was the single mid-train DPU.

GTD

 

---

---

---

Awesome photos in the frigid conditions!

Thanks for being there to get these,

Rich

cn6218 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As John Reay noted, there have been some X123
> trains out of Halifax recently (latest one was
> yesterday).  These are usually scheduled quite
> early in the morning, often before daybreak.  But
> an even rarer morning Z121 ran back on February
> 10

I stood on the bridge as in your third photo waiting
for X123 on Saturday. In the end the cold got to me,
so we re-positioned to the turnaround at the end
of winter road maintenance visible in that same photo
and just watched X123 take the siding before moving
again to shoot the video I posted of Z120.

Incidently I was able to receive the Thomson Station
defect detector from the bridge that day.

...jr



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/25 08:35 by newtonville150.

These are all great!

mike woodruff
north platte ne

Outstanding bunch!
JB

newtonville150 Wrote:

> Incidently I was able to receive the Thomson
> Station
> defect detector from the bridge that day.
>

It seems like radio signals travel better in damp weather: rain or snow.  I'm not sure what the explanation for that is.

GTD

Photo 5 is killer, with the heat-shimmered signal and perfect exposure - saturated but not dark. Kudos!
Fred

Excellent set, Geoff!

texchief1

Well done series!

feclark Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Photo 5 is killer, with the heat-shimmered signal
> and perfect exposure - saturated but not dark.
> Kudos!
> Fred

I agree.

..jr

Nice shots!!