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,

VIA Ocean 14 Late Arrival

August 21, 2008

I got up at 7:30, washed up quickly and walked up to the train station to meet VIA 14 the Ocean coming in. I soon found out that it wasn't arriving until 11:40. Late again! It was 1 hour late when I came in from Halifax on the 18th. NBEC must be doing some maintenance work on some of the tracks.

I came back later and grabbed a few shots as it was pulling into the station. The lead was 6421 with 6406 the Spiderman unit following. The sky was nice and blue that morning. I didn't get a car count, but I imagine it would have been about 16 or so.

After that I made a last minute decision to catch it up at Nepisiguit Junction. I was hoping that the CFMG wood cars were gone already. When I arrived I noticed that the first two CFMG wood cars that I wrote about on the 19th were gone, but alas, there were 4 new ones on the siding and blocking most of the view. I didn't bother getting the numbers or marks as I was frustrated with them. I decided to stay and grab some shots of 14 anyway, and make the best of it. Eangeline Park was on the tail end.

Cheers,

CFQC 3000 In Bathurst Yard

Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that there is a CFQC engine hanging around and shunting in Bathurst. The unit number is 3000 and looks to be a RS-18 painted black with the Operation Lifesaver emblem on the side of the cab. Here are a few pictures of CFQC 3000 from this morning.

Also sitting quietly on a siding, were NBEC 1851 and 1821. I saw them later at around 15:00 shunting some cars around by the St. Anne bridge sidings.

Cheers,

EDIT: Corrected CFMG 3000 to CFQC 3000. Also corrected the tag.

VIA Ocean 14 Instead of NBEC 402

I was sitting in the dining room this morning working on some CSS for my website, when I heard a short blast from a train horn. The first thing that came to mind was NBEC 402 arrived at the Bathurst station. Excellent, I didn't miss it! I quickly jumped in the truck with my camera and and headed to the station.

As I turned up Duke Street, I saw the tell tale sign of the green renaissance cars. Via's Ocean 14 was late, again. I decided to head directly to Little River and catch an overhead shoot from the one lane steel bridge crossing above the tracks. I only had to wait for about five minutes and it came rumbling by.

The lead engine was 6426 with 6412 following, 1 baggage car, 16 coach and sleeper cars, and Yoho Park on the tail end.

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,

Halifax CN Train

August 15th, 2008

I started my holidays on August 14th at about 5:30. My flight left at 23:35 on the 14th straight to Halifax and landed there at about 7:45 the morning of the 15th. The flight wasn't too bad. I was heading there first to visit my god daughter.

That day we were down by the waterfront waiting for one of my friends to get off work and I just happen to notice a train across the harbor. The train consisted of only two CN SD75i engines numbered 5798 on the left and 5675 on the right. The numbers are hard to see in the jpg version, but are fully visible in the raw file.

Cheers,

RailPictures.net

I submitted a picture 0f CPR's 2816 steam train that I had taken a couple of weekends ago. I was happy to find out that it was accepted. I will post the day's adventures soon.

You can find the picture here.

Cheers,