Saturday, November 19, 2005

VIA 15 out of Halifax

I decided to chase VIA 15 out of Halifax today, after I spent some time at the train show. On my way out of town I noticed 701 was at Wrights Cove around 12:45.

13:02 Bedford Quarry: I just made it here and didn't have time to set up the tripod. The light was pretty good.

VIA 15 Bedford Quarry

The consist, as far as I can tell from the tiny screen on my video camera, was 6415 / 64xx / baggage / coach / Skyline / diner / 4 sleepers / Park / 4 coaches / diner. The last 5 cars are probably the last of the Veteran Train deadheading back to Montreal. You can see the tail end here:

VIA 15 Bedford Quarry

I wanted to race to Milford next. As luck would have it, a truck pulled out very near Bedford Quarry with a huge concrete bridge piece on it, with accompanying escort vehicles. Once they managed to swing that onto the onramp, I was able to get by and get on highway 102. It delayed me a few minutes but I made it to Milford on time, and 15 showed up at 13:32.

VIA 15 Milford

Bill Linley recommended that I go to Crowes Mills Road aka the west end of Belmont siding next. I had been to the east end of the siding on the old Tatamagouche Road but never the west end. But beware, there is construction on that road. By the time I made it through there, I only had a couple of minutes before 15 showed up at 14:17.

VIA 15 Belmont

It's really hard to videotape with a 2-year-old clinging to you, by the way.

There was no sign of VIA 14 at all. I had to stop for a bathroom break and to fuel up the vehicle, so I figured I was too far behind. I called VIA and they said it was expected to arrive in Halifax at 1800 (!) so they were quite late.

On return to the Halifax area I noted CN 4732 and 4722 shunting the Dartmouth yard. The light was very wrong on my side.

CN 4732 and 4722 at Dartmouth

No comments: