ESSEX TERMINAL RAILWAY:

 INCO VIGNETTE:

INCO Electric Steeple-cab #117 (acquired second-hand from interurban St. Louis & Belleville Electric Railway in December of 1952 and built new by General Electric/Westinghouse in 1926) rolls along near Levack, Ontario with a string of jennies after interchanging with the Canadian Pacific on September 16, 1993. Jack Kuiphoff photo.  They also used another one at the smelter where CP dropped the cars off. They steeples were retired in 2001. CP now hauls the cars to the Levack mine, and a former SP GP35 works the smelter. (Photo by Jack Kuiphoff ).

CENTRAL MAINE AND QUEBEC:

 Posing under threatening skies, on October 15th 2015, Francois Jolin shot Central Maine & Quebec Train 810 arriving at the yard in Farnham, QC, from the interchange with Canadian Pacific at Iberville. The locomotives are LTEX GP35u 2558 and (ex-CP) CMQ SD40-2F 9024, 9020, and 9010. With the arrival of the last one CMQ SD40-2F 9021 in late-October, all ten Red Barn's 9004, 9010, 9011, 9014, 9017, and 9020-9024 sold to CMQ in September 2015, are now on the property lettered CMQ, with the CP road number retained. However as we went to press in late-October , they had not yet service. By the time you read this, some of them could be in operation.   The CMQ operates over the bankrupt MM&A, nee-CP trackage from Quebec into Maine.

Francois Jolin caught CMQ B23-7 2002, CITX SD40-2 3082, LTEX SD40-2 3280, and CMQ B-23-7 2003, leading Central Maine & Quebec Train #1 across the deck bridge at Eastman, QC on October 15th.

On October 14th, Francois Jolin clicked a Central Maine & Quebec Passenger Extra, crossing the Richelieu River at St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec on October 14th.  Led by CEFX GP38-3's 420 and 419 in matching paint, the train had a trio of VTR business cars, including Vermont Railway MACINTYRE, GREEN MOUNTAIN in tow. On board were railroad and elected officials touring the Central Maine & Quebec rail network, and visiting communities in the Quebec Eastern Townships region.

The same train shot was at Foster, QC in full Fall foliage. 

Central Maine & Quebec Train #1 arrives at Farnham, QC from Maine ,on a gorgeous Fall afternoon October 10th, with CITX SD40-2's 305, 3071, and CEFX GP38-3's 419 and 420.

At Brownsville, ME on October 4th, Peter Coulombe bagged newly arrived CMQ SD40-2F 9022. 

Peter also photographed two of CMQ's leased engines CEFX GP38-3 420 and SD40-2 3082 in the yard. 

Francois Jolin photographed the old EMD-built power leading the Central Maine & Quebec Railway (CMQ) train #1 near Farnham, QC on September 24th.  LTEX GP35u 2542 (Ex-BNSF) and PRLX SD40T-2 2856 (E-UP) are shown rolling along the Adirondack Sub

QUEBEC-GATINEAU RAILWAY:  

 Quebec Gatineau freight with former CN GP40-2LW (QGRY 3014) and road slug QGRY 801 and QGRY 3801, cross the Maskinonge River on the Trois-Rivieres Subdivision at Maskinonge, QC, with a Marmin Wind-Tower train on September 26th.  

 MONTREAL MAINE & ATLANTIC:

In October, a U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved a $446 million Cdn settlement fund for victims of the fiery Lac-Megantic oil-train derailment in Quebec that killed 47 people. Judge Peter Cary in Portland, Maine, announced his decision Friday after Canadian Pacific dropped its objection to the settlement moving forward and a Canadian judge gave conditional approval.   The settlement was the result of negotiations with about two dozen companies.  Barring any surprises, payments could be made to victims of the disaster by year's end, said Robert Keach, the bankruptcy trustee. About $83 million is being set aside to settle wrongful death claims.  "We're very happy for the victims that we were able to get to this point. They're the primary focus here," Keach said.

A runaway MMM&A tank train with 72 oil tank cars derailed on July 6th, 2013, in  Lac-Megantic, Que., setting off powerful explosions and causing fires that wiped out much of the downtown.  The disaster led to greater regulatory scrutiny of the use of trains to transport crude oil amid a production surge thanks to new technologies including hydraulic fracturing.  After the fires were doused, the train's operator, Montreal, Maine and Atlantic, filed for bankruptcy, and the settlement fund is tied to those bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. and Canada. The fund was the product of negotiations with about two dozen companies with potential liability.  Canadian Pacific owned the track where the crude oil shipment originated and contended it bore no responsibility, since the train that derailed had a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic locomotive and crew and was operating on MMA rail.

