Show me an example Saintjohnrailfan's Ultimate Adventures: May 2010

Sunday, May 30, 2010

A Bunch Of CN 406's

Here are a few (5) shots of CN 406 that I have shot in 2010 so far. These ones were, for some reason, set on the backburner and forgotten about. I decided to put them all together into one video.



Have a great Sunday.

-Matt

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Railfanning in Moncton, NB

I decided to venture up to Moncton on Sunday to catch a few trains in the morning.

When I arrived in Moncton at around 3:00AM, CN 120 was sitting on the mainline at Lutesville west, waiting for CN 121 to hook on to their train and back up. Once completed, CN 120 entered the yard. A short time later, CN 121 departed Moncton, en route to Toronto, with IC 2703 at the head end.



After some work in the yard, and a crew change, CN 120 was on it's way again, towards it's final destination of Halifax, NS. I decided to venture out to a couple of locations to catch it.

First, at around 5:30AM, 120 heads through a private crossing in Dorchester, NB.



I got ahead of it and shot it at Maccan, NS.



Afterwards, I made a quick stop to fuel up. When I arrived back in Moncton, I discovered that CN 305 was hooked on to their train and was about to do a roll by inspection. I dashed out to Berry Mills, and shot 305 shortly after 8AM.



Not knowing what else there would be, or what the times would be, I decided to call it quits and ventured back home.

-Matt

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Saturday In Grand Falls - Part 4 (Last Part)

After catching 473, I knew that the next train would be 305, but it was a matter of trying to figure out when it would come by. Figuring I had some time, I ventured down to Longley, NB. This area is located just south of Plaster Rock. It's a nice location, because it's the west end of the siding, as well, it has a nice straight away shot.

Upon arriving, I discovered a green/red signal, indicating that 305 would soon be arriving. About an hour later, 305 came through.



That was it for the trip. I decided to pack it in and head home. Pretty successful trip, I think.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Saturday In Grand Falls - Part 3

After shooting 121 at Baker Brook, I ventured back towards Edmundston. About 2 minutes outside the yard, I heard the RTC mention something in French, and it was to train 473, about mile 215....WHAT? 473? This came as a complete shock to me. I arrived back in Edmundston just in time to catch it coming in to the yard for a crew change.

About 35 minutes later, wasting no time, they were on the road again, heading west.



Next up, CN 305.

-Matt

Friday, May 14, 2010

Saturday In Grand Falls - Part 2

After CN 121 had passed Grand Falls, I decided to chase it back to Edmundston. I took the highway. Unfortunately, even at speeds of 120 km/h, it took over 20 miles to get ahead of it. I pulled off and managed to get one more video of it before it hit Edmundston.

About 45 minutes or so later, CN 121 had completed their crew change and were once again on the road west. I decided to try a different location. I ventured to Baker Brook, around mile 13 on CN's Pelletier Subdivision. I originally made a mistake and mentioned this spot as Lac Baker.



Part 3 to follow later.

-Matt

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

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

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Northern NB on National Train Day

I completely forgot that it was National Train Day on Saturday. I went up to Grand Falls & Edmundston to catch a few trains. It turned out to be one of my better trips up there, and I didn't even get any trestle shots.

Videos and details will be posted later.

-Matt

Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Friendly Engineer

A buddy of mine & fellow railfan was doing his Engineers training on 406 the last couple of days. Here's a video of his train, CN 406 east, heading through Rothesay, mile 78.46 on the CN Sussex Subdivision.