Saturday, February 23, 2008

NBSR 9802 East

I finally got to chase a train!! With my two weeks holidays almost over I was determined to get out for a chase. My first intentions were to go to McAdam but as time got on in the morning I wasn't ready to go in time to get there. So I just waited abit and left for Vespra. This is usually where I begin my chases. But today I decided to go through the dirt road through to Rooth and wait at the other end by the hot box detector. I really had no idea when the train would be leaving McAdam so I figured I had abit of a wait. Not 10 mins after getting parked, the scanner started dialing the RTC. I couldn't hear the eastbound train talking but the RTC in Saint John came through loud and clear. There is a radio tower for the railroad near the hot box detector. The RTC repeated that the train had left McAdam. I only had about a half hour wait from the time the call was made to Saint John to when the train reached Rooth. Then I was off! I started to take photos but I wasn't happy with the light being on the opposite side of the train so I switched to video. The train consisted of GP38s #9802,2317,2610,2318,2612 and 44 cars. Quite abit of power for such a small train. But engineer Gary Graham wasn't pushing it hard to get home to Saint John. For my first shot I decided on a bridge at mile 55. The road was at a lower grade than the tracks. Second location I decided along a straight stretch in Tracy. I tried to make it into Fredericton Jct to catch it crossing the bridge east of the station but traffic held me up and I didn't make it. So on to Blissville. I wanted to see the train kick snow on the straight stretch approaching Rte 101. I then left for Welsford. I got there with some time to spare. I looked over some of my video I recorded and got ready for my next shot. I sat up from the Rte 101 crossing in Welsford. I waited for the hot box detector to go off and the lights to come on. I drove up to the lights to be the first car. Then it was off for Westfield. While I waiting in Welsford I was thinking about how I could record chasing the train along through Westfield where the tracks are close to the road. I was by myself and no one to help. So I thought about standing my tripod up in the front seat on the passenger side. I kept the legs short and raised the plate where the camera attaches. I angled the camera to the left side and turned the screen on my Canon S3 towards myself so I could see what I was recording. And believe it or not it worked. I'm sure Image Stabilization helped out too. So I recorded about 8 mins of driving along side the eastbound. I kept my window open to get the sounds of the train. I'm really impressed with how it turned out. And I got to safely drive along with the train. Then I wanted to get my last shot of the whole train. I decided on the Acamac Backland Road in Saint John. And that ended my chase for the day. As I made my way home a new pipe train was on the main line in the Dever Rd Yard to be unloaded. I'm guessing it came in yesterday, but I could be wrong. Enjoy the video!


Sunday, February 17, 2008

Looking back on 10 months of NBSR..

With the recent birth of my son Joey I have been using my Canon S3 quite abit. I was trying to think of how long I have owned this camera. So I looked at my "train photos" folder and determined I have owned it since April/07 and so far I have taken about 1200 NBSR pics. I put together a 7 minute slide show of some of my favorite NB Southern pics that I've taken over this span of 10 months. To help make it less boring I added "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" by Gordon Lightfoot to it. Oh and don't worry it's not all 1200.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Newest Railfan


I'd like to introduce my newest railfanning buddy. Joseph Allen (aka Joey) was born at 5:09pm on Feb 11th. A few hours after being born my father was trying to teach him to say "highball" for his first word.. lol

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Pipe Train #2 Feb 9th

Well I don't have any videos of pipe train action to show, but the second pipe train arrived in Saint John a couple of days ago. I haven't been out and about much. My first child was due to be born on the 7th and he hasn't made it here yet so I've been quite busy. Today I took the day off to be with Christina as she was having contractions since Friday night. I took her for a drive to get out for abit and I decided to head to the Dever Road Yard to see what was up with the pipe train. The pipe was being unloaded at the Dever Rd Yard instead of the Island Yard on the east side. As you can see in the picture to the left there are only 3 more cars to unload. The trucks used to haul the loads have been travelling near my home to access Rte 1 to head west. They are hauling the pipe to the Spruce Lake Industrial Park. I never ventured to see where exactly it was being put. After taking the shot of the crane unloading the pipe I headed towards Grand Bay. As I reached the overpass at the west end of the Dever Rd Yard there were empty cars from the pipe train stored on the main line. No doubt waiting for the trip back to Florida. I drove as far as the the Britain Rd in Westfield hoping to see the eastbound but I had no luck. I am also starting two weeks holidays from work so, I hope to get out and catch some more trains.