Canadian Railroads > DINA on the Windsor & Hantsport, 20 Years Ago

CTC Board Magazine used to run an annual feature called Day in North America, with readers contributing pictures, all taken on the same day.  Traditionally that was always a Saturday, but when PD Schneider took over the reins he shook up a lot of readers with some changes, including designating DINA on a weekday in 2005.  Not only was it a weekday, it was also one of the shortest days of the year, making it even more difficult to get out for some pictures.  To be honest, I kind of welcomed the change, because the Windsor & Hantsport was usually shut down on the weekends, and my work schedule was flexible enough to get a weekday off, here and there.

So on the morning of December 28, 2005 I loaded up the car and headed up to Windsor, NS to catch the first train out of the mine that morning.  Extra 4013 West got to Hantsport about 11:00, where RS-23 8042 was waiting to pull the first cut of loaded hoppers into the dumper.  Once the MLW was out of the way, GP9RMs 4011 and 4013 would couple onto 20 empties from the day before and head back to the mine as Extra 4013 East.

By 14:00 the pair was back in Windsor with the second loaded train, and about to enter the main line from the Truro Spur.  The track in the foreground was the former main line, which had gone through town, crossing the Avon River upstream of the present causeway, built in 1970.  I did manage one shot of the third train that day, at 16:30 just as the sun was setting, but it was pretty dim.  The WHRC limped along for another 5 years until the bottom fell out of the gypsum market and the whole operation was shut down (although not officially abandoned).

GTD

 

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Nice pair. No mention if you got picked?
JB

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> Nice pair. No mention if you got picked?
> JB

I was published that year.  PDS added an odd twist to the requirements: You had to submit 3 photos, and only 3.  It was an all or nothing deal.  Either he selected 3 or none to publish.

That requirement may have ticked some people off, and I suspect the overall bar was lower than usual that year, but it is what it was.

I had lots of photos from that day, so these two are not from the three I submitted.

GTD