NBSRFAN's Train Chases

Lots of things new...

2011-07-08T10:54:00.000-03:00

Well the first two, HLCX 911 & 906, of four units being leased by NBSR arrived into Saint John yesterday on CN train 406. My good friend, Matt "saintjohnrailfan" Landry, managed to catch 406 as it approached Saint John with the two ex-UP locos. So to make up for missing the units arrival into town because of work, I headed out to grab some pictures this morning. The shots I did get aren't that great as there is always something getting in the shot. I shot my pictures of HLCX 911 from the Staples and Brett's parking lots. 906 was blocked for getting any good shots.

Here is a link to Matt's video of 406 with the units in tow

http://youtu.be/wyJgWjYn0LM

Now back in November I mentioned I heard a NBSR crew member mention a new wood chip unloader going to be built. I've recently noticed that they do have it done. It's located behind Moosehead Breweries just west of the truck dumper for Irving Pulp & Paper. It's an excavator like machine on top of an archway that the railcars can go through underneath it. The unloader digs the chips out of the cars and puts them into a green hopper which funnels the chips onto a conveyor belt that puts the chips with the other big pile coming from the trucks being unloaded. I grabbed a few shots as I was heading to Carle Ave today and a couple days ago. Here are a few of the shots.

Now I've been trying to railfan as much as possible. I've been doing pretty good for videos. But it's been so long since I posted about any I've got a backlog. I'll just point out a few of my most recent videos on YouTube.

First is a video of our motorcar group giving rides in McAdam on Canada Day

http://youtu.be/0ZUAp-_N_JY

Second is a NBSR westbound leaving Saint John with 2610 pretending to be an ALCO

http://youtu.be/pehm4P2aeNo

And third is CN train 439 with Herzog Ballast train crossing Reversing Falls Bridge

http://youtu.be/Wp2jcG1CJcc

Another try..

2011-03-17T11:30:00.000-03:00

Back on Feb 19th I headed out with the family for a nice drive to catch the NBSR eastbound of that day. My original intent was to just go to the hot box detector at Cork (MP59.4) and wait for it there. My radio picks up quite a distance now with a higher gain antenna on it. But as I sat all was quiet on the main line channel. I tried to get a heads up on the train too but with no luck I decided to head for McAdam seeing how I was this close. We made it into McAdam by about 3pm. I made a quick drive around just to see if I could see anything and all was quiet. So we decided to get some lunch/supper at Klinkers Lounge on the main road through McAdam. They have good food by the way. I sat in the van with my radio on as we waited for our food. At about 3:15pm I heard the RTC in Maine call the eastbound asking where they were. The train responded that they were about 15 miles from Vanceboro, ME. I thought at the time it would work out perfect. Boy was I wrong.

The eastbound finally arrived into McAdam at 3:55pm. But they had some switching to do and this is where I started to loose my daylight. It took the two crews, (the crew from Maine and the new crew heading to SJ) almost an hour to do the shunting they had to do. The train finally left for Saint John at 5pm. So we headed out of town for the chase. I wasn't quite sure where I should catch this train as I headed towards Harvey. I like shooting in Harvey but the train makes real good time between there and Cork where the dirt road starts. It can be hard to keep ahead of a train in this area.The road wasn't in to bad of shape but I didn't want to push my van through it any harder than I had to. So I just kept going till I got to the eastern end of the dirt road at Vespra. I set up my shot on the side of the road and with a short wait the eastbound rolled through. I shot the whole train there because I pretty much figured that would be my only shot I would get. And as you can see from the screen shot above it was getting pretty dark by this time, which was about 5:50pm. Good thing I did! Catching up with this train after it rolled by was an interesting time. It was snowing a little bit and I was far behind. I didn't beat the train to the next crossing east of Vespra close to Tracy so we had to wait for it to pass again. I almost beat it to the crossing at Blissville on Rte 101, but the crossing lights came on. I was gonna be the first vehicle waiting for the train to pass so I grabbed my camera and did a hand held shot through the windshield. I only used it in my video because I thought it looked kind of sharp with the headlights causing a silhouette of the train going by. Definitely not a great shot but I didn't want to go home empty handed for the amount of driving I did.

The eastbound train was one of the longer ones I've seen on the NBSR lately. It had engines 2317, 2319, slug 008, and 2318 for power and had 81 cars in tow. Here's the video I made from my chase..

Here is also my most recent CN video of train 406 from March 12th.

Nice start to my vacation.. A trip to Enniskillen.

2011-02-14T11:40:00.001-04:00

On Saturday morning I met up with Matt at Staples on Rothesay Ave to try and catch the CN potash train. Well there apparently wasn't one.. We sat and chatted for a few hours. During this time there was alot of activity on the NBSR mainline channel. When I got in the van at around 6:15am I heard a mainline crew parking their engines after parking their train. Shortly after there was more talk from the mechanics servicing the engines. They spoke with the yard planner about the lash up of units. Which happened to be 2319,2317,2318,slug 008,2610. That sounded like a mainline train to me. And sure enough there was. So after Matt and I parted ways, I booted it for the west side. The train made their call for a clearance before I got to Carle Ave but there was a yard crew stalling the departure of the train.

The yard crew was moving quite slow when I first got there. They were backing into the yard from way down the long lead track exiting the yard. They had between 35-40 loaded woodchip cars from a train that arrived in the early morning.

So once the yard crew were out of the way, the westbound had the clear to leave. I chose the Acamac Backland Rd as my first shot. I just sat in the car and filmed hand held. Then on for the chase. Slow traffic kept me behind. I finally got ahead of the train by Westfield Beach. So I decided to head for Welsford. I went to the Rte 101 crossing only to find no real place to park. There is a small dirt road that you can pull into next to the tracks normally. But with the snow we've had there was no way to get my van in there. It wasn't plowed. So I made off for Enniskillen.

The crossing at Enniskillen is not an easy shot to get when you are chasing a train. The road you go down off Rte 101 to get to it is quite far off the main road. It eats time if you are not very far ahead of the train. But I was for this one. So I ventured down the road.

The snow by that time was falling quite heavily. I set up my tripod just on the side of the quiet road. At about 10:30am, 2319 leads the westbound past the late Floyd Kelly's semaphore signal and through Enniskillen.

Here's the finished video of the two shot chase.

Some new vids..

2011-01-20T10:44:00.001-04:00

Back on Jan 15th I had a heads up from Matt that SD70M-2 8941 was leading CN train 406. Which also happened to have 3 other engines on as the train had 143 cars. We chased the train between McCully and Hampton on the Sussex Sub. Here's my video of that train.

Then on Jan 16th I spent sometime at Carle Ave with my trusty scanner. I went just thinking there may be a westbound leaving. Shortly after supper I found out there definitely was going to be a train. Two trains to be exact. But the crew of the first train was doing some shunting in the yard before they went west. This took alot of time. Also I could heard a crew working on all the units that were going west that night. So I was in for a good wait!!

By 9:20pm the first train left SJ. It was a work train with a few cars added to it. It was led by 2610 and had a rare sight on the end. NBSR caboose 422990. It's a short video and I also used my old Canon camera because it seems to handle the dark shots like these better than my new Sony.

Unfortunately I didn't catch the second train. The cold was getting to me after sitting for so long. But the caboose made up for not catching the second train.

2318 is on her way home!

2011-01-18T10:38:00.000-04:00

On January 16th, Frank Jolin caught this great photo of MMA train #2 with 2318 in the consist of engines. The photo was taken in Eastman, Quebec. I'm sure it won't be too much longer getting into Saint John. I can't wait to see her working with Slug 008 again!

A new year, videos, and blog

2011-01-13T11:42:00.002-04:00

Well this is my first post of 2011!

I've been slack with updates as I've been busy working on a few new things. First here are three videos I have made.

Second, I've been putting together a blog for our local motorcar group. The start of 2011 we have changed the name of the group from the New Brunswick Recreational Rail Riders to C.A.R.C.O.A. It stands for Canadian Atlantic Rail Car Operators Association. There isn't too much on it yet but it's a good start. Click on the logo below to check it out.

A couple more videos..

2010-12-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

Here's a couple more videos I've made recently..

The first video is a NBSR work train leaving Saint John with 2 loads of rock and 2 loads of ballast for the McAdam Sub.

The second is a westbound chase between Saint John and Welsford. The train led by 2610 had 4 engines and 58 cars.

Finally a good NBSR chase..

2010-12-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I wanted to catch something train related. My friend Matt was in Moncton shooting trains so jealousy got the best of me.

I went to Carle Ave first just to see what I might hear about an eastbound. Usually there is one on Saturday. As I was waiting, a crew came out to the west end of the Dever Rd Yard. They were using the main line radio frequency which is rare in the yard. I knew something was up. After about 5-10 minutes the crew hooked onto some cars and began to speak with a carman. They spoke about the EOT device and began a brake test. That could only mean one thing. A westbound!

There sure was. 9801 & 2612 were the power for this train. They were hauling a short 19 car train consisting of 9 gypsum cars and 10 ballast cars.

My chase began just outside the yard limits in SJ. From there I never caught up with the train until we were in Grand Bay. So I headed to Westfield Beach to grab a quick shot.

Next I went to Welsford. I wanted to get a shot at Rte 101 to show some of the work being done there, plus get a reading from the hot box detector.

