VIA 14 emergency call.

A few weeks ago we had some pretty wet days, about two weeks worth of rain to be exact. The Ocean was at M.P. 165.2 ( One mile from the gated crossing at Dalhousie Jct) and the Ocean called in an emergincy. There were unsafe track conditions at or around that mile post. I have posted the video on Youtube. Also here are a few pictures I have of the CN test train that came to Campbellton a few weeks ago back in June. The test train was on the Newcastle sub, it went to Moncton and I believe it turned there and came back down the Newcastle and went to Montreal from here. Enjoy, have fun and keep chasing those trains!

HERZOG ballast train CN 906

As the title says, a HERZOG ballast train was on the Mont Joli sub last night and I was there to catch it! I have posted a video on Youtube. It was a rather long train, according to NB Rails member it was running in DPU mode and is the first on the Mont Joli sub. Also according to Steve Boyko (Traingeek) CN 906 (Herzog ballast train) is an unmanned ballast train with a CN pilot on board and a couple of Herzog employee's to dump the ballast, the train has been programmed with preset areas to dump the ballast at preset locations by GPS.

CN 906 will be leaving this morning and will continue to dump ballast starting at M.P. 07.XX, the horn on that bad boy was pretty loud. Diffently a sound that demands your attention! Or one that says, "Get out of my way!" Well that's about all for now, I know it's been a long while since I last wrote, hope this tides you over till the next time. Here are a few pictures from last night's catch of CN 906.

Well that's it for me this week as far as trains go, have fun and keep chasing those trains!

Canadian Railroad Trilogy

For many Canadians we all know of the folk singer Gordon Lightfoot. Excelent singer and some pretty good songs. I personally only have a few of his songs that I really enjoy. One of them being "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" for obvious reasons however I've always liked that song since I was young.

Last Canada Day this song played on CBC radio and the host had commented on how the song starts of slow as though a train is at the station then the song slowly starts to speed up then it get's faster and faster as though a train gains speed. Then slows down again as though the train is pulling into a station. Then it speeds up and slows down as would a train. It was a really interesting anoloigy the commentor had made.

For those interested here's a video I had found on Youtube. that shows exactly what I mean. Watch and enjoy!


Keep chasing those trains and have fun!

A little bit more.

Considering the flooding parts of New Brunswick has experienced this spring I thought it appropriate to share this piece I found in the local paper.

In last weeks Tribune, (May 6Th 2009) there was an article in the "Restigouche in History" section. "Seventy five years ago (1934)" The article is about the INR (Former St Quentin sub) once owned by CN till it was abandoned in 1989.

Here's what was written in the article.

"One of the heaviest floods to have occurred on the INR was that of yesterday when 65 feet of the railway track was flooded at Mileage 19, situated between Millerville and Upsalquitch. Last night a train was sent out from here to transfer the passengers and bring them to Campbellton, the train arriving here about 10:30. Trainmen on arrival said that this flood was the heaviest they ever witnessed on the INR. It extended some 65 feet and in places was 19 feet deep. Owing to the nature of the ground in this district passengers were enabled to walk on dry ground between the transfer train. Orders have gone out that passengers, mail, express, and light goods are to be transferred today, and it is likely will be continued so long as the conditions warrant. At the present writing The Tribune has been unable to ascertain weather the water is still rising or falling, but it is anticipated that in any event it will not be necessary to transfer passengers beyond a day or two. It is said this flood was caused through the hamming of some pulp wood and the rapid melting of the snow."

(If interested here's a link with a brief history on the line. Also CN's application to abandon the line)

Here are a few pictures I have taken two weeks ago in Upsalquich to show the flooding that can occur on the former St Quentin Sub. A little side note. The river shown in these pictures is the Upsalquich River. The former INR crossed it as you can see. There is a brook that runs adjacent for a good portion of the line, Grogg Brook. This brook as you can see from the article has caused many a wash out along the line from Upsalquich to points north of the line over the years, and still does today. The line today is cared for by locals and cabin owners along the whole subdivision as well as a publicly run organisation which maintains the trail that uses this line.

That's it for now, so have fun and keep chasing those trains!

Weekend railfanning

On Saturday Jess and I caught CN 564 at Dalhousie Jct, we just happend to be in the right place at the right time. We decided to go take our Daughter out for a walk on a dirt road that paraelles the tracks. As we parked the car my scanner pipped up with the detector at M.P.. 159.9 calling out CN 564. I didn't pick up the whole report it was a little hard to hear with all the static. I did catch there were no defects.

So turned around and headed back to the crossing, and moments later 564 came around the bend, with a good mix of freight. It's not easy to spot in the video I had posted on Youtube, but in my pictures you can see the engineer waving to me as he passed by.

Here are the pictures from Saturday.

Here's the orgional picture. I had to crop it. The corpped picture is further up in this post.Also on Saturday afternoon Jess and I seen the "look out" has finally been opened for the summer, which happens to overlook the Yard. I took a few pictures and noticed there are still some NBEC RS-18's sitting in the yard. I assume these ones are dead and are of no use. Were more than likely used for parts.

When I zoomed in on the number boards, the only one I know for sure of is 1858, I stand to corrected but I think there is also 1850 and possibly 1855. The others I couldn't make out at all.

On Sunday we went to Bathurst, but I'll save that post for later. Have fun and keep chasing those trains!

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!

A very late VIA 14!

I am not sure on the reasons but the Ocean 14 is very late on arriving in Campbellton. The Ocean typically arrives in Campbellton at abour 0730 six times a week and is typically out of Campbellton by 0800hrs. Here are some pictures I had taken a few moments before writting this post.