Canadian Railroads > GP50s on the CBNS

After the last of the MLW Centuries was retired on the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway in 1998, the road trains were hauled by a fleet of 6 GP50s.  These had most recently operated on the Indiana & Ohio, but as their green paint implies, they had once been owned by Burlington Northern.  In fact their history is a little more complex than that, since they were actually ordered by the Frisco, but were delivered to the BN in 1980.  

Two thirds of the CBNS roster is shown here at Aulds Cove, on the mainland side of the Canso Causeway, with train 306, bound for Port Hawkesbury.  Although the Hopewell and Sydney Subs were dark territory for the most part, 5009 is about to pass the eastward approach signal to the swing bridge over the Canso Canal at the other end of the causeway.  A signal maintainer described the interlocking here and at the Grand Narrows bridge as "modified ABS", but it seems more like CTC, since there was a display board associated with it, and the route had to be set up by an operator before the train could pass.  There were power operated split rail derails on both sides of the swing bridges to prevent running through the open bridge.  

Before CBNS took over the track from CN, the signals were deactivated and derails removed.  Trains had to get verbal permission from the bridge operator and had to come to a full stop before proceeding across the bridges.

The GP50s lasted for a few more years before being sent back to Ohio and being replaced by SD45-2s.  During their stay in Nova Scotia, most got 5000-series numbers, instead of the BN thirty-one hundreds, and CBNS reporting marks.

GTD

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Interesting shot!