In early October 2024, I was on my way east to visit my company’s offices in the Halifax area for a few days. I messaged my friends Caleb and Chris to ask if they would be available to get together. Chris was up for a meet-up but Caleb was going to be working. Since Caleb works for CN, this gave me an opportunity to meet both at the same time…
Caleb was a conductor on train CN 509 one evening. This train runs from the CN yard in downtown Dartmouth, Nova Scotia along Halifax harbour to the Autoport near CFB Shearwater and back. There are a few customers along the line but Autoport is the anchor, generating a lot of autorack traffic.
When I arrived in downtown Dartmouth, the CN locomotives were just leaving the yard. I grabbed a quick shot and then headed out.
I wasn’t quite sure where to stop so I decided to go to the Burnside ferry terminal and hope for the best. I had never chased a train along this line but I used to live in Shearwater, so I knew the general layout. I knew the ferry terminal had to bridge the rail line so I was hoping for some view there.
Fortunately there are large windows overlooking the railway, so I waited there for the locomotives to arrive, ignoring the curious looks from the many ferry passengers coming and going.
My first few shots of the train may have been my favourite for the evening! I framed up the two locomotives with downtown Dartmouth in the background, and the Angus L. Macdonald bridge spanning the harbour.
I was in communication with Chris and he said he was a little farther down than I was.
After the locomotives passed under me, they paused to retrieve a tank car from the Irving siding seen below. I watched for a little while, then headed out.
The shot I really wanted was the CN bridge crossing over route 322. I passed under this bridge many, many times when I lived in Shearwater and I thought it would make a nice photograph.
While I was waiting for the train, Chris arrived and we chatted for a few minutes.
Soon we could hear the train, and it was “go time” again.
I was very pleased with this photo. There was a lot of auto traffic so I had to time my shots carefully.
The two crew are riding the point of the tank car they extracted from Irving, keeping an eye out for cars or any other obstacle.
Quickly Chris and I relocated to the Corsair Drive crossing to capture them there. You might remember Corsair Drive from my post Memory Art.
Another quick relocation brought me to the parking lot of what used to be the post office. I remember walking here to get our mail.
I wanted to get a shot of the train with my old school in the frame.
It wasn’t quite what I wanted but I will take it!
Shortly after this, the train arrived at Autoport. Chris and I followed them, and spent the next hour or so shooting the breeze and shooting the train. Coming up!