From there I grabbed a quick road side shot in Clarendon and then headed for Blissville. The shot in Blissville is a nice one with two crossings in the shot. First time I've ever shot a westbound there.

Then I made my way to Vespra. I knew there would be a nice shot with the curve. But I also wanted to get a going away shot cause this is where I ended my chase.

Here's the finished product.. What a great chase!

Two more new videos..

2010-12-02T21:52:00.000-04:00

Over the past weekend I had a couple chances to catch some trains.

My first was an NBSR eastbound chase on Saturday that went all wrong. I heard on my radio that the eastbound was due in by 4pm. So close to 3 I left Saint John bound for Welsford to start a chase back to SJ. Shortly after arriving at Welsford I heard the RTC get called and the dispatcher took a time for the eastbound out of McAdam. So the train was later than expected. So rather make the drive back to the city without seeing anything, I kept heading towards Fredericton Junction.

I made it to Vespra which is just west of Tracy by rail. When I first arrived I just parked the car and got out to look for a shot. Not 5 minutes of being there I heard the hotbox detector go off that is west of Vespra. So I took a quick shot and then started the chase. Well let me tell ya the new rail has made a difference in the speed on this line. I'm sure there is pretty much no slow orders between Vespra and Saint John. At some points I paced with the train at 40mph. So getting ahead of this train for shots was fun on slightly snowy roads.

My other hit against this chase was the time of day. It was pretty much dark at my first shot so the rest were in complete dark. There are lots of locations to catch a train along this line but I've never tried this in the dark. Finding locations was not easy! So I made due with some places I knew might not be too bad and went with them. Here's the video

Next train is CN 406 from Sunday. I took the family for a drive to Sussex with hopes of catching 406 up there and then chase it down to SJ. As we just got some lunch in Sussex I heard the train call for McCullys. So I picked a spot I like just leaving Sussex for a quick first shot. Then I headed off down the road to the east side of Hampton where I met up with Matt (Saintjohnrailfan). We set up our shots and after a short wait westbound 406 rolled through with SD70M-2 #8010 on the head end. Here's the finished product.

New vids in 1080 HD

2010-11-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

Here are my first videos with the new Sony Handycam. First is a small chase of CN 406 from McCully to Torryburn.

Second is a NBSR westbound that left Saint John on Nov 22nd with 2612 in the lead. Unfortunately this is one of those night shots that don't always turn out so good.

Sony HD Camcorder

2010-11-26T09:36:00.001-04:00

So with the recent exchange of my Canon SX30 I decided to try a camcorder. So I chose a Sony Handycam CX110. It shoots in 1080 HD. I haven't used it a whole lot yet but there definitely is no lense flare problem with this camera.

Well time for some updates....

2010-11-26T09:24:00.002-04:00

Well Since my last post some things have changed. After purchasing the new Canon camera I quickly found something I didn't like about it. When I was shooting video of trains with the camera zoomed I would get some really bad lense flares from the headlights of the engines.

Like in this video..

Here are some others I shot with the Canon SX30

So after trying to figure out how to fix the flares with filters etc, I decided to take the SX30 back. The camera took some really great photos but I did purchase camera for the capability of recording video too. So I chose to purchase a camcorder instead..

A new toy..

2010-11-10T09:50:00.000-04:00

Santa came to me early this year! I just purchased a new camera. The Canon SX30IS. This is the latest model out in the series of cameras like my old one, the SX3IS. With this upgrade I'm jumping from 6 to 14 mega pixels and I'll now be shooting video in 720p HD. I can't wait to catch some trains!!

Got chips?

2010-11-07T23:21:00.000-04:00

I heard a train crew on my radio this evening say that Irving is building some sort of an off-loading facility for wood chips. I'm guessing it would be near the Pulp & Paper Mill at the falls. Has anyone else heard about this? I'll look into it some more and post anything I hear.

Well another video to add to that month...

2010-11-07T19:00:00.000-04:00

This weekend has been a wet one in Saint John. I'm guessing it has caused some changes in schedules for trains. Late Saturday afternoon I got a heads up about a westbound train leaving early Sunday morning from SJ for McAdam. This is quite rare as normally there is no train on Sunday. But hey I'll take it. So I arrived at Carle Ave at 6:30am just to make sure I wouldn't miss it. And I sure didn't...

I never heard any crew talking till 7:30 which was great cause Matt (Saintjohnrailfan) was on his way intown to see it too. Engines 2319 & 9801 came to the west end of the Dever Rd Yard to turn on the wye before coupling up. After they did and got their brake test complete, we headed for the Acamac Backland Rd. At about 8:45am they rolled through with 49 cars.

Next we headed to Staples to catch the container transfer. We weren't there very long when we heard the crew say they were at the Bunsmaster switch and wanted to hook on to the containers. So we hit the road again to go get a location for a shot. We went to Bentley Crossing. This is a new street of townhouses that over look the Mill Street grade and the harbour. The view was awesome and the units worked hard climbing the hill with 43 cars. But the two units, 3702 & 9803 couldn't handle the weight and stalled on the hill. This was great cause it was raining and we wanted to get a new shot. So we went to the Bentley St. crossing to catch it again. As we waited for a helper crew to catch up to the transfer, I noticed I lost the shot of the transfer climbing the hill. My camera has been randomly shutting off and it decided to do it while I was recording the climb causing me to loose it. Shortly after the transfer rolls through the crossing with CN 7060 pushing from the rear.

Now we were gonna call it a day cause we were wet from the rain. I heard another train getting ready to leave SJ. It was a work train led by 9802. I caught them at the Acamac Backland Rd too.

I've put all the vids into one so it's a little bit over 10 minutes. Enjoy!!

One month, 10 vids..

2010-11-06T20:28:00.000-03:00

Well its' been a month since my last post on here.. I know I'm slack! Anyhoo.. I have put 10 new videos on YouTube since my last post. And there is just to much to says for all of them, so I'll just show you the vids.

Enjoy!

A weekend of Foaming..

2010-10-11T11:15:00.000-03:00

I've had some decent luck while out watching trains this long weekend. On Saturday I went to Carle Ave to see what was up in the Dever Rd Yard. I wasn't there very long when I heard someone dial the NBSR mainline channel. I couldn't hear the train speak, but it was a work train getting a clearance to come to Saint John from around mile 41.0 of the McAdam Sub. So I hit the highway for Welsford. I arrived in plenty of time so I went to the Rte 101 crossing close to the hotbox detector to wait.

I decided I was gonna do a chase of the work train. Usually the work train is just some ballast cars and a caboose, so I wanted to make sure I got more than one quick shot. So I set up my tripod on the passenger side of my car for some through the window chasing. I don't do this type of thing very often so it's fun when I do.

At approx 1:45pm the train rolled into Welsford. 9803 leading CN caboose 75624, 10 ballast cars and a log car. After they rolled through I mounted my camera on the tripod and set out. I didn't really expect to see them cross Highway 7 but I lucked out and they were going slow so I managed to catch them crossing the highway as I approached the activated crossing lights. After that I went to Westfield. This is where the line runs close to the track. I began my chase at the Britain Rd. I basically just pressed record and drove. I would check the flip out screen on my camera to make sure the shots were ok, but my driving was most important. I didn't want to get in anyone's way so I made sure I pulled off the road when any traffic was around. I followed them down into Grand Bay with my last shot being of them approaching a crossing on a nice curve.

This is where I made my U turn.. As I was recording the chase through Westfield the RTC was dialed again. This time it wasn't the work train. It was the regular eastbound looking to get clearance to proceed to Saint John. So that meant another eastbound! Back to Welsford I went. This time I started from the Gov't garage located next to the crossing. After another short wait I heard the hotbox detector go off and then along came the train. It was three units. 2319,9801,2612 and they were hauling 57 cars. So I set up the camera again for another chase. I followed the train through basically the same area as the work train. Only this time I chose a shot closer to Saint John for a final shot. Here's the final product.

On Sunday I got together with my friend Matt to catch some trains. We managed to catch two. First being a NBSR transfer climbing the Mill Street Grade. And the second being CN 406 rolling through Rothesay.

CN's Napadogan Sub Action on Sept 26th

2010-09-30T01:19:00.001-03:00

On Sept 26th, Saintjohnrailfan and myself decided to take a trip to McGivney to catch some action. It has been a long time since I ventured up that way so I was looking forward to it.

We arrived at 4:30am to see a green over red signal facing east so we knew 121 must be on it's way. After close to an hour of waiting, we saw the bright headlights of 121 coming in the distance. It looked like the sun was rising on the horizon as we looked towards Moncton. So we set up our shots and sat ready. I used my usual spot next to the crew shack. I love this spot for two reasons. First.. The dusk to dawn light on the building helps light up the shot. And two.. The rush you get from the train rolling by so close and at that speed!

At approx 5:30am 121 rockets through McGivney.

After 121 finished we tried to figure out if a 474 was due through. Matt had a heads up about one coming from Edmundston to Moncton but the signals all shown red. So we pretty much figured we missed it.

So we headed towards Chipman. We had some time to kill before 305 would roll through so we explored around checking out different locations for shots. We ended up at the Bronson Settlement Rd. There is a hot box detector there and a nice straight stretch. After about an hour wait 305 rolled though with an SD70M-2 leading and one as a DPU.

