RAILROADING IN 2003
~ THE HALIFAX AREA ~ 
Part 2 Passenger Trains.
 

OCEAN

The Ocean - trains 14 & 15  (eastbound and westbound respectively) - arrives in Halifax daily except Wednesday and departs daily except Tuesday. About 30 to 40 minutes after arrival the train is backed out of Halifax station about a mile and then turned on the balloon track at the Halterm container pier before being backed back into Halifax station. Once this year the train has derailed during this procedure.

This year the F40PH-2s have been showing their age and have broken down on several occasions especially during the winter. VIA has borrowed a locomotive from CN. The most unusual occurrence was the use of GP9RM 7003 from Charny QC to Halifax arriving on 18 January 2003 and then back to Moncton NB the following day. Other trains have had a GP40-2W and I think an SD75I was reported once.

On 12 January 2003 a locomotive failure lead to the Chaleur being brought all the way to Halifax (when the train arrived at Matapedia it was found that only one of the three locomotives was able to supply electrical power for heat and light to the coaches so Chaleur passengers were bused from Campbellton).

During past summer seasons two to four sleeping cars have been left in Moncton station by the eastbound train and collected by the next westbound train. This reduces the number of sleepers needed and frees up equipment for use on the Canadian. However because of lower riderships and the introduction of the Renaissance equipment this has rarely been done in 2003.

Typically during the summer the Ocean has arrived with 12 to 15 Stainless Steel Budd coaches and two F40PH-2 locomotives. Typically the consist is a baggage car,  3 to 5 coaches, a Skyline Car, a diner, 4 to 7 Chateau sleepers and a Park Car.

In early March VIA needed to send four coaches that it had purchased from BC Rail to IRSI in Moncton for refurbishing and painting. The coaches are for Totem service on the Skeena. They attached two to the rear of train 14 and had intended to leave them in Moncton. However the second track in the station could not be used because of ice and so the coaches came on to Halifax. A second pair arrived in Halifax the next day. Eventually all four were returned to Moncton on a CN freight train.

At the end of March the ice had still not melted and so RDC 6135 was brought to Halifax by CN and then returned to Vancouver Island on the Ocean and the Canadian.

VIA14 (eastbound)

8 February 2003

20 May 2003

20 June 2003

22 July 2003

3 June 2003

Turning the Ocean 3 June 2003

Former BC Rail coaches to be used on the Skeena 9 March 2003

Combined Ocean & Chaleur in Halifax
12 January 2003.

4 June 2003

17 May 2003

9 January 2003

10 July 2003

8 February 2003

19 January 2003

5 March 2003

23 March 2003

26 March 2003

During the early summer a special train of six Renaissance cars with one F40PH-2 came to Halifax for crew training. This set returned to Montreal for cleaning and to have more cars added. The enhanced set is a semi-permanent set of 12 coaches - baggage, three coaches, service car, diner, service car, and five sleepers. This set then came to Halifax for further crew training. It was attached behind the regular Ocean making a 29 car train with three locomotives but suffered several delays and arrived after dark.

On Wednesday July 30 the first 20 Rennaissance car Ocean with the Chaleur attached left Montreal with four F40PH-2s but because of a CN derailment had to be detoured along the north shore of the St Lawrence and arrived over 9 hours late.

Arriving on 17 May 2003

Returning as train 615 30 June 2003

12 car training set in Halifax on 7 July 2003

1 August 2003

1 August 2003

10 August 2003

14 August 2003

When the Ocean arrives on Monday afternoon the baggage car, one or two coaches, the Skyline car and the Park car are marshalled to form the Bras d'Or with one F40PH-2. This train leaves early on Tuesday morning for Sydney as train 19 becoming train 618 when it turns eastward at Truro on the CB&CNS Railway. There is no westbound Ocean on Tuesday. On Wednesday the Bras d'Or returns as train 619 and then 18 arriving in Halifax in the early evening. Wednesday's Ocean departure is covered by the Ocean that arrived on Tuesday night and the Bras d'Or equipment is remarshalled to form Thursday's Ocean.

A VIA crew is used on CN trackage from Halifax to Truro where a CB&CNS crew takes over. The CB&CNS crew begins their duty in Stellarton and drives a rental car to Truro. The VIA and CB&CNS crews exchange the train and the car and the VIA crew drives back to Halifax in the car. The procedure is reversed on Wednesday, so the car, train and crews all end up in the right place!

Westbound 8 July 2003

Westbound 29 July 2003

Westbound 22 July 2003

Eastbound 9 July 2003

Eastbound 4 June 2003

Eastbound 2 July 2003

8.5 by 11 inch Matte or Glossy prints of the original high resolution
digital photos made on a Canon i850 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