From the banks of the mighty Restigouche.

In the past couple of weeks there has been some really good reasons to fear a major flood on the Restigouche River, in some places west of Campbellton the river has crested it's banks, Matapedia has expirenced another spring flooding, CN has dispatched another ballast train to sit on the bridge crossing the Restigouche, to aid in the prevention of the bridge being carried down stream. CN locomotive 9592 has been sitting at the station in Matapedia since sometime last week, to pull the ballast cars off the bridge to allow other trains pass over, then to return the cars back on the bridge. This has been a yearly custom for as long as I can remember.

The flooding has been as bad as some has predicted and not nearly as bad as last year or even near the flood of 1994. The Canadian Coast Guard has been sending a hover craft ice breaker to the Restigouche since 1995 to break up the ice before another major flood could cause some damage to surounding properties.

The St John river from what I have been hearing and reading on the news is doing just about the same, some areas have flooded but no major flooding expirenced such as last spring. So I guess it would be a safe bet to say the NTR will not be closed this time due to flooding on the St John river. The river has crested it's banks but the water is receading and things look good so far.

I have a few pictures taken over the weekend in Matapedia, of the ice jam in Matapedia and some of the flooding. enjoy and remember, have fun and keep chasing those trains!