Saintjohnrailfan's Ultimate Adventures

Back To Blogger

2013-12-18T11:01:00.001-04:00

Well, after some consideration, I'm going to bring my blog back to Blogger. Not really sure why. I guess I'm just bad at keeping things consistent. I still might not post very often, but I'll be posting back here.

Stay tuned.

Moving My Blog, For Good.

2013-07-28T18:01:00.001-03:00

I'm moving my blog over to Tumblr. It's been a good run here, but I think with a change of scenery, and easier tools to promote my posts along various social outlets, I'm better off moving.

You can follow my blog over on Tumblr:

http://saintjohnrailfan.tumblr.com/

See Ya later Blogger. It was a good run.!

Small Update, 2 Months Later

2013-07-28T10:40:00.002-03:00

Wow, safe to say I'm not very good with the updates here.

Well, here's a picture to help get me by until my next update, whenever that will be.

CN 5727 west through Hampton, N.B. July 27, 2013

Enjoy. Not sure when I'll post another update, as I've almost kind of forgotten about the blog.

Cheers,
Matt

HLCX 6319 Eastbound

2013-05-11T21:31:00.001-03:00

Here's my latest shot from yesterday, Friday. HLCX 6319 is leading a 6-unit eastbound NBSR freight through Welsford, New Brunswick.

Cheers

Weekend Westbound

2013-05-06T22:04:00.000-03:00

With the weather being nice on Saturday, I decided to take a break from work to catch the daily westbound. I arrived with the train about a mile and half away, so I didn't have much time to set up.

The shot seemed to turn out decent, nonetheless. Here's CN 8832 leading the daily westbound, along with two GE's.

Happy Monday! More updates to come.

Oops, Quick Update

2013-04-24T21:12:00.001-03:00

Sorry, it's been a few months since I've last written a post on here. I'm seriously going to try and keep the blog updated again. Here's a picture, of a DPU, to pass the time until my next update.

CN 5737, Inside The Curve

2013-02-14T14:21:00.000-04:00

Here's my latest video, taken on February 13th. Decided to venture out to catch the daily westbound freight, along my favorite new area, "the curve". This time, however, I decided to venture on the inside of the curve for my main shot. CN 5737 provides the power for this westbound. This SD75i has been retrofitted with a K5LLA horn, one of my favorites.

The shot turned out relatively well. Unfortunately most of the westbounds which run on the line run in the mid/late afternoon time frame, so the lighting isn't the best. An early morning westbound here would be ideal.

Enjoy.

Snowy CN Westbound

2013-02-05T16:45:00.002-04:00

On Sunday, I decided to venture out to catch the daily CN westbound "406" freight. With some light snow falling, I decided to stick around the usual location. At around 16:20AST, CN 2671 leads a three unit lash up through Rothesay, NB.

Enjoy.

More Foreign Power

2013-02-03T12:23:00.002-04:00

Holy crap, sorry it's been so long since my last update. As usual, the blog seems to take a backseat to the rest of the stuff I've been working on.

Any who, I figured I'd share one of my latest catches. This past Sunday, myself and Dave, aka "NBSRFAN", caught an eastbound loaded oil train with HLCX 8144 at the point, with a BNSF and two CSX units trailing, starting their descent into Grand Bay, NB.

It's nice to see all this foreign power coming across the border in to New Brunswick.

Happy Superbowl Weekend, and I'll try to update more often (but don't hold me to it).

Matt aka SJRF

New CN ES44AC's

2012-12-12T09:23:00.000-04:00

This isn't my video, but I thought I'd share a video somebody (Haltonrailfan) shot of one of the new CN AC's leading, CN 2800.

It's the second train in the video.

I'd love to see these units east of Toronto, but I doubt that will happen.

-Matt

A Pair Of 2100's

2012-12-02T13:05:00.000-04:00

I found out that two 2100 series units would be in the consist of yesterday's westbound, I decided to get a shot of them when I finished work.

