Merry Christmas to all railans and followers and a happy New Year. May you all keep your cameras in hand and your scanners near by.
I bought the brand new Greater Toronto Area route for Microsoft Train Simulator, so here are a few of my video which I've created with it so far.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
North Bound
On Tuesday, after venturing into Saint John at 6am to go to Walmart, I decided to make a little trip up north, Chipman, to be more precise. I arrived at 8:30am. I drove around for a little bit, then decided to head over to Cantor (Hardwood Ridge). When I arrived, the east facing signals showed red over red. Based on the time, I knew that I had for sure missed 121, as that would have went by probably around 5:30am. I had also assumed that I missed 305. I decided to park in an empty parking lot, and wait for a few minutes.
At about 8:50am, I overheard talk on the scanner about Chipman maintenance crew wanting to get clearance on the line from Chipman to North Branch. During the discussion, it was mentioned that 305 was just about to depart Moncton. Hence, I actually did not miss 305. I ventured back into Chipman to drive around some more and check out some crossings outside the community. Afterwards, I drove back to Cantor. While waiting, a maintenance crew drove by, and continued west on the line towards Bantalor. About 15 minutes later, 305 was given clearance to exit Chipman, about 20 minutes after that, I heard the horn for a dirt road private crossing around the corner.
Here's CN 305 passing through at about 10:15am.
Afterwards, I ventured BACK to Chipman. I figured that I'd have time to kill if I wanted to catch 473. At about 10:50am, maintenance crew were talking to the RTC. They wanted to do some work between Cantor (54.5) and Chipman (45). The RTC blurted: "CN 308 should be there shortly...It's meeting 305 in Napadogan in about an hour, so you should have least 2 hours". I didn't really want to stay for 2 hours. I knew that it was about 30 minutes by rail from Napadogan to McGivney. Hence, I decided to depart Chipman, and head north towards Doaktown, then back south towards McGivney. This was about 40km shorter than driving down to Minto, then up.
It took about 45 minutes to get to McGivney. A quick glance at the west facing signals showed green over red, so indeed, 308 had not arrived yet. After sitting for about 35 minutes, CN 308 came barreling through at track speed at about 12:20pm.
I decided to give up on 473, as I had not heard anything about it on the scanner. I went home, pretty satisfied about the outcome of my trip.
At about 8:50am, I overheard talk on the scanner about Chipman maintenance crew wanting to get clearance on the line from Chipman to North Branch. During the discussion, it was mentioned that 305 was just about to depart Moncton. Hence, I actually did not miss 305. I ventured back into Chipman to drive around some more and check out some crossings outside the community. Afterwards, I drove back to Cantor. While waiting, a maintenance crew drove by, and continued west on the line towards Bantalor. About 15 minutes later, 305 was given clearance to exit Chipman, about 20 minutes after that, I heard the horn for a dirt road private crossing around the corner.
Here's CN 305 passing through at about 10:15am.
Afterwards, I ventured BACK to Chipman. I figured that I'd have time to kill if I wanted to catch 473. At about 10:50am, maintenance crew were talking to the RTC. They wanted to do some work between Cantor (54.5) and Chipman (45). The RTC blurted: "CN 308 should be there shortly...It's meeting 305 in Napadogan in about an hour, so you should have least 2 hours". I didn't really want to stay for 2 hours. I knew that it was about 30 minutes by rail from Napadogan to McGivney. Hence, I decided to depart Chipman, and head north towards Doaktown, then back south towards McGivney. This was about 40km shorter than driving down to Minto, then up.
It took about 45 minutes to get to McGivney. A quick glance at the west facing signals showed green over red, so indeed, 308 had not arrived yet. After sitting for about 35 minutes, CN 308 came barreling through at track speed at about 12:20pm.
I decided to give up on 473, as I had not heard anything about it on the scanner. I went home, pretty satisfied about the outcome of my trip.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A New Location - Intro
I went for a drive today, and made a new discovery, as well as caught a few trains. Full details to come later.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
NBSR...Out.
Well, on Saturday, I had decided that I wanted to get a shot of NBSR's eastbound train coming in to Saint John. The last day video that I have of NBSR during the day was from August 5, so I figured I was due time to catch another one.
After talking to Steve Boyko, he found out that the eastbound wouldn't be leaving McAdam until around 4pm, which would put it in Saint John by 6ish...drats, another night shot!
After Steve had mentioned this to me, my scanner picked up 405's clearance to head to Moncton. I figured that I might as well try to salvage what I could from the day. I decided to set up my shot in Hampton, since I wanted to pick up the hotbox detector for the video. The only other hotbox on the Sussex Sub is in Petitcodiac, and I didn't feel like driving up there. I set up shop at the dead end of a road. On the other side of the road is the main route to enter Hampton.
About 25 minutes after I arrived, CN 405 came through, with the hotbox going off at the end of the video:
After that, I called it a day and went home. I'm hoping that I can catch another NBSR, at least before Christmas.
After talking to Steve Boyko, he found out that the eastbound wouldn't be leaving McAdam until around 4pm, which would put it in Saint John by 6ish...drats, another night shot!
After Steve had mentioned this to me, my scanner picked up 405's clearance to head to Moncton. I figured that I might as well try to salvage what I could from the day. I decided to set up my shot in Hampton, since I wanted to pick up the hotbox detector for the video. The only other hotbox on the Sussex Sub is in Petitcodiac, and I didn't feel like driving up there. I set up shop at the dead end of a road. On the other side of the road is the main route to enter Hampton.
About 25 minutes after I arrived, CN 405 came through, with the hotbox going off at the end of the video:
After that, I called it a day and went home. I'm hoping that I can catch another NBSR, at least before Christmas.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
New Look, Yet Again
I decided to change the look of this, yet again. I just need to work out a few tweaks, so hopefully this will end up looking more "complete" then the last one.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Neat Video
Here's a neat video that I've found on Youtube recently.
It's the "Wizards In Winter" song, but done in Model Train form. Very impressive. Looks like alot of work went into it.
It's the "Wizards In Winter" song, but done in Model Train form. Very impressive. Looks like alot of work went into it.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
McGivney on Saturday
Steve Boyko and I were in McGivney for a few hours on Saturday before the Fredericton Model Train Show. Rather than posting about it, Steve has made a wonderful post about it, so I'll let him explain.
http://www.traingeek.ca/blog/2008/12/three-hours-at-mcgivney.html
Remember, check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/saintjohnrailfan
http://www.traingeek.ca/blog/2008/12/three-hours-at-mcgivney.html
Remember, check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/saintjohnrailfan
Friday, December 5, 2008
I'm Impressed
Well, after browsing around Youtube earlier today, I made a nice discovery. There is now an option in videos to watch them in "HD", instead of "High Quality". Of course, videos which aren't in HD, but are still high quality will have the option to play in high quality. There were a few videos which I shot that utilized Youtube's new enhanced video player. I was glad to find out today that for those videos, the option to "Play in HD" became available, rather than just "High Quality".
They were having a problem with those videos before, but obviously, they must have fixed it.
Incase you haven't noticed as well, youtube now has the option to embed your videos at different dimensions, with the max being below:
I'm off to McGivney for the morning tomorrow, and then the Fredericton train show afterwards. If I'm lucky, I might be able to catch the eastbound NBSR train on my way back home as well.
They were having a problem with those videos before, but obviously, they must have fixed it.
Incase you haven't noticed as well, youtube now has the option to embed your videos at different dimensions, with the max being below:
I'm off to McGivney for the morning tomorrow, and then the Fredericton train show afterwards. If I'm lucky, I might be able to catch the eastbound NBSR train on my way back home as well.
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