But Keach argued Canadian Pacific bears some responsibility for failing to properly classify the Bakken region crude oil, which was as volatile as gasoline.  Canadian Pacific isn't contributing to the settlement fund, and the railroad had contended the plan would have hampered its ability to defend itself from lawsuits, because the agreement provided legal immunity only to companies that do contribute.  But the altered amendment calls for a "judgment reduction provision" that would take into account the full settlement paid by others if Canadian Pacific is ordered to pay damages in the future.  "Although CP was not at fault in the derailment, we have been working with the trustee for a solution that protects CP interests and allows payments to be made to victims as soon as possible," said Canadian Pacific spokesman Martin Cej. (The Canadian Press, October 2015) 

This is a photo showing the exact MM&A train locomotives and Remote Control caboose taken the day before the day before the accident , and the aftermath in the down town core.

(Edited by Paul Donovan)

CENTRAL MAINE AND QUEBEC RAILWAY NEWS

 Lots to report this month.  CMQ's acquisition of 10 CP Rail SD40-2F  Red Barns is top of the list.  The ten cowl units have been arriving dead-in-tow from Winnipeg, MB over the last few weeks.  My friend Harry Gordon reports that none are currently on the road, as all need at least minor work.  All CP markings have been painted out, and at least one has CMQ sublettering on the cab.  The units are going to be reworked at CMQ's Derby Shops, in Milo, Maine.  As an aside, no CMQ units currently have any CMQ identity other than cab sublettering and herald decals, so no inkling of what the railroad's paint scheme (if any!) will eventually be.  The color riot that was MM&A lives on, at least in spirit!

 CP SD40-2F 9004, 9010, 9011, 9014, 9017 and 9020-9024 were sold to Central Maine & Quebec in September.  The CP road numbers have been retained, at least for the short term.  The first had arrived on the CMQ as we went to press.  At Brownville Junction, ME (BJCT) on October 4th, Peter Coulombe bagged newly arrived CMQ 9022. 

Peter also photographed two CMQ lease engines, CEFX GP38-3 420 and SD40-2 3082 in the yard. 

Brownville Junction, Maine was the place to be on October 4th!  Peter Coulombe caught the NBSR crew working the yard with a trio of great looking green NBSR SD40-2's (NBSR 6332, 8144, 6218, 6200, and GMTX 2645), with NBSR 6332 (ex-PRR 6069), still soldiering on in Conrail blue.

 The NBSR SD40-2's had dropped off GMTX GP38-2 2645 (former B&O 3819) for Peter to snap this roster shot at the yard in BJCT.  

No less than four SD40-2F's arrived together at Brownville Junction on October 17th.  Units 9011, 9004, 9017 and 9014 were in the yard behind LTEX GP35U 2516, SD40-2'S LTEX 3082 and CITX 3052, followed by SD40T-2 PRLX 2856, still in UP paint.  In fact, by the time the CM&Q daily Northbound from Northern Maine Junction arrived behind CEFX GP38-3 3803, CMQ B23-7 2004, and CMQ GP35U 2535, there were no less than 15 units in Brownville Junction-probably a record for recent times there.  This included three New Brunswick Southern units, HLCX 6304 and 6340, along with NBSR 6318, all SD40-2'S.  Could have been more than 15 units, as an invisible unit or units was switching the BJCT yard on this day.

BJCT yard was so choked with traffic on the 17th that the yard switcher crew had to shove a long cut of cars onto Eastern Maine Railway to make room for the arriving NMJ run with Pan Am to EMR/NBSR traffic. 

Harry Gordon also reported that Central Maine & Quebec ran a passenger extra over much of the main line in mid-October, from Vermont through Quebec to Searsport, Maine on Penobscot Bay, utilizing three borrowed Vermont Railroad coaches.  Photos anyone?

 With winter coming early (it snowed in CMQ territory on October 18th), let's hope the SD40-2F's get on the road early so the acute power shortage that plagued CMQ during last year's horrendous winter won't be repeated.

 MAINE NORTHERN NEWS

 I've neglected Irving's third railroad-Maine Northern Railway, which operates 258 miles of track acquired by the State of Maine from MM&A in the Spring of 2011.  Maine Northern runs almost due north out of Millinocket, Maine, eventually ending in St. Leonard, New Brunswick, on the north shore of the Saint John River, which separates Northern Maine from New Brunswick.  Center of operations is the former Bangor and Aroostook hub of Oakfield, ME.  The former BAR crew bunkhouse is MNR headquarters.  MNR has no physical connection to sister roads EMR and NBSR, but uses trackage rights over CM&Q from Millinocket south to a purpose-built connector to EMR a few miles east of BJCT, thus avoiding the occasional BJCT congestion.