I finished work, and waited. After about an hour, I heard them, as they were about 5-6 miles away. I set up shot, and waited a few minutes. Here's the result:

I was happy with the result. Normally I shoot on the other side of the track, but today, I shot on the other side, a good choice.

Matt

CN 2223 on a Sunny Afternoon

2012-11-25T17:07:00.003-04:00

On Saturday the 17th, I was finishing up work for the day, not planning on really catching any trains. However, when I found out the daily westbound was 4 units and 8700 feet, I decided to head out to catch it.

Here's the daily westbound, mile 78 of the Sussex Subdivision, in Rothesay.

I'm not a fan of the shot, because of the shadows, but at the same time, there was enough of an opening along the tree line to have the sun shine on the lead engine.
Matt

A Moment In McGivney

2012-11-17T20:07:00.000-04:00

I decided to head to McGivney, NB this past Sunday, as it was about a year and a half since I had last been there.

I made it to McGivney around 6am, to discover a green/red signal facing east, so I knew 121 would be around soon. At around 645am, CN 121 came barreling through, with a short train (or at least it was, by 121's standards).

After they went by, there was a delay between the next train (as per usual). A special thanks to a few railfans who were out and about in Moncton, gave me the heads up on 305's departure time. There was also a CN 474 out and about along the line, heading east. I heard the RTC say that 474 was going to meet 305 at McGivney. Well, wasn't that a coincidence. At around 11:40am, a small 474 took the siding. About 20 minutes later, roughly at noon, CN 305, aka, the beast, came rumbling through, with six units at the head end, plus DPU'ed.

A few minutes later, CN 474 exits the siding and continues eastward to Moncton.

After they departed, I could still hear CN 305 pounding through the woods for 20 minutes. It's quite the sound.

After that, I called it a day and ventured back home. En route, I manged to catch CN 406 to Saint John. I filmed it, but the shot didn't really turn out, so I won't bother uploading it. Looks like you can see the upgrades/work being done to lengthen the siding at McGivney.

Cheers,

Chase Along The McAdam Sub

2012-11-05T20:25:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, myself and a couple of railfans from Moncton, NB decided to chase the daily New Brunswick Southern Railway westbound freight.

Here's my first shot of them, a few minutes after leaving Saint John, NB:

That was my only shot that I used Picture in Picture for. Because of that, I combined the rest of the chase into one video. Shots are from Welsford, Hoyt, Vespra, Harvey Station, and the last shot at the McAdam station.

It's been a few years since I've done a chase to that magnitude. Now with more daylight trains being run along this line, I need to try and do this more often.

-Matt

Empty Crude Train West

2012-10-21T11:46:00.000-03:00

Here's a video that I took a few weeks ago of an empty crude oil westbound train heading out of Saint John, with HLCX 6318 on the point.

Enjoy.

Saturday Afternoon Train

2012-10-14T08:51:00.004-03:00

Well, another big gap between posts on the blog. Yet again, I apologize for that. I've been without internet for the last week, so I'd like to just use that for the excuse, so I will.

I have a backlog of about 5 or 6 videos that need to get uploaded. I managed to get one uploaded yesterday, my latest shot of CN 2294 leading a three unit lashup westbound through Rothesay in nice fall colors.

They had been stopped about three miles from here for about an hour, as they couldn't get into the yard right away. That semi screwed up the lighting for the shot. I figured I couldn't be that lucky. Here's the end result:

Here's hoping I get my backlog of stuff uploaded over the next few days.

-Matt

BCOL "Cowl" Catch

2012-08-10T20:42:00.000-03:00

Another gap between posts. Sorry about that.

Yesterday, Thursday, I found out that a BCOL "Cowl" unit would be leading the daily eastbound (406), so I decided to head out to catch it.

I set up shop, near the usual location. Here's my shot of the train, BCOL 4612 and CN 2619 lead the eastbound through Rothesay, NB, mile 78 of the CN Sussex Subdivision.

Enjoy the video, more updates to come...hopefully.

