Matt & Dave's Northern Adventure - Part 1

Well, on Monday, July 20, myself and Dave (nbsrfan) decided to make a trip up to Grand Falls for the day to do some railfanning. We left Saint John at around 4am, and arrived in Grand Falls by 7. After a 20 minute refuelling at McDonalds, we hit the road again and ventured towards the Salmon River Trestle.

We decided to venture towards the Foley Brook Trestle first, then venture back towards Grand Falls.


(Here's a picture of the Foley Brook trestle, facing southeast.)

Just as we were arriving at the crossing, we could see CN 121's intermodal cars heading through...Drats! CN 121, most times, shouldn't be up in this area until at least 10am...it was shocking to find it up here 2 hours early. But nontheless, we had to decide on a plan, which was to drive back towards Grand Falls to try to catch it. The train gods were on our side. Due to the fact that the train had to slow down to cross the Salmon River Trestle, we were able to beat it to the Violette Station road crossing, with 5 minutes to spare. The crossing is also where the west end of the Ennishore siding is located.

At around 7:50am, CN 121 crept through with a nice new 8872 at the head end, followed by 3 more units and 150 cars. Once the tail end was off the bridge, they began to pick up speed.




You could hear the engines pounding and the horn blowing for the next 20 minutes as they made their way west towards Edmunston. A good way to start the day. Took us by suprise, but still a nice way. It was 8am, and the day was just beginning.

Part 2 later.