Halifax Trip - Part 1

Well, I was up nice and early on Saturday morning. I was ready to hit the road by 8am. My plan was to stop somewhere along the Springhill Sub line between Moncton and Amherst, so I could catch 407 on the way back to Moncton.

I first stopped at Memramcook. Not much going on there, so I headed towards Sackville via Dorchester, since I hadn't been that way before. Dorchester was a nice spot, as there was a few crossings.

At around noon, I headed in to Sackville, and parked myself at a dead road where the tide and the old bridge is located. It's a great spot to catch a train coming around the corner from Amherst and passing through the Trench. I waited, and waited, and waited. At 2:30pm, I decided just to head off to Halifax. Turns out that 407 did not leave Dartmouth until around 9:30am(about 3 hours late). This would have put it in Amherst sometime after 3pm. I wanted to get to Halifax, so 2:30pm was my limit.

Once arriving in Halifax(Bedford, to me more exact), I unpacked, and made my way to the Bedford Irving, where a few local railfans hang out to catch CN 121 depart from Rockingham yard. I decided to shoot CN 121 passing the Irving. The time was around 8:40pm. Although it was dark, I had to make the best of the situation. Here's the video:



Afterwards, myself and around 6 other railfans went out for coffee. It turned out to be a great first night. Although I only managed to get one video, my weekend was just beginning.

Part 2 later on!

-Matt

Matt's Halifax Excursion

Well, I decided to make a trip over to Halifax this past weekend to visit some relatives, and of course, do some railfanning.

I managed to get 9 videos(it should have been 10, but that's a story of another time). They are all uploaded to youtube, and you can check them out here in my created video playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=7257EF4B68CFD685

If you want to go in order of days, start from the bottom and work up. The actual story lines behind the videos will make more sense if you work from the bottom up.

I'll probably post in greater detail the trip later on...not much time now.

-Matt

Saturday To Sussex

Well, on Saturday, I figured that I'd attempt to follow CN 405 from Saint John to Sussex and try to get a few videos along the way.

Well, first thing, CN 405 heads over to Courtnay Bay to collect potash cars for the trip to Moncton.



I decided to try to get 405 outside of Saint John. I knew that I wanted to catch it at Hampton, but I wanted to get it before there. Hence, I decided that I would get my next video from Park Drive, which is just outside of Saint John. A bonus with having this spot is that it was quick access to the highway to Hampton. Here's the video:



Once I got to the highway, I quickly made my way to Hampton for my next shot. About 5 minutes after I got to Hampton, CN 405 came around the corner. Here's 405 through Hampton, NB with 113 cars.



My next plan was to catch it just outside of Sussex. After I left Hampton, it didn't take long for me to get ahead of it again. Once I arrived in Sussex, It took 405 about 10 minutes to arrive. Here's the next video of 405 heading into Sussex, NB.



I was originally going to call it a day there, but once I found out that 405 would have to stop at McCully's in Penobsquis, I knew that I'd have time to get one more video. Alas, I headed over to the east side of Sussex, Penobsquis, to be more exact. Once CN dropped off the 23 potash cars at the head end of the train at McCully's, the rest of the train made it's way to Moncton, and of course, here it is:



After that, I decided to call it a day. I think it turned out to be a good day, and I'm happy that the rain held off.

Old Times

I was looking at my videos on Youtube this morning. More specific, I was looking at my first few videos which I uploaded to my Youtube account.

There's definately a clear difference between my first video and my most recent one. The difference is practically night and day.

Here's my first uploaded video, on January 23, 2008 - CN 405 going through Hampton, NB:



Boy oh Boy. I think I've matured as a railfanner.

-Matt

Quick Update

I've changed the layout of my blog, yet again. I think I'm happy with this look. Although, I might change the colors around a little bit.

I've also added stuff down along the side on the right. I've added a "Followers" section where people can add themselves so that they can follow my blog, I guess. It sounds pretty cool though.

It's been slack for the railfanning in me. I'm hoping to get out this weekend(rain or shine, umbrella included) to get some videos done.

-Matt

New Camera

Well, I changed my mind on that particular camera. Turns out that ZR900 wasn't computer ready, as I would have to spend extra $$ to make it that way. Hence, I went in a different direction:



It's a Kodak Easyshare Z1012 IS digital camera. It's 10MP, a 12x optical zoom, as well as HD Video. I only ended up paying around $200, which is pretty good. And I even took it on it's inaugural run today.

Here's my newest video with my new camera. Sorry about the rain. I hate the rain.



Enjoy.

-Matt

Wanting A New Camera...

This is the next camera which want to get once I save up enough money.




It's a Canon ZR900. It seems like a good camera, and it's in my price range. One of these days...