Matt

Update On Ontario Trip

2012-07-25T08:51:00.000-03:00

Sorry for the lack of updates again. I'll just post a couple of videos from my trip to Ontario a few weeks ago.

Here's the first shot, a meet at "CN Garry", east of Lancaster, Ont.

Here's my next shot..I spent 5 hours trackside at Bedell, Ont, just south Kemptville, on the CP Winchester Sub.

The story line is in the video description. Unfortunately, I was only in Ontario for 3 days, so I didn't get out to catch as many trains as I wanted to. Maybe next time.

Matt

Another Quick Update

2012-06-25T19:13:00.000-03:00

Another one of those "It's been awhile, here's an update" posts.

I haven't been out catching trains as much lately, for whatever reason, mostly because of work. Here's my latest shot, from June 17th, of an NBSR transfer train slowly going to NBSR's Dever Yard in West Saint John.

Hopefully I can get out this week to catch another train or two.

Matt, "SJRF".

Quick Update - Online Store

2012-05-23T16:32:00.002-03:00

Sorry for the lack of posts here. Just thought I'd post a quick update.

Over the next few days, I'll be adding my SJRF merchandise store to my YouTube page..I'll update the page as I find out more. I know what my first purchase will be...a beer stein with a picture of a CN ES44DC...hmm....that could work.

Here's my latest video of NBSR 2318 westbound on Victoria Day Monday.

Enjoy,
Matt, aka SJRF

New Saint John Traffic

2012-04-23T20:33:00.001-03:00

I posted this message on the SJRF Facebook page, so I'm just copying/pasting over to the blog.

So starting sometime in May of 2012, there be a new train running on the Sussex Sub. Three times a week, there will be a crude oil train running, each between 70-100 cars. Not sure what the symbol will be yet. This will be a Chicago, Ill to Saint John, NB train.

Hopefully they will keep this as a unit train all the way through, instead of tacking the cars on to the daily "406" train. Looking forward to catching something else on this line that isn't Potash.

Updates to come as I find out more.

-Matt

Another Quick Update

2012-04-10T17:48:00.000-03:00

Again, it's been awhile since I've last done an update here. I've just been kind of slack, obviously.
Here's a video of my last catch, CN 407 at Dorchester, NB. Hopefully I'll try and get back up to date by the end of the week.

-Matt

CN 406 Westbound Chase

2012-02-22T17:55:00.001-04:00

This past Sunday, myself and Dave (http://www.youtube.com/nbsrfan) decided to chase 406 west from Sussex to Saint John, NB.

We met up just east of Sussex. About 15 minutes later, the train came by, with CN 2159 on the point.

Afterwards, we gave chase. The first shot is from the Odell Loop Rd crossing, near Bloomfield, NB. The second "chase" shot is following along with it outside of Hampton. We were lucky to be able to keep pace with it, especially with all the Sunday drivers. The last shot is from Renforth, a few miles outside of Saint John, NB. All three shots in the chase are together in one video.

It's been awhile since I've done a chase of this train, so I figured it was time. I'll probably end up doing this more once the weather warms up a bit.

-Matt

Ex-BNSF Unit

2012-02-06T20:02:00.001-04:00

Last Thursday, I found out from a friend that CN 2157 would be leading the daily westbound freight (CN 406). I set up shop, and about 30 minutes, they rolled by with 4 units and 13,000 tons of train.

Enjoy. Another post to come later with my weekend updates.

-Matt

Overnight Potash Train

2012-01-30T19:51:00.001-04:00

Last Thursday night/Friday morning, myself and Dave (http://www.youtube.com/nbsrfan) decided to venture out to catch the overnight potash train, CN 594.

We went out around 22:30AST. We were expecting them to arrive before midnight. We were talking for a while, and the next thing you know, it was 02:00. A few minutes, just as we were about to part ways after what we though was an unsuccessful night, we heard CN 594 call the yard to get in and head over to Courtnay Bay.

With plenty of time to spare, we set up shop and caught them crossing over to Courtnay Bay.

After that, we called it a night and went our seperate ways.

-Matt