Canadian Railroads > Big Pond, Cape Breton

On the most northern rails in Nova Scotia, CBNS train 302 was skirting Big Pond, between the communities of Florence and Sydney Mines, on August 13, 2014.  This would turn out to be the last large train I photographed on CBNS on Cape Breton Island, although Sydney Coal Railway is still running 20-car coal shuttles farther to the east these days.  Polyester rope manufacturer Copol Industries was stocking up on plastic pellets (the covered hoppers) and the boxcars may have been building supplies for businesses in the area.  The track runs along a beach here, with the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the other side.  

The last train from Sydney ran in 2016, cleaning up a few empty cars that had delivered goods.  The track is still in place, but no maintenance has been done and it is badly overgrown and washed out in many places.  With the steel mill and coal mines gone, there just isn't enough heavy industry to support 100 miles of railway running across the Island.

GTD

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Superior scenic image!
Bob

Nice catch. That coal shuttle must have been what I saw from the cruise ship last year?
JB

That's a nice scene.

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> Nice catch. That coal shuttle must have been what
> I saw from the cruise ship last year?
> JB

Yes, green and yellow GP38-2s and hoppers.  The coal-fired power plant it supplies is supposed to be phased out in another two years, so that operation is on borrowed time too.  Unfortunately it's a long way to drive only to find out that they are shut down for track maintenance (it has happened!).

GTD