 Much of MNR's traffic is paper or lumber related.  Large sawmills exist at Masardis and Ashland, Maine, and a large paper mill at Madawaska, Maine.   That mill is connected by a slurry pipeline across the Saint John River to the other half of the mill complex in Edmundston, NB.  The Canadian portion of the mill is served directly by CN.  A branch leaving MNR's main line at Scopan, ME reaches Presque Isle, Caribou and Fort Fairfield, in the northeastern corner of Maine.  A small yard and wye at Scopan often has a unit tied up on weekends. 

Road trains drop and pick up here.  It's not hard to chase MNR trains north and south, as track speeds appear to be about 25 mph.  Route 11 follows the railroad north, but it is rarely in sight, except at Masardis, Ashland and Portage, until you reach Eagle Lake.  The photo below is a solid GATX leaser consist, consisting of units 2644, 2645 and 2233 headed north along Goding Road in Ashland, ME.

The same train passes through Portage, ME a short time later. 

The line reaches the Saint John Valley at Fort Kent, ME, and turns eastward through Frenchville to Madawaska, where the large paper mill supports a small yard.  MNR road engines are often found here, and the moderate sized CN yard is directly across the river.  CN crews change at Edmundston, so road power is often visible, along with units used to switch the mill.  MNR locals continue east from Madawaska on the former Bangor and Aroostook line to Van Buren, mainly to deliver or pick up interchange from the Madawaska paper mill to CN's Halifax-Montreal line at St. Leonard, NB.

 MNR's line into Canada was formerly the Van Buren International Bridge Company, which was jointly owned by Bangor and Aroostook and Canadian National.  MNR locals actually continue a short distance west on CN's line to a wye just off CNR Road in St. Leonard, and then continues north on a remnant of CN's St. Leonard-Campbellton, NB connector (abandoned in the 1970's) to a very large Irving sawmill.

This line, running almost due north-south, once connected the CN St. Andre, QC main line to the more northerly secondary main line from Riviere du Loup, QC to Pacific Junction, NB, near Halifax.  MNR brings in raw material from the vast North Maine Woods region to the Irving sawmill, and takes out dimensional lumber destined for the U.S. market.

 I was waiting along the CN main on CNR Road in St. Leonard, NB when I heard a horn north of me.  I turned around and saw two NBSR units framed in the Trans Canada Highway overpass.  Didn't realize they were now serving the Irving mill and was shocked to see them north of the CN main line. 

In this photo, returning from the mill, NBSR 9802 and GMTX 211 pull off the east leg of the wye onto the CN main line.

They will then back past the signal at the west end of the Saint Leonard siding and enter the siding.  The returning train enters the siding at Saint Leonard just a short distance from the bridge lead.

Eastern Maine Railway/New Brunswick Southern Railway news:  A major rainstorm September 26th dropped an average of 17.78 centimeters (7 inches) of rain across the Northern Maine and Southern New Brunswick region, causing a very large washout on EMR between milepost 57 and 57.2 (between Mattawamkeag and Kingman, ME), cutting the railroad for over a week.  Large amounts of gravel and stone were staged out of the Pan Am Railway yard at Mattawamkeag, ME to fill the washout and rebuild the track.   Incidentally, the moribund Pan Am Bangor-Mattawamkeag line was also severed during the storm.  This line, formerly used to connect Pan Am directly to EMR/NBSR, has been operated only once a month for local traffic since September of last year. 

The area through which EMR operates abounds in marshes and peat bogs, and even when the line was owned by Canadian Pacific, this stretch was notorious for washouts.  NBSR's Jordan spreader and 9 ballast hoppers, attended by HLCX SD40-2 6340 were at Mattawamkeag on October 4. 

Westbound cars piled up at New Brunswick Southern's McAdam (NB) Yard, and when that was filled, sidings reaching back towards Saint John were being utilized for storage.  When the railroad was finally restored o/a October 4th, trains were being walked through the .2 of a mile damaged stretch by track foreman and maintainers in the event the roadbed had not stabilized.

 CANADIAN NATIONAL ST. JOHN VALLEY NEWS

 As much as I enjoy watching the eastern regionals, once in a while I wander north to watch the big show, which is CN's operation in the Saint John Valley. This 200-car, fast moving eastbound dropping down to the river valley from Grand Falls passes under Provincial Route 144 at Siegas, NB on October.  Very new and very clean lead unit CN 3016 is trailed by three additional units and a DPU unit buried mid-train.

© CRO November 2015