Saturday In Grand Falls - Part 1

As mentioned, on Saturday, I ventured up to Grand Falls/Edmundston to do some railfanning. As I was informed that there would be a 474 in daylight through there. I took an odd route to get up to Grand Falls.

I headed to Fredericton, then ventured up highway 8 towards McGivney, then cut across highway 107. While looking at Google Maps, I found what I though was a shortcut from Juniper up to Longley (Plaster Rock). When I arrived, I discovered that it was just an access road, blocked off only to be used by trucks. Drats...I had to venture all the way to the end of 107, up 105, then over to 109/390 to Plaster Rock. I ventured up highway 108 from Plaster Rock. When I arrived at Hazeldean (Bluebell siding), I noticed the west facing signal showing green/red. This was around 6:45am, leading me to believe that 121 hadn't been through yet, and 474 was on it's way...somewhere. I ventured in towards Grand Falls, driving by the Salmon River trestle...a quick view over revealed no train. All of the sudden, I heard the EOT device on the scanner....twice! I turned around and ventured back towards the trestle...as I looked up through the trees...I spotted...AUTORACKS! The tail end JUST crossed over the trestle as I was looking over. I was able to beat the train across the 108 crossing, and set up back over at the Hazeldean crossing. I managed to get a few minutes ahead of it. Sure enough, around 7am, CN 474 came through. I wasn't expecting this train til mid morning..so I was a surprise.

Afterwards, I ventured to Edmundston. There was nothing in the yard, leading me to believe that in fact, 121 hadn't been through yet. I ventured back towards Grand Falls. Near Riviere Verte, I noticed the east facing signal turn green..which meant it was aligned up for 121. I had no idea where it was, so I tried my best to get to Grand Falls. JUST as I was getting into Grand Falls, I saw 121 heading under the highway...a quick turnaround, and I was on chase yet again. I knew that if I wanted to get a shot..I had to do it soon, as trains ROCKET through from Grand Falls to Edmundston, so keeping up with it would be very tough. I got lucky and got ahead of it. I ended up getting a shot of the train at Laforge RD, just before it went under the 144 highway.

Here's the video for the first 2 trains:



It was quite a early morning so far..and it was about to get better.

-Matt