We only caught 2 out of 3 trains but it's better than nothing. Definitely not a wasted day!

Just for fun I recorded 121 rolling by with my cell phone. The quality isnt that great, but it shows more of what I see as I record a train next to the crew shack at McGivney.

Also here are Matt's videos of that day.

An odd Saturday....

2010-08-28T22:29:00.000-03:00

This morning I decided to take the family for a drive with no peticular destination in mind. But I ended up following the McAdam Sub from Saint John all the way to McAdam. Along the way I just barely heard something mentioned about someone being 2 hours away from McAdam. So I figured it would be the eastbound. I thought a nice chase would be a great way to spend the afternoon. So we waited around the border crossing just west of McAdam. As we were there I caught a conversation about a "work" train coming into McAdam from the McAdam Sub and that they would be about a half hour. So we went to town to get some lunch. As we waited for our order the "work" train arrived into town. So I went to the station to catch it coming in... This is where it gets weird.

As the train came into view at the station, it had quite a long string of cars on. It actually turned out to be a westbound. Usually Saturday is an eastbound day for the NBSR. So my intent was to catch this train crossing the bridge at the border. But as I waited in the park next to the bridge some kids came along and parked right in my shot of the bridge. So I just decided to catch them at the Rte 630 crossing just afew miles east of the border crossing. 2612,9801,9802 rolled through with 43 cars.

And so as I was editing this video I thought I would look this area up on a Timetable that Steve Boyko has on his website from 1994. This line is called the Mattawamkeag Subdivision. Something I did not know.. Ya learn something new everyday!

I never would have thought...

2010-08-26T11:07:00.000-03:00

Back when I started posting videos on YouTube I figured I would do alright for views with my videos. But my first snow plow video I ever made took right off! It has been online for two years and it has now over 600,000 views and over 200 comments. I never ever thought it would do so well. The video I am speaking about is a plow extra that NBSR ran back on Jan 2nd of 2008.

The NBSR are getting to be famous!! lol

Another container transfer..

2010-08-26T10:47:00.000-03:00

Back on August 22nd, I managed to catch another container transfer climbing the grade. Saintjohnrailfan was along for the catch. NBSR has recently cut some brush along the tracks there so we set up just up hill from the crossing. The units were 2612,9801,9802 and they hauled 34 cars.

Mill Street Grade

2010-08-16T16:44:00.000-03:00

Well this past Sunday I was out looking for some trains to catch and the NBSR westside crew, with 2319,9802,9801, were just arriving at the Island Yard to grab the containers. So I decided I would film this. I decided to go to the Mill Street grade to catch them working hard on the hill. I chose an elevated spot. Now as the NBSR westside crew were making their way to the hill they mentioned that 9802 was low on water and that they would only work the engine on the hill. But they also had an Island Yrd crew on stand by just incase they stalled. Now the funny part! As I was finishing my shot of the transfer climbing the hill I could hear another engine running. I turned to my right and sure enough the Island Yrd crew that was on stand by followed the transfer up the hill and into my shot with CN GP9 4141. It was an interesting catch!

For my next shot I headed to the westside. As I came into Simms Corner you could see CN caboose 75624 waiting to be added to the tail end of the containers to make a reverse movement to the Port of SJ. So I went to the crossing at Sand Cove Road and within afew minutes the train came along.

Enjoy the video!

Matt & Dave's Northern NB Adventure

2010-07-11T22:48:00.000-03:00

On Wednesday July 7th I tagged along, with my fellow railfan Matt, on a trip up north to the Grand Falls - Edmundston area to catch some CN action. We spent about 12 hours in the area in the heat!! With the humidex at 40c, I'm sure we sweat off some pounds as we waited for trains.. lol.

Our first train of the day was 121. We chose the Violette Station Rd in New Denmark. There is a set of signals there at the west end of the Ennishore siding. Now for this trip I borrowed a camera from Matt to try some picture in picture videos. So my idea was set up one camera with a wide shot and use the other for different angles and close ups. Great idea in theory.. lol. I set up my wide shot for 121 on a small hill that is close to the crossing at the Violette Station Rd. You can actually see my camera set up in Matt's video of the train. And I stayed with my close up camera close to the crossing. Well we weren't quite sure where the train was when it came around the corner, so I had to do some running to get cameras rolling. Here's my video I put together from the two cameras.

Now after train rolled through we headed up to Edmundston. We wanted to catch 121 again after it leaves Edmundston. We went to a crossing we like in Saint Hiliaire, NB. We've shot here afew times before but it's a spot we enjoy. There is a signal and a hot box detector close to the crossing. I again used two cameras for different shots but this time I set up the cameras a little closer to each other. Here's the video..

Now onto 308. We heard that 308 would be meeting 305 at Saint Leonard so we headed for the siding. We walked in from the small crossing at CNR Rd. We setup near a spur track that goes to a mill. 308 took the siding and 305 stayed on the main but did not have green signal to proceed past the west siding switch. So they both came to a stop side by side. This wasn't making for very interesting video so we booted it for the car. We decided to catch 308 farther down the line because it was the second train of the day to have a DPU. I combined all my videos of the meet and the roll by of 308..

After that we called it a day with a three hour drive home. I think it went well for using two cameras. You can see a quality difference between the two cameras but I don't mind. It was my first try and there is always some tweaking to the videos that can be done to fix that but it can wait for my next try..

NBSR 9801 Repainted

2010-06-19T22:15:00.002-03:00

I thought I'd pass along a link to a photo... I never heard anything about 9801 getting painted but here it is all done..

http://photos.greatrails.net/s/?p=171148

2 More NBSR Vids..

2010-06-19T21:44:00.000-03:00

Now for some more NBSR sightings.. On June 17th I caught the daily eastbound coming into town. 2317 was in the lead of the 69 car train. My first shot is in Grand Bay at mile 12.15 and then I caught it crossing the Acamac Backland Rd. The slow orders associated with the track work have been keeping the trains at a snails pace.. Here's the video.

Now today I managed to get off work 3 hours early so I was heading out to see some trains in the nice weather. Well there were two passenger excursions on the McAdam Sub today. I caught the second trip and chased it to Welsford. 2319 was the unit on todays train and it was running long hood forward. I caught the small train in a couple of spots such as leaving SJ in South Bay, Grand Bay, Westfield Beach, and then in Welsford. Pardon the commentary from my son Joey in some of the clips.. lol

Some Changes..

2010-06-17T12:25:00.000-03:00

You may notice some changes to my blog in the next little while. I'm looking at changing the template to it and I am still finding one I really like. The one main reason for the change was I didn't like how narrow the posts were on my blog before. Plus a little change never hurts..

Some CN Action..

2010-06-17T11:12:00.000-03:00

Back on June 13th I went with Saintjohnrailfan on a little CN adventure. We thought we would try going to Chipman for a change. But when we arrived in Chipman we had little time to prepare. Luckily Matt heard a signal called on the scanner so we could turn around and get to a spot up the line. We caught 120 heading to Moncton. Once the train rolled through we headed for Moncton. Once there we saw 305 at Berry Mills. 2 locals were caught at the Delong Dr overpass in Moncton. And then we chased 406 westbound to Saint John. It was a pretty good day!

Ooo a westbound...

2010-06-06T21:20:00.000-03:00

Just by luck I happened upon this westbound. I heard them call their clearance to enter the mainline not 30 seconds after I turned my radio on. Luckily I was close enough that I could get up the line abit. I shot at Ketepec Rd again. I like shooting at the spot I did. It's a nice view of the curve plus you are elevated to get a different perspective than just down beside it...

Some more videos....

2010-06-04T16:43:00.000-03:00

Here are some recent videos I have shot. I've had some good luck with NBSR lately. Hopefully it keeps up... Enjoy!

Finally an Eastbound..

2010-05-31T16:37:00.000-03:00

It's been awhile since I've caught an NBSR eastbound. On may 29th I was out checking the Dever Rd Yard out when I heard the RTC mention to a shunt crew that the eastbound was due into Saint John at 5:30pm. It was 3pm at the time so I was off... I tried to make it to Fredericton Junction but as I reached the straight stretch in Blissville the train was already occupying the crossing. So after a U turn I went back to Welsford. I began my video by shooting at Rte 7. I also caught the train at two curves in Grand Bay-Westfield. I beat the train into the Ketepec Rd for my last shot but I got texting when I parked the car. Big Mistake!! The lights came on sooner than I expected and I was still in my car.. So I made it a little farther down the road and set up a "through the window" shot in the car to at least catch the full train. Also if you notice in the video a haze in the shot.. that was a nice finger print on the lense that I didn't notice.. lol. Anyhoo enjoy the vid!

More NBSR Track Gang Shots

2010-05-26T21:47:00.001-03:00

I have been taking some random drives up to Grand Bay to see how the rail gang has been making out. I try not to get to close to the crew as I don't want to bother any of them. The first shot I have to share is of the ferry crossing. This shot was taken on the 20th of May. On this day the crew laid track west of the crossing towards Westfield Beach.

All was quiet at Westfield Beach on Victoria Day! There was a small work train out spreading out tie plates etc on the line east of WB. But the main gang was on a day off so I grabbed the chance to get a nice shot of the equipment in the siding. Also note the 115lb rail mainline running through the shot.

