RAILROADING IN 2003
~ THE HALIFAX AREA ~ 
Part 1 Freight Trains.
 

Since late February 2003 (after 136 & 137 were cancelled) only two regular 100 series  intermodal trains have operated daily to Halifax. Both are scheduled to arrive before sunrise each morning. Train 120 operates from Brampton Intermodal Terminal (BIT) to Halifax with a stop at Moncton Intermodal Terminal (MIT) and a set out at Rockingham for Ceres (located at Fairview Cove) and Halterm (located at Halifax Ocean Terminals - HOT) before continuing to Halifax Intermodal Terminal (HIT). Train 148 operates from Chicago and calls at BIT, Taschereau (Montreal), Moncton and Rockingham (ROCK) before terminating at HOT. It sometimes has locomotives that are not usually seen in Halifax including locomotives from other railroads. Weather and derailments have caused delays of up to 16 hours and so on some occassions both trains can be seen in the daylight.

Since February 2003 train 308 from Toronto Macmillan yard to Truro has been extended to Dartmouth but sometimes it is diverted to Rockingham or terminates at Bedford Quarry.  308 does a lot of local pick-ups and drop-offs and serves the connection with the CB&CNS at Truro. It too arrives early in the morning and has usually departed as 307 after a crew change before 6:00 am.

All three trains can be almost 2 miles long on occassions and can have three or four locomotives with a total horsepower of up to 13,200 hp.

The only regularly scheduled daylight freight train in the Halifax area is train 701 which runs from Dartmouth (Wright's Cove) to the gypsum mine at Milford and back. A similar train (703) runs at night. These trains normally use two locomotives with a total horsepower of about 8,600 hp. For over 30 years these trains have used CN owned gondolas (most built by Marine Industries at Sorel QC) which were emptied using a rotary tipper at Wright's Cove. This tipper required repairs and so National Gypsum decide to purchase their own bottom dump hopper cars built by Johnstown America Corporation. On 20 May the first loaded run of these new cars to Dartmouth was made.

TRAIN 120

1 August 2003

21 February 2003

20 June 2003

21 May 2003

20 May 2003

6 March 2003

1 August 2003

6 February 2003

7 April 2003

1 April 2003

24 July 2003

2 August 2003

Burnside 6 February 2003.

20 February 2003

20 May 2003

17 June 2003

12 August 2003

The outgoing trains are assembled in the late afternoon with the cut off at HIT for the arrival of containers and trailers being about 4 pm. Usually a switcher brings the cars from HIT to Rockingham for pick-up about 5:30 pm. Meanwhile the locomotives have been serviced at Fairview yards.   Generally locomotives that came in on 148 return on 121 and those from 120 return on 149. 121 is the first train to leave and departs HOT about 6 pm  and then picks-up intermodal and general freight including mine tailings from Cuba destined for Fort Saskatchewan AB (these are bagged and travel in open gondolas) at Rockingham. Departure from Rockingham is about 7 to 8 pm. Train 149 leaves about 2 to 3 hours later but by then it is dark.

Train 308 arrives early in the morning and departs again with a new crew as train 307. Generally it departs before sunrise but occassionally it can be photographed in reasonable morning light. It is better to go to Truro and photograph it there - it spends 1 to 2 hours picking up freight from the CB&CNS having first left its train beyond Truro in the siding at Belmont.

19 July 2003

28 April 2003

20 June 2003

17 June 2003

22 July 2003

A variety of switching and transfer moves are made in the area and sometimes run as trains 503, 505 and 509. If the gypsum train is not operating its power is sometimes used for freight or engine transfer purposes and it retains the number 701.

Recently one or two GP38-2  and GP38-2W s have been used although sometimes GP9RMs or even a GP40-2W is assigned to the area.

There are usually two switch jobs in Dartmouth - one to the west of the yard which includes Burnside and one to the east of the yard that includes Autoport and Imperial Oil.

At HOT a pair of switchers are usually at work including transfering containers as needed to and from Rockingham yards (ROCK) via the single track HOTROCK connecting track which is controlled by the Rockingham yard master.  Clearance is given for one train a t a time to occupy the HOTROCK.

In the Rockingham yards there are usually two switching jobs at work but these can go to Windsor Junction to interchange with the Windsor & Hantsport Railway or even as far as Milford.

Track maintenance and rail laying was done this spring with either a SD40-2W or an SD40u.

5 March 2003

15 January 2003

21 February 2003

9 July 2003

21 February 2003

16 April 2003

8.5 by 11 inch Matte or Glossy prints of the original high resolution
digital photos made on a Canon Pixma i5000 photo quality printer
are available at $8 each plus $2 postage per order from:
David Othen (OBE train photos),
2 Beverley Street, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2X 2K3