Happy Holidays

Just wishing all my followers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays. Hope everybody had a great few days.

I was on my way home from PEI today (Boxing Day). As I was driving through Sussex, NB, I found out that CN 406 eastbound was passing through Rothesay, on it's journey east to Moncton. I decided to take the exit off the highway I take to get home. As I was on the off ramp, I heard the train pass through the hotbox in Hampton, so I knew they were only a few minutes away. I pulled over and grabbed a shot, as I didn't want to chance it and completely miss the train altogether.

Here's the result:



Happy Boxing Day everybody!

-Matt

New Domain Name

I've registered a domain name for myself. The address is:

http://www.saintjohnrailfan.ca

So far, it only redirects to my Youtube page, but eventually I'll probably put a small website up.

-Matt

Westbound Catch

After work yesterday, I found out that CN 406 westbound would be coming in to Saint John shortly. I decided to head to the outskirts of the city, about 5 miles out, actually. I arrived with about 10 minutes to spare.

At around 14:40 AST, CN 406 west comes by, hauling 84 cars.



-Matt

Antennas

For the time being, I'm going to scrap the idea of a brand new scanner altogether. Rather, I'm going to browse around for larger antennas which I can use on my current scanner, to help with the pick up range. It'll probably be worth more to me to do this rather than spend a lot more money a whole new unit.

-Matt

New Scanner Suggestions

I have a Uniden BC72XLT scanner. I'm looking to upgrade it, so to speak, with purchasing a new car antenna for it. I'm curious as to if there's any models out there which have a greater range than just a regular Nascar Scanner?

I've posted a suggestion area on my Youtube page for people to give me their ideas.

http://www.youtube.com/saintjohnrailfan

Thanks,

-Matt

A Rainy Saturday In Moncton, NB

Here's the happenings of my trip to Moncton on Saturday, December 4th.

I arrived in Moncton at around 5am. I knew that 120 was going to be after midnight departing Edmundston, and I knew that sometime after midnight, a CN 473 had departed Moncton with 5340 & 2644 for power. CN 121 was nowhere to be seen in the yard, so I'm guessing they were small enough to squeeze in a siding somewhere to meet 120. I was guessing on an arrival time for 120 to be between 5 and 6am. The later it got, the better chance for a day shot. Finally, at around 8:45 AST, 120 came flying by Berry Mills with CN 8866, BCOL 4647 and CN 8851 in DPU mode.

A waiting for another 90 minutes or so, CN 305 came through Berry Mills at around 10:20 AST (I think) with CN 8830, CN 5660, CN 5531 & DPU CN 2298, hauling around 9200 feet of train. Tim Dryden and Phil Ross stopped for a visit to watch the train roll by.

I decided to head out to Painsec to catch 120 roll by. At around 11:20 AST, 120 came through with around 5500 feet. Next up, CN 406 westbound. I was going to shoot them at the main crossing at Salisbury, but I ended up stopping at a friends place for a quick chat. He let me set up for a shot in his yard (Thanks Wendell). Shortly after 13:00AST, CN 406 came rolling by with CN 2446 & CN 5794, hauling a decent size train (still never got around to doing a car count). For the final shot of the day, I decided to catch them through Hampton, NB. They ended up passing through at around 15:15AST.

That was it for the day. I ended up missing CN 121, CN 569, CN 539, and VIA 14. Overall, it was a decent day, even with the rain.

Here's the results of the trip. It's all 5 shot in to 1 video:



-Matt