CN 406 Twice in May

2010-05-26T21:25:00.000-03:00

Here's a vid I made of two 406s in May. First train in the video is from the 19th with engines 5749,5722 hauling 41 cars through Tennis Crt Rd in Rothesay. The second train is shot from Park Dr on the 24th with engines 2651,5689 hauling 76 cars.

Now for some NBSR news...

2010-05-11T20:48:00.000-03:00

Back on March 13th I managed to catch an eastbound NBSR train coming to Saint John. The power was 2319, slug 008, 2318. I caught it at Hwy 7 Welsford and then the Britain Rd in Westfield, then gave it abit of a chase. The train had to stop to wait for the track crew to finish some work and clear the line so I gave up and headed home. Here's that video..

On May 6th I ventured out with my son Joe to see some NBSR action. But this time I thought I would head to Grand Bay to see the "Project 286" track gang working. NBSR has been working hard at replacing the 100lb rail of the McAdam Sub with 115lb rail. Of course they have been replacing ties along the way too. The crew has been replacing the easier parts first, working between crossings. The photo of rail above shows one spot where the rail jumps sizes. When I got to Westfield Beach the crew was just around the overpass. this made for some great shots of the crew working. Here are some of those shots...

Engineer in training...

2010-05-11T20:16:00.001-03:00

On May 5th I ventured out to Rothesay with Saintjohnrailfan to catch a special 406 westbound coming into Saint John. It had a trainee, that most railfans in NB all know, named Luc at the controls. He gave us a good show with lots of horn action as he passed the old Rothesay station and past us at Tennis Court Rd. 2510 was the leading unit on the 79 car train.

Abit of CN...

2010-05-11T20:04:00.003-03:00

Back on April 4th I ventured back up north with Saintjohnrailfan to get some more Napadogan Sub action. We caught 3 different trains while were up there. We caught 121 crossing the Salmon River Trestle and then booted it for Edmundston to catch it again. We filmed it entering the Edmundston Yard and then on the other side of town on the Pelletier Sub. Here's the video of 121 crossing the trestle. We tried a different angle in the early morning.

We also caught 305 passing the old Grand Falls station. This shot was kinda spoiled because the train was going slow but at least we saw it..

Our last train of the day was 308. We caught it just west of Grand Falls. Watch for the cranky dog in the video that could've got hurt.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T17:28:00.002-04:00

Welcome to 2010!! I hope everyone who reads my blog had a good year. My year was abit slow when it came to railfanning. Hopefully that will change this year! This year I started doing MSTS videos with some help from my friend Matt. This has helped with the train withdrawl.. I was lucky enough to catch the first NBSR westbound out of Saint John since Christmas Day and it had abit of a sad story. Apparently 2317 threw a rod or two. NBSR was sending it to Quebec to be repaired. On Dec 28th the westbound out of Saint John had in tow 2317 along with it's train. Here's my video of that train. I caught it at the Acamac Backland Rd.

The photo at the start of this blog is the returning eastbound on Dec 29th. The train was stopped outside the Dever Rd Yard for two hours while they waited for a rail to be replaced on the long lead entering the yard. The shot is just west of the Gault Rd. Engineman Gary Graham passses some time by removing snow from the front walkways of 2318.

Like I said earlier I have made some MSTS vids for something different to do on down time that I'm not watching the real thing. I have posted 5 vids on YouTube that I have made. Here are a couple of the vids I've done so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZiV61832k4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTpkFaUby40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhKHXQUc-5k

Now I want to show you my new railfanning toy.. Every railfan has a bad day by missing the perfect shot or missing a train completely. Even with a scanner it can be tricky to really know where a train is.. Or at least I've had afew misses.. Anywho.. I recently spoiled myself with a two-way radio for my car. It's programmed with all North American railway frequencies in it. I've only had it in my car for about a week and I have to say I'm impressed! I've been able to hear trains about 20 miles away. It's nice to be right in the frequency with them so it comes in nice and clear. Also a nice feature this radio has is a scanning feature. You can program about 19 frequencies to scan and set up priorities. This way you never miss the good stuff.. RTC, etc. The Dec 28th westbound video of mine featured audio from the radio. Now this radio has the capability to talk to trains.. but I have no intention of ever speaking a word on it. Just wouldn't be the right thing to do in my mind! But nevertheless I still think it was worth buying. It's gonna make train chasing a whole lot easier.

NBSR Westbound Sept 11

2009-09-12T19:05:00.000-03:00

It had been along time since I saw a westbound leave the city.. So I had to tape it.. even in the dark. When I arrived at Carle Ave the crew was doing some final shunts before they hooked on to their train. After about 45 minutes they had the brake test done and were receiving their clearance. That's when I left for the Acamac Backland Rd.

I decided on black and white just to try and help with the dark. Got set up and my car headlights on and waited. The GP38s sounded great working hard to get the train up to speed as they approached the crossing. Then at 9:07pm 2318, slug 008 and 9801 rolled through with 46 cars.

Also watch for the rule breaker in the video...

An odd NBSR passenger excursion..

2009-09-10T00:02:00.003-03:00

On September 2nd I took the family to meet Matt and catch CN 406. We caught the train at Tennis Court Rd.

On the way home I was passing Harbour Station when I noticed a green caboose backing toward the old VIA station. It was the NBSR with an odd consist for a passenger excursion. It consisted of 2318 and slug 008, one coach and the newly painted caboose. So I had to investigate. I got to talk with the crew. It was just a short jont from the station to the Dever Rd Yard. NBSR had some business men from India intown and the NBSR was showing off their facilities.

The crew was really nice. I met an engineer that I've heard on the scanner many times. He invited us up into the cab of 2318. This was a first for my wife Christina and son Joey. We got some pics of Joey in the seats. Christina got to honk the horn. And I got some railroad gossip.

After we thanked them for the tour I took some exterior shots. My first pics of the slug and a shot of the caboose. The consist looked real nice all painted, even if the slug looked out of place.

I shot the train from the park where Centracare used to be. It was a nice sunny day so the light was perfect. I walked down closer to the road to eliminate trees from the shot.

So much new I don't know where to start...

2009-09-09T22:59:00.000-03:00

As you can tell I haven't been exactly prompt on updating this blog.. Having a 1 and 1/2 year old can have it's toll on train chasing. I have been getting out on occasion with fellow railfan Matt (Saintjohnrailfan) and on my own. We've done a few trips to Moncton and McGivney. We even ventured up to Grand Falls to check out the Salmon River Trestle. That was one of my railfan highlights of this year so far. We plan to go there again soon.

On New Brunswick Day, NBSR ran a train from Harvey to McAdam and return. I took my family with me for this day. The train was sporting a freshly painted 2318, 2317 and newly painted passenger cars. Also they had two private cars on loan from Pan Am Railway on the rear of the train for dignitaries. I took some photos in Harvey but the train was on the railroad crossing so it was hard to get any great shots. I drove to the next crossing for a video shot. That's where I met Danny McCracken, a fellow RailsNB'r.

I wasn't sure how the shot was gonna turn out. Just as the train was approaching the crossing 3 deer stepped onto the tracks in front of the train. And I was rolling. But luckily they made it off before anything happened. I then headed for McAdam. What a sight when we arrived there.. A detour around the town. When we got close to the station we realized why. There had to be a couple thousand people at the festivities the town was having. It was nice to see so many people enjoying the day. A brakeman for NBSR that I happen to know was working the passenger train. So we got a nice tour of the redone cars. It's nice to sit in them in air conditioned comfort. After the tour he told me about a couple trips the train was going to make west from the station. So of course I was out taping in a couple locations.

Now for the return trip of the train to Harvey. I decided I would try a shot near the lake. I drove down the road past the ball field near the station in Harvey. Where I parked on the side of the road, you could see a path that took you right to the lake side. So I set up my tripod and waited. Finally the train came around the curve into Harvey. What a great place for a shot. You can even hear the water in the video. Once the train arrived and everyone disembarked, 2317 and the Pan Am cars were removed from the train and headed back to McAdam. 2318 and the NBSR passenger cars made the trip to Saint John. I chased that as I made my way home too.. It was a great day!

Great week for holidays!!

2009-02-24T13:44:00.013-04:00

I started holidays this week and boy am I glad by this weather. I have been driving a run at work that leaves me little time for train chasing. So this week I had to make sure I got to see something on the rails. Yesterday we had probably the biggest storm we have had this winter. Dumping about 37cm on Saint John. After I finished shovelling I was sitting at the computer with the scanner on. I heard lots of chatter as the NBSR were trying to clean their yard. After about a half hour of listening I heard someone on the mainline channel mention "The "SPU" is on the train". The SPU is also known as an End Of Train device. That meant something was going on the mainline. But what I wasn't sure. I couldn't see them run a freight train up to McAdam in that storm. So to Carle Ave I went.. Thankfully there wasn't much traffic around. The streets were a mess to say the least.. On my way there I heard the spreader get mentioned. All I could think was "sweet".. lol It had been a year since I seen the spreader at work. I was definitely catching this one. At about 1:25pm units 9803 & 9802 were reversing towards the wye with jordan spreader #402896. It took just over 30 minutes for the crew to get the consist turned on the wye and left Saint John at 2pm. My first thoughts on chasing in weather like this is where can I go that I won't get stuck.. As I headed up through Acamac the Backland Rd had not been plowed so that was a no no. When I got to Ketepec Rd there was enough room to park in front of the mail boxes to catch the train coming around the curve. Well this is where I made a mistake. I thought I hit the record button but I guess I didn't.. lol So no shot there. Now back to chasing.. I then hit some traffic in Morna Heights. This set me back. I decided to get well ahead of it in Grand Bay. The crew had to make a stop at a crossing by Starkey's to let a crew member on to cut out a traction motor on 9802. The ground relay bells were going off.

