From Beresford to Blue Mountain Pit

This will be my last post in New Brunswick as tomorrow morning I will be leaving for Calgary. I think I still have two more to post after this about NB and then it will be back to posting about trains in the Prairies and Rockies. Actually I should be able to do a couple of outings to chase CPR 2816 Empress. For now back to todays adventures.

The day started by waking up early around 8:00 in the morning. I had not planned for another full day of railfaning for today, but it ended up being just that. The other full was on the first of this month with a post to come. I did however miss 3 trains, NBEC 402, NBEC 587 and VIA 15. At around 8:45 I went to the station to find out if VIA Ocean 14 would arrive on time and quickly found out that it would arrive at 9:20. After snapping a few shots in town, I jumped in the truck and booted it to Nepisiguit Junction. This not so much a good place to catch the 14 anymore, as there seem to always be some bulk wood cars on the siding. The consist was VIA 6400 in the lead with new paint scheme, 6406 Spiderman, 16 cars and Evangeline Park tailgating.

At about 12:30, I heard what sound like a very large diesel engine. I jumped in the truck to go see what was at the station. It was the Bathurst yard switcher 597, NBEC unit 1849. I was sitting in front of the station with the engine off. I took a couple of pictures and headed home to eat. I also noticed that it started to make up a train for the incoming 403 later this afternoon.

At around 13:30 I headed back to the station hoping to catch 587 coming in, but instead it was 597. I later found out that it had dropped 3 bulk wood cars in Beresford on a siding by the propane dealer. At this point my sister was chasing with me, and this is where I got my new scanner setup as well, a uniden BC246T. Not a bad little piece of equipment. It was a little more fun now, as I could finally know what everyone was up to. We quickly found out that 597 was shunting and getting things ready for 586.

So we hung around for a bit more since we heard on the scanner that 403 was coming in, and it showed up around 15:20 to pick it's load. I was surprised to see that it was only the power, CFMG 6908 and NBEC 1868. So it went by to hook up to the front of the train that 597 had put out earlier. We headed for the St. Anne bridge to take a few shots.

Some shots from the bridge of 403 coupling to the train bound for Campbelton.

My sister heard on the scanner that they would be leaving in about 10 to 15 minutes, so I figured we would head out that way at a not so "speedingly" pace. When we got there there were 3 bulk wood cars on the siding there waiting to be off loaded. All CFMG cars with numbers 690107, 690154, 690174. Shortly after a wood truck showed up and started to off load the cars.

About 15 minutes later, 403 came rumbling by. The consist was 42 cars, 12 of those were wood chip cars. There were also a total of 7 center beam flats, 13 gondolas, 6 cement hoppers, 1 tank and 3 box cars. After it went by we went home for supper.

At around 18:50, we heard the diesel engines but not the scanner as the volume was way down. I figured that this was 586. We headed out again and went to meet it at Nepisiguit Junction. There were still 5 bulk wood cars of which I didn't get the numbers. The power was CFQC 3000 and NBEC 1821. The consist was 31 ore hopper, 3 covered gondolas, and 6 cement hoppers.

I jumped in the truck to meet it at the first crossing on my way to Blue Mountain Pit.

Then we went to Blue Mountain Pit. The light was getting dim and I was hoping that I would not have any motion blur. Alas, this would not be the case. You can see the blurring on the handrail at the front of 3000. This was unfortunate, but all in all it was a good day of railfaning.

See you back in Calgary!

Cheers,

586 @ Nepisiguit Junction

August 19th, 2008

I'm staying at my parents house for my holidays, and they just happen to be not too far from the train station in Bathurst on Riverside Drive. I was at the house when I heard the sound of a very large diesel engine. I figured I'd take a quick drive to the station. There I saw NBEC 1868 & 1813 hooking up the last few cars to make train 586 and getting ready to head up to Brunswick Mines with a load of empties. I headed straight for Nepisiguit Junction.

I arrived there 20 minutes ahead of 586 and saw on the siding 2 CFMG bulk wood cars, numbers 690151 and 690117. One was about 3/4 loaded with 8' poles and the other about full. Here's a few shots of them.

I think that the siding these cars were on, at one time went up to about or a bit past the switch coming from Bathurst station as part of an old siding. But I admit that I could be wrong. You can view an older picture of Nepisiguit Junction on Steve Boyko's New Brunswick Railways web site which, I might add, I enjoy perusing a great deal.

As I waited, I snapped a few other random shots of track, ballast and ties. Alot of them didn't turn out good because I was snapping pictures as the camera was hanging around my neck.

At 19:30, I saw the lights of engine 1868 come around the bend in the distance. A quick stop to align the switch for the Brunswick Mines spur, and they were on their way again. I thought of catching them at Blue Mountain Pit, but the light at this time of years fades away early.

Cheers,