Canadian Railroads > CBNS in the Daylight

It's been close to two decades now since I could count on finding a Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia train in the daylight east of Stellarton.  In the days of the Big MLWs, 306 would leave there first thing in the morning, meet 305 on Cape Breton Island about noon, and then 305 would arrive back in Pictou Co. as the sun was setting.  The turn between Stellarton and Truro was at night.  Today that pattern is reversed, and the single train east of Stellarton only goes as far as Havre Boucher anyway.

June 19, 2023 was one of the few exceptions to that rule, when SD40-2 3365, one of four on the railway, made a trip to Port Hawkesbury with a short train in the daylight.  It was an overcast day, but perhaps that was just as well, since they didn't get away until fairly late in the day, so the light would not have been favourable. 

The train is shown here at Marshy Hope at 18:01, just about to cross from Pictou Co. to Antigonish Co.

The next image was taken 20 minutes later as train 306 dropped downgrade in Brierly Brook towards Antigonish.  In the background is the James River gypsum mine, which has sporadically produced gypsum which was then hauled by the CBNS to New Brunswick.

By 19:24 the short train had reached Afton, mile 100 of the Hopewell Sub.  The siding here had been converted to two setout stubs shortly before this visit, leaving the Marshy Hope siding as the only one left on the railway.

GTD

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Nice trio.
JB