I set up at the far end of Inglewood Dr. Finally I hit the button right and got my first shot. They were slowing down for crossings so getting ahead was no problem. I beat the train to Westfield Beach so I went to the overpass.

This is a great place to get close to the train but not get covered in snow. It made for a nice shot but with limited room I shot it hand held. When I got back in the car I had my tripod set up on the passenger seat to try a chase sequence. Just as I headed out I had an NBSR employee ask me if they could get my pictures emailed to them. I mentioned I was shooting video and I told who to look up on YouTube and I was off. Now the snow banks didn't help the shots at times but it turned out pretty decent for a first try with my Impala. I've shot like this in my Cavalier that I had but I was chasing an eastbound train... The tripod didn't seem to move to much as I drove. This is where the flip out screen on my camera comes in handy!! I would just peek over to see if the train was in the shot and I would adjust my driving, or the camera. I then headed for Welsford. I stopped at the Rte 7 crossing to see it cross there.

I think it was a decent choice for my next shot. I kept going as long as I could drive easily. I then did a wide shot of the second crossing in Welsford.

I was looking for some different angles to make this year snow plow video abit different from last years. After the train rolled through I decided I wanted to get a nice photo of the train so I went to Clarendon. I picked a spot where the tracks can bee seen from the road. But the snow was falling quite good and obscured the shot. So that's when I called it quits and headed for home. When i jumped back in my car at Clarendon I looked at the clock and it was 3:30pm. It took the train an hour and a half to get that far! Enjoy the video!!

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VZNj3Y5wPQ

Long time no blog....

2008-12-29T12:21:00.010-04:00

I took a trip to Carle Ave last night to see the first NBSR westbound since their break for the holidays. I was also thinking the train might be rather long considering there hasn't been any mainline action. So Saintjohnrailfan met me there around 5:30pm with the thought the train may leave early. Boy we were wrong on both! The train was being assembled when we arrived. Just over 4 hours later they finally left. 2317 entered the mainline at 10:07pm. We decided we would catch it at the Acamac Backland Rd. The one thing I tried different this time was I shot in Sepia tone. I was hoping it would help out with the darkness. It did abit. The train was led by 2317,2610,2318,9801 and they were hauling along train of 58 cars. Definitely not a big difference from any other regular train. Enjoy the video!

It has been six months since my last post. I didn't have the best access to the internet for awhile but I was still chasing. Feel free to take a look at my YouTube account to see some vids I've made during the past months.

3 More Videos..

2008-06-21T08:35:00.002-03:00

I'm being a little slack keeping this blog updated. I'm going to be moving next weekend and things are busy! But I still have to get some time in for some train action. On June 12th I was out railfanning with Saintjohnrailfan and we caught the westbound at the Ketepec Rd.

NBSR was having more passenger trains on June 14th&15th. I made it out on Sunday the 15th. I arrived at Dever Rd. at 9:30am but there was no train. The 10am trip was cancelled due to low numbers booked for it. So there was just a 2pm and it was full! I chased it to Welsford but had to leave for a family BBQ.

And now the best part!! On June 19th I made it out to railfan with Saintjohnrailfan and KRG2645. We went to Carle Ave to see the NBSR westbound. We were standing around chatting about trains when the mainline crew brought their units down to the westend of the yard. As the brakeman came down off the units to throw a switch he yelled at us asking if we wanted to go up in the cab. We totally went for that!! GP38 #2317 was the engine we were in. There were 3 more #'s 2612,2318,9801. We rode along as the crew, we won't mention names, turned the units on the wye and finished their train for the trip to McAdam. We caught the train at the Gault Rd. It was shortly after 10pm and we used a street light to help with our shots.

CN's Denison Sub & Another NBSR Westbound

2008-06-11T09:24:00.007-03:00

On Sunday May 8th I took a trip to check out the Denison Sub. I recently heard that it wasn't being used. It definitely wasn't. The rails were quite rusty. I saw a high rail truck markings on some of the rails so no doubt they were just checking things out to make sure no one is trespassing. I could only find a few crossings along the line. It crosses the Salt Springs Rd, Rte 860 and Rte 865 right at the potash mine. The main reason I decided to check this line out is my father has started a new motorcar group. Maritime Scenic Rail Tours. This group is going to be an affiliate of NARCOA. My father is looking into doing some mainline runs in New Brunswick. And I thought this could be a good start with CN. I tried to do some research on the line but I can't find to much. The line is named after the Denison Mining Co that used to own the mine. The only date I could find was that Denison Mining opened the mine in 1985. I'm sure it wasn't long after that the Sub was put in. Here are a few pics I took while I was exploring the line.

Now on to NB Southern.. My friend Matt aka Saintjohnrailfan and myself went out on June 4th to catch the westbound leaving Saint John. We both went to the Ketepec Rd. I wanted to try and get a shot with a rock cut near the crossing but the vegetation was too bad along the edge of the rock cut to climb it. So I picked a spot between the cut and the crossing that I could stand clear. The train consisted of 2612,2318,9801 and 40 cars. In the video you notice the train slow almost to a crawl. I heard on the scanner that they were having problems with 2612. It was blowing oil. When they chatted with the RTC they said they might have to set 2612 off at Welsford, but I never heard whether they did or not. Here is a link to Matt's shot of the same train. Enjoy!

Some westbound videos..

2008-06-03T20:38:00.005-03:00

Well I've been out doing some railfanning with a new railfan friend Matt aka Saintjohnrailfan. I have made two videos of westbounds. First one was on May 29th. We decided to head for Grand Bay for some different scenery. We chose around the ferry landing road. Matt shot towards the river bank and towards the crossing. I was up around the corner from the crossing. The train consisted of GP38s #2612,2318,9801,2610 and 51 cars.

Then on June 2nd we both taped westbounds again. It was getting late and the shots are dark. I shot from a small rock cut at Janes Way Lane. And Matt shot at the Ketepec Rd. The consist for that train was GP38s #9801,2318,2612 and 53 cars.

NBSR Passenger Excursions of May 25

2008-05-26T18:57:00.004-03:00

The weather couldn't have been better for a day of train chasing. NB Southern had two trips from Saint John to Welsford and back. The trains started from the old station on the Dever Rd. They used a freshly washed 2317. I chased both trips. I'm not going to go on about the whole chase because I got alot of clips for my video. I filmed at some old and new places. The complete video is over 9mins long. I mashed all the clips together in order of the mileage on the McAdam Sub. It was a good day! Also as a reminder there will be 4 more trips in June on the 14th and 15th. I'll no doubt be out chasing some of them too. Enjoy the video!!

NBSR Action on May 22

2008-05-23T11:17:00.005-03:00

Well yesterday proved to be a busy day for railfanning for me. I left Saint John shortly after 1pm. I took my usual drive through the old roads following the tracks on my way to Vespra. I noticed in Grand Bay there was a work crew clearing trees and brush from the sides of the tracks. I arrived at Vespra at 2:30. I sat for abit but couldn't stand the heat in the car. And opening the windows wasn't an option because of the thousands of black flies that swarmed my car. So I took off through the dirt road. I made it to the far end and sat by the hot box detector. My scanner can pick up a strong signal sitting there. But I heard nothing. Finally after sitting for abit over an hour I turned my head to see headlights rounding the curve. So the chase began! I beat it to Rooth. This is along the dirt road. There is a nice curve and a dead end siding there. I have wanted to get some footage from this location and I finally got it. I then made my way to Fredericton Jct.

I decided on shooting the train passing the station. After not making the crossing at Blissville before the train, I just headed for Welsford. I shot at the gov't garage just so I wouldn't get stuck behind traffic. I wanted to get one good shot in Westfield and didn't want to get behind the train. I chose a nice curve around mile 17.

Then I was off for Acamac. As I was passing the Ketepec Rd I noticed Saintjohnrailfan sitting near the crossing so I called him and told him to get his camera ready. I shot on the straight stretch entering the yard limits in Acamac. Next I thought I would try catching the train on the east end of the yard from the overpass.

The train pulled into P2 track. The eastbound consisted of GP38s 2317,9801,2318 and 54 cars. But that wasn't the end for the day..

Shortly after 7pm I headed to the west end of the Dever Rd Yard. As I got to Carle Ave Saintjohnrailfan was there. We sat and chatted as the yard crew finished assembling the train, and the westbound road crew came and coupled to the train. Shortly after 8pm the train was ready to go. The westbound consisted of 2318,9801,2610 and 50 cars.

I headed to the Ketepec Rd to try a different angle of the curve. About 6 hours worth of train chasing. It was a very busy day. I hope you enjoy the vids!

Not much going on..

2008-05-15T14:26:00.017-03:00

I went out for a drive looking at some homes for sale. Nothing around any rails of course.. lol So on the way home I checked out some NBSR spots. There were no crews working the Dever Rd Yard. I took at trip down to Bay Shore. There was a track mobile shunting some tank cars in the old yard by the transfer station.

There will be some passenger trains put on by NBSR coming up in May and June. Proceeds of these trains are in support of the Rally Of Hope. There will be 2 trips made from Saint John to Welsford and return on each date. The dates are May 24th & 25th and June 14th & 15th. The departure times from Harbour Station in Saint John are 10am & 2pm. If you are interested in purchasing some tickets you can get some buy calling 632-5823. I will be trying my best too chase the trains on the 25th & 15th. Here is also a video I made showing one passenger train in October of last year. I blogged about the chase.

A day trip to Miramichi..

2008-05-09T22:29:00.010-03:00

Yesterday I went on a day trip with my father and his friend Bob to Miramichi. We decided to check out some of the train sights. First we went to the old train station in Chatham. An NB East Coast locomotive was parked idling next to the station. But no employees were around. We then headed for the VIA station in Newcastle. There was just some empty cars in the yard. No trains working at all. The effects of the shut down mills. As we checked out the crew shack in the yard a steady rain started. There were a few employees around. Bob knew one fellow. He worked with him at CN. We all chatted for about 10 mins. The NBEC employee told us that quite abit of crew had been layed off. Also he said they were to find out within a week or two if CN will be aquiring the exCN line back. Bob asked about the idling locomotive. It was SD40 6904. It brought cars into the Ultramar Distribution Center. 6904 is then put near the station and locked up. The train crew is then driven back to the crew shack. They will return when the fuel cars are unloaded. As we were leaving we noticed a train crew getting into a truck. So we figured it was the crew 6904. So we followed and were right. So I shot some video of the locomotive heading to the fuel cars, coupling and at a crossing. Enjoy the video!

First Eastbound For May..

2008-05-02T10:03:00.006-03:00

I caught another eastbound making it's way to Saint John. I only made it to the Airport Rd in Blissville when I saw the eastbound roll by. After making a U turn I beat it for Clarendon. The train consisted of 9801,2610,2612 and 15 cars. I wanted to get a shot panning as the train passes through a valley. I left for Westfield after Clarendon. As I drove through Westfield I wanted a new shot. I went to a small park at Sagwa. I shot the train rolling by. I drove to Westfield Beach. 9801 had to get some orders to proceed into Saint John. So I grabbed a shot as they slowly went through.

I then headed for Saint John. I wanted to catch the train in Acamac. I didn't have much time to get out of the car and shot the train on the back lit side. It looked ok from a distance but once the train got close it turned out a little worse. I then left for Gifford Rd at the east end of the Dever Rd Yard. I wanted to get a photo of the train hauling into the yard.

They brought the train up the main line through the yard because a work crew was working to clean up the derail at the west end. I grabbed a long distance shot of the work crew.

Enjoy the vid!!

Derailment Pics

2008-04-30T12:08:00.005-03:00

I took a trip to Carle Ave this morning and found this nice sight of some derailed chip cars. This is located at the west end of the Dever Rd Yard.

Another westbound video..

2008-04-29T20:40:00.003-03:00

Here is a video showing the Apr 28th westbound out of Saint John. The train consisted of 2318,2612,2610 and 41 cars, and is shot at the Acamac Backland Rd.

Also I have to report that NBSR has had another derailment in the yard. I heard it mentioned on the scanner this evening. It recently happened so I'm guessing it may have been from the eastbound's arrival. It was on the same track named P4 that they had a derailment on about a week ago. I'm not sure how many cars are involved.

An NBSR Westbound..

2008-04-26T09:09:00.004-03:00

I managed to catch the April 25th westbound out of Saint John. The sun had set so I only shot from one location, the Ketepec Road crossing. I used a small hill just west of the crossing to get a different angle. I think this might be one of my first videos with 2612 leading the train. I love the sound of the horn!

NBSR Eastbound with a different ending..

2008-04-24T19:42:00.012-03:00

Joey's first train chase! Christina and myself packed up our family for a drive today. The only twist was I had my camera and scanner.. The rain finally stopped leaving a cloudy day. So I decided that I would shoot video figuring the low light wouldn't be the best for photos. I never heard a thing on the scanner as I made my way towards Fredericton Jct. As I reached the church in Blissville I could see the crossing lights on. I pulled over and turned around to head for my first shot.

I decided on trying to shoot the train as it passes a small lake just west of the Welsford hot box detector. My next shot was one of my favorite locations in Westfield.

It's a nice S curve with a small bridge. The train then slowed through Grand Bay and I actually got ahead of it. So I headed for the overpass in Martinon. The engineer throttled up for the shot as they pass under the bridge.

Figuring I wasn't going to shoot anymore I headed for the east end of the Dever Rd Yard. I sat and waited for the train to pull into "P4". 9801 was about half way through the yard when it stopped. The engineer called for someone to check if the rear of the train. He said to the yard planner that the train slowly came to a stop, and that he figured one of the cars is on the ground. Come to find out they derailed the 7 wood chip cars at the rear of the train.

I climbed the bank near the Manchester overpass to catch this shot of the tail end of the train. It's not the best angle to see it derailed but I didn't want to get any closer where there were a few NBSR employees around. It was decent chase with a different ending, in our new Impala.. and Joey Slept through it all.. Enjoy the video!

Not much new..

2008-04-22T09:25:00.011-03:00

Well it has been almost a month since my last post and unfortunately I have nothing to report for chases. Things have been pretty busy between work and my family. I'm hoping to get out soon. In the past week I have purchased a new car and I am eager to do my first chase with it. A 2008 Chev Impala. I needed some more room and the Cavalier just wasn't cutting it. So anyone that happens to see me chasing trains feel free to say "Hi". Now if you are ever traveling throughout NB you may notice some cameras along the highways. These are web cams that belong to the Department of Transportation.

The main reason I bring this up is there is a web cam pointed directly at the Rte 7 crossing in Welsford. I have been checking the cam quite frequently to see if it should happen to catch a train in the shot. The day after I found the website I caught a shot of the crossing lights on. But finally after 2 months of checking the website the cam caught a train crossing Rte 7.

You can check out this webcam and many others in NB by using this link:

http://www.gnb.ca/0113/cameras/welsford-cam-e.asp

Finally got to see a pipe train..

2008-03-26T10:41:00.011-03:00

On Monday Mar 24th I was enjoying my long weekend like alot of people. I had the family out for a drive while it was nice out. When I got home, I checked out some railway sites online and came across Steve Boyko's Blog mentioning the NBSR eastbound was going to be a pipe train. So I headed out on a chase. This is the first pipe train I have seen in motion. I left Saint John shortly after 1pm and my first intentions were to just go to Welsford. But when I got there I heard nothing on the scanner. I had a gutt instinct to keep going until I found the train. I went as far as Vespra. This is where I like to start some chases from.

When I arrived at the crossing in Vespra I saw a mini van parked close to the crossing. It was Steve Boyko. As I was getting parked the RTC called the 2318 Extra to see where they were. I could actually hear the train and they were at Magaguadavic. It's between McAdam and Harvey Station. So we had a bit of a wait for the train. After about a half hour of talking trains Steve called a friend to see how the train was making out. It was getting close but was behind due to a problem with one engine. And finally shortly after 3pm the train arrived. I decided I would try some stills while it was a nice sunny day. And the chase was on! Being under powered it was easy to get to the spots I picked out on my way to the chase. I first took some shots of the train in Vespra. But the pipe cars were farther back on the train so it was hard to get the pipe in the shots.

I then headed for Fredericton Junction. I wanted to get a shot of the train going across the bridge just east of the station. It was badly back lit but it was the first time I've ever gotten a pic there so I took some anyway. I actually got one close up shot of 2318 just before the bridge.

I then headed for Blissville. I wanted to try some long shots to try and get some of the pipe in the shots. Shortly after parking on the side of Rte 101 Steve arrived at the same location. A nice shot through a field. The afternoon sun makes for some nice shots here.

I then tried for some more locations on the way to Welsford. After I left Welsford I decided I would try a shot of the switch signal at Westfield Beach. This would make a great shot if you had a telephoto lens.

I then headed for a large curve in Grand Bay that makes for some great shots. That was where I ended my chase for the day. The train consisted of GP38s 2318,2317,2610,2612 and 57 cars. From what I could tell from roll-bys it was 2612 that was giving them problems. It seemed they had the loco shut down. The crew of the train called the RTC to make sure they had an engine on stand by just in case they couldn't make it through Grand Bay due to the grades.

NBSR 9802 East

2008-02-23T20:49:00.011-04:00

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!

Looking back on 10 months of NBSR..

2008-02-17T20:35:00.005-04:00

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.

Newest Railfan

2008-02-12T22:56:00.004-04:00

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

Pipe Train #2 Feb 9th

2008-02-09T15:30:00.001-04:00

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.

Pipe Train Update...

2008-01-25T12:43:00.000-04:00

Well I don't have any video or pics to post about. Yesterday I was by The Dever Rd Yard and some of the cars were gone from the head end of the pipe train. Also as I was returning to the garage after work last night, I saw 9803 & 2610 hauling a CN transfer which included about 10 -15 pipe cars plus some of the general mixed cars that go to CN. So I would say they might be just taking them east when they need more to unload maybe.

The Pipe Train - Jan 23

2008-01-23T12:06:00.001-04:00

Well the Pipe Train arrived in Saint John yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't get out to chase the train. So this morning after having some blood work done I went on the look out. After leaving St Joseph's Hospital I made a trip down to Rothesay Ave to see if the pipe cars were down there. And they were not but there was an Irving equipment crane set up probably for unloading the pipe. So I headed for the Dever Rd Yard. When I got to Chesley street, heading west, GP38s 9803 & 2610 were stuck on the overpass trying to haul the CN transfer up the hill. This is quite a common sight on the NBSR so I didn't stop to take any pics. I drove up Bentley Street to Douglas Ave and when I got to the crossing SW9 3702 was on the rescue for the stuck train. Turned out they had a problem with one of the units. When I arrived at the Dever Rd yard I went to the west end to see if any shunting was going on. All was silent there but the end of the pipe train was beside Carle Ave. So I went to east end. When I was down on Gifford Rd a television cameraman was up on the bridge taking a shot of the train. The train stretched from one end of the yard to the other. It has created a lot of interest. So I ventured up to the bridge to get some shots. While I was walking up Bob Boudreau drove by and I would assume for the same reason I was there. I then noticed a track crew working east of the bridge. By this time 3702,9803,2610 had made it up the grade from Island Yard and were patiently waiting for the work to be finished so they could enter the east end of Dever Rd Yard. I'm hoping to catch the transfer of the pipe train to the Island Yard. I will probably take some video if I catch it.

NB Southern - Plow Extra Jan 2

2008-01-02T16:16:00.000-04:00

After doing some of my own snow removal this morning I thought I would put the scanner on to see what might be going on in the railroad world. Lucky for me I did. Shortly after I started to listen to NBSR frequencies I heard a mention of the Jordan Spreader 402896. What a perfect day to see some snow plow action. So I hopped in the car with my wife Christina. My first stop was Carle Ave. This street is on the west end of the Dever Rd. Yard. More chatter on the scanner indicated they were going to turn 2 locos and the spreader on the wye. The spreader was facing east and they were going to turn it for the trip to McAdam. The 2 locos were GP38s 2317 and 9802. So my first shot of the video is from Carle Ave as the train reversed down to the wye. Saint John received about 25 cm of snow the previous night and it was still going strong as I filmed. Parking was limited so I tried to keep to low traffic spots when possible.

My second shot was at the Acamac Backland Road just outside the yard limits. Third shot was at Grand Bay crossing another road. Fourth shot I decided on using the overpass at

Westfield Beach. It was a little tight on the bridge with not much room with traffic going by. But the angle was well worth it. While I was filming this location Christina hopped in behind the wheel for my next shots. After Westfield Beach heading west the road is close to the tracks. But to pace along with a train you need to be in the passenger side. So having a driver comes in handy.

As we go through Westfield I get some pretty good shots of the spreader doing it's stuff. And finally for my last shot I caught the train crossing Rte 101 in Welsford.

Another person stops to get a picture as I film. Also note the height of the snow banks on the road. I called it quits on chasing after that. The roads were still quite messy and I was quite impressed on the shots I got. I will definitely be sending this one to Rail-Videos.Net.

NB Southern Eastbound Dec 6

2007-12-07T09:43:00.000-04:00

I thought I would try chasin a train with some snow in the shots. I have never done this with so much snow down. I left Saint John around 1:30pm. I wasn't sure how the roads would be so I gave myself some time to get to Vespra. As I was approaching Fredericton Junction I heard some chatter on the scanner. It sounded like the train was recieving a clearance from the RTC. But I was far enough away I couldn't hear it clear. I made it to Vespra before the train at 3:00pm. I only sat for about 20 minutes before the train came. It was an interesting sight. Normally when I sit at Vespra (where the road turns to dirt) I would see alot of dust from cars on the road. Today I could see a large snow cloud getting closer as the train approached. So I decided I would try some photos first while I had daylight.

My first shot was coming into Tracy at 3:27pm

The second shot is just leaving Fredericton Junction at 3:42pm. I could tell I was getting some dark shots so I thought I would switch to video at this point.

My first video shot I went to Welsford. I caught it crossing the highway there at 4:16pm. Some of the regular railfan spots were quite snowed in. And parking wasn't the easiest. At 4:29pm I caught it rolling through Westfield.

This is my second try at this spot. It is located close to the RCMP station in Westfield. It turned out quite well.

And then for my last shot I did a close one at Acamac at 4:48pm. You really get to see some snow in this shot. I turned the shot to make sure I didn't cover the lense with snow. I got the brunt of the snow squal the train created. The train consisted of GP38s #9801,2317,9802 and 35 cars. I feel the video turned out good. It was accepted on Rail-Videos.Net. The only thing I might note. When chasing trains in winter, where a warm coat even on a nice day. And bring some good boots so you can get into those snow filled places. Now here is the video.. enjoy!

My luck has continued...

2007-12-03T12:21:00.000-04:00

It must be my week. I posted my video of a NBSR passenger train from October to Rail-Videos.Net and it was accepted. This site is run by the same people as RailPictures.Net. And to add to the excitement my video was the first video from New Brunswick. I will be definitely trying to get some more on the site. Click this link to see my video on their site

http://www.rail-videos.net/video/view.php?id=1359

First photo on RailPictures.net

2007-12-02T15:40:00.000-04:00

After many attempts I have finally managed to get a photo on RailPictures.net The photo I submitted was one from my previous blog. NBSR 9803 & 2610 shunting at the east end of the Dever Rd Yard. The screeners are usually quite picky. But the only comment they had was about the photo being unlevel. I corrected it with PhotoShop and they accepted it. You can see the photo on their site here

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=214152

NBSR - Saint John Sightings Nov 30

2007-11-30T13:48:00.000-04:00

While out looking for some trains I found a couple of yard crews working in the Dever Road Yard. The first was GP38 #2612 working by itself on the west end of the yard. I made a small video of the unit shunting. You can hear the radio chatter from the crew in the video.

At the east end of the Dever Rd Yard GP38s #9803,2610 were putting a long cut of boxcars together on the main line that runs through the yard. NBSR sometimes stores empty cars on the rarely used track. I took some photos of the crew working from the bridge overlooking the east end.

NB Southern - 9802 Eastbound Nov 21

2007-11-27T10:53:00.000-04:00

On Nov 21st I filmed the NBSR eastbound. The last time I chased the train it arrived at Vespra around 3:30pm, so I left Saint John at 2pm to make sure I'd get there by then. It can be hit and miss not knowing the actual time the train is due at McAdam. But today worked out good. I arrived at Vespra around 3:15pm. I was there only a short time when a call to the RTC was made on the scanner. They received a go ahead to proceed from mile 60.0 to the Dever Road Yard limits.

I set up on a private crossing just east of the grade crossing at Vespra. At 3:42pm the train arrived. GP38s 9802 & 2317 were the power along with 29 cars. On the drive up to meet this train I decided on some new spots for shooting.

My second shot I caught the train in Tracy at 3:51pm. I decided on catching a side shot of the train along the straight stretch. I like shooting at the Rte 7 crossing in Welsford.

Today I wanted to get a sound clip of the hot box detector. I like adding any sound clips of radio chat when I can just to make the video a little more interesting. At 4:29pm 9802 rolls through Welsford after no alarms from the last hot box detector before Saint John. And for my last shot I decided on a spot in Westfield just east of the RCMP office. At 4:40pm the train rolled through. Things weren't going so good though.

When I arrived at the spot there was quite abit of traffic. By the time I got out and across the road the train was coming into the curve. Then the ground was unlevel so I had to adjust my tripod. I got just enough of the train to put in the video. And with loosing the light I called it quits on taping and just followed the train into Saint John. So here's the video of my day..

NB Southern Railway - 2317 Eastbound

2007-11-12T20:29:00.000-04:00

It was a nice sunny day today I thought I would chase the eastbound. I left Saint John around 12:30. I never really know what time the train is due into McAdam, so I take the older roads located close to the rail line. I arrived at my destination at 1:55pm. I usually stop where Rte 645 turns into a dirt road at Vespra. This is west of Tracy. I waited for over an hour. So I thought I would take a pic of something... crossing lights work. I really thought I wasn't going to see a train today. At 3:25pm I finally decided to leave after no sign of the train. Until.. I slowly drove over the crossing I was located by. I saw headlights! Finally the eastbound was coming. I was really starting to loose day light by this time.

I thought I would try a shot as the train enters Fredericton Junction at 3:40pm. I like this spot because of the angle with the rest of the train. Unfortunately it was back lit. But the sun lit up the rest of the train nicely.

At 3:50pm the setting sun was making for some good lighting for locations like this one in Blissville. Today's train consisted of sister GP38s #2317 & 2318 and 61 cars.

4:10pm rolling through Clarendon.

And finally Grand Bay at 4:36pm. Sunlight glared off the nicely painted GP38s as they round the curve. I shot at two locations other than shown. At Rte 7 crossing in Welsford and in Ketepec just outside the Dever Rd Yard limits. They both had poor lighting and the shots weren't the best. The train arrived in Saint John at 5pm.

NBSR SW9 #3703 Update

2007-11-08T14:45:00.000-04:00

Steve Boyko has heard that #3703 is going to be getting a new paint job, some new parts and a cab overhaul. I have to say I'm glad to hear this. I have liked the SW9s since NB Southern purchased them. I will definitely update about this in the future.

CN and NBSR sightings Nov 6/07

2007-11-06T12:45:00.000-04:00

This morning I was driving Saint John Transit's East/West route and I made quite a few trips through Rothesay Avenue. Anytime I travel that way my eyes are always on the look out for trains in the Island Yard. The first thing I noticed was a new CN unit SD70 #8819. The fresh paint job made it stand out quite nicely. As I drove by Brett Chev Olds on Rothesay Ave I realized I could get a nice picture from the parking lot of Brett's. I was working a split shift today so I wanted to get a pic of the new locomotive before it left for Moncton. I finally got out to Brett's to get my photo and when I drove into the parking lot the shot of the locomotive changed. A tank trailer had been parked beside #8819 ruining the shot. So I took two photos anyway, one of the nose and just a wide shot. While taking the photos of #8819 I also noticed a bit of a sad sight. NBSR SW9 #3703 was sitting outside the Island Yard shop all by itself. It looks to be that it might be retired. Although I'm not 100% sure on that but it just doesn't look good. The headlight bulbs are removed. It appears to have some of the glass removed. I have a video of #3703 along with #2610 working the Dever Rd Yard on Aug 14/07. So I would say it was parked shortly after. If anyone has any idea the story of what's to come for this engine I would love to hear it. I will try my best to find out.

It used to be if someone was rail fanning NB Southern in Saint John they would always see the two SW9s #3702-3703 working hard together. I often heard on the scanner the NBSR employees calling the little engines "Huff & Puff." Here are a couple of more pics of #3703 working with it's mate #3702.

NB Southern Railway - CN Transfer Oct 28

2007-10-28T18:51:00.000-03:00

Today I thought I would try something new. I like searching for new shots to make photographing a little less repetitive. For today's video I though I would try the rock cut and curve just east of the Reversing Falls Bridge. I have shot from that location before from the opposite side and with a eastbound train. I think the rock face makes a nice background. At 11:45am the 4 locos GP38s #2610&2319, GP9 #3701 and SW9 #3702 roll past the former VIA Station on the way to the Island Yard.

The bottom photo shows the locos approaching their cut of cars from the CN train #406 that had arrived about a half hour earlier from Moncton. The NBSR crew had to make a shunt to remove two packs of container cars from the train. The transfer had 33 cars. In the video titling I made a mistake and put 32 cars.. oops! In was almost an hour before the train made the climb to Reversing Falls. The crew was having problems with GP38 #2610. They had alarms going off so they cut the engine out and only used the remaining 3 loco's power.

At 12:50pm 2610 leads the train around the curve and across Douglas Avenue. I think it turned out to be a good location.

NB Southern Railway - Passenger Excursion

2007-10-18T17:55:00.001-03:00

Being off on Thursdays can have some advantages. I was sitting at home when I heard some chatter on NBSRs main line channel. There was track crew working around mile 16 and whoever was speaking was on his was out towards the work crew. The thing I didn't notice was that it was a passenger excursion calling the crew. A short time later the Dever Rd yard planner spoke on the scanner and mentioned there was "blue" going by his window. There was an excusion train yesterday so I was pretty certain another was going out today. I set out to find the train! I finally caught up with the Welsford bound train, led by GP38 2610, at Nerepis. So I kept driving to catch the trains arrival at Welsford.

I set up just west of the Rte 7 crossing for my first shot. The train rolled by at 11:12am. I then set up a different angle to catch the run around of the locomotive. Once that was done I moved to the Dept Of Transportation garage driveway, just east of Rt 7.

At 11:45 they left Welsford bound for Saint John. My next two locations were Nerepis and Westfield, both have nice S curves.

They make for some nice shots. The train was traveling at a reduced speed so I could keep a good pace in front of it.

At 12:14pm the train rolled through Grand Bay. When I left this location I decided I would get one more along the Westfield Rd in Morna and then a shot in Saint John. At 12:24 they rolled through a sharp curve in Morna. I couldn't decide where to shoot in Saint John. I had abit of time as they slowly went through the Dever Rd Yard. So I checked out by the Reversing Falls bridge and then I changed my mind and went close to Harbour Station, which is their final destination. I picked a spot along Harbour Passage which is located just west of Harbour Station beside the rail line. At 1pm the passenger train rolls past Harbour Passage.

This was my final shot and I headed home. Enjoy the video!

NB Southern Railway - CN Transfer Oct 7/07

2007-10-09T12:54:00.000-03:00

On most Sundays NBSR usually hauls a container transfer from the Island Yard to the Port of Saint John on the west side of the city. I was at home when I heard the horn on the CN caboose #79624. This meant NBSR was backing down into the Port of SJ. I watched from my house as they backed a small container train down. After they were done and came back out from the container port, I heard the Yard master call on the scanner saying the Saint John bound CN train #406 arrived with more containers for the Port. That meant there would be two transfers today. I packed up the car and headed out to see what I could find. When I left my house I drove through Simms Corner to see the CN caboose sitting behind Moosehead Breweries. I proceeded to the entrance of the Island Yard. I couldn't see any containers. So I left and went down Rothesay Ave. Once I got to the east end of the Island Yard I then noticed that CN #406 had arrived into Saint John. They were waiting for yard crews to make room for the long train. I went to Station St. to sit and wait. When I had arrived at the old VIA station 3 NBSR units were waiting to enter the Island Yard. NBSR 9801, 3701, 2610 were the units. Once the CN units pulled the #406 through the Island Yard they dropped the train so NBSR could grab the 36 container cars from the head of the train. At this point I went to get ready for taping. I chose the site of the old hospital Centracare. It has a commanding view of the Reversing Falls plus a good view of the bridge. It was really windy at this location. The wind was coming directly down the river. At 11:05am the train crossed the bridge. I then proceeded to Sea Street on the west side for my next shot. This street is located at the west end of the the old Bay Shore Yard. From here I could get a good shot of the train backing down the grade before the yard. At 11:24am the train now with CN caboose #79624 in the lead crossed Sea Street. Another good chase!

To see the video click this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSX9RTULotU

NB Southern Railway Eastbound Oct 3/07

2007-10-04T09:47:00.000-03:00

On Wednesday Oct 3rd I had the day off from work so I decided to head for McAdam. As I was getting close to McAdam on Rte 630 I turned my scanner on to hear a call being made to the RTC. It came through quite scratchy so I couldn't hear what was being said. I hightailed it the rest of the way just so I could make sure if it was the eastbound or not. When I arrived at the station at approx 1:20pm there was no train in sight so I headed toward the main road crossing east of the station. That's when I noticed a flat car rolling by some trees. It was attached to a small crane that was doing some maintenance in the yard. So I turned around and went up by the station to sit and wait. I had noticed the rails were rusty by the station so I knew the train hadn't been there. It was approximately 20 mins when I noticed a few NBSR employees come down to the station from the bunk house. That's the sign of a train arrival. I set up on the main road side of the station to catch the train coming in. This is the side they use to break the train to add or remove cars from the train. They removed some boxcars and added some empty gypsum cars. I waited for the call to the RTC for clearance then I headed out of McAdam. I had never seen the Rte 635 crossing in Prince William before so I decided to leave so I could make sure I made it to there before the train. I wasn't there 3 mins and I heard it coming down the long straight stretch. At approximately 2:40pm the train rolled through. Then it was off to Harvey. I wanted to beat the train there so I could get a good start going through the dirt road through Rooth. I made it to Harvey in good time. There was a signal maintainer working at the crossing in Harvey but no train. I thought I was having some good luck. Until I got about 2km away from the start of the dirt road. There is a hot box detector at the start of the dirt road. It came on the scanner saying they had no alarms. Meaning the whole train had rolled by and they had a good start through Rooth. I never slacked off going through the dirt road. I have to say it was the fastest I've ever gone through there but I wasn't letting the train get away from me. Finally by the time I reached the grade crossing at the east end of the dirt road I had caught up with the tail end of the train. I managed to get ahead of the train at Tracy but I wanted to tape the train coming into Fredericton Junction for a change. Plus it gave my wife Christina a break from sitting in the car. At approximately 3:25pm the train rolled through. I tried to beat the train to the Blissville Crossing on Rte 101 but I got stuck behind two school buses. I passed one and got between them. The one in front of me stopped for the Rte 101 crossing and just as they did the crossing lights came on. No chance for taping there. So I decided my next spot would be at Rte 7 crossing in Welsford. I like this spot because if I shoot from the driveway of the goverment garage I can get going on Rte 7 towards Grandbay without getting caught in the traffic held up by the train. At approx 4:05pm the train rolled through. As I got closer to Saint John I could see the fog coming farther inland. I didn't really want to shoot any foggy shots so I made Westfield Beach my last shot. A nice overhead shot was what I had in mind. I took it from the bridge on Rte 102 that goes over the rail line. At approx 4:20pm the train rolled by. That was my last shot for the day. The train consisted of NBSR GP38s - 9802,2612,2317,2318 and had 59 cars. I made a 7 min video of the chase that I also posted on YouTube. It took about 5hours to do the chase in total but it was worth it in my eyes. Another great chase!