September 7th, 2005
We headed from my parents' place in Quebec to Laura's parents' place in Brattleboro, Vermont via the scenic route. While Laura had a meeting in Montreal, I spent an hour on the pedestrian bridge in Beaconsfield where I caught 6 trains from 4 companies (CP, CN, AMT, Via), with one foreign unit for good measure. We went to eat on the border between the burroughs of St-Henri and Verdun in Montreal and caught a CN TankTrain unit train heading through town on our way to find food. After that, Laura and I headed to Farnham in the townships to see what Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic had to offer. We found a pair of MMA-lettered GEs switching the yard there but not too much else. From there we went across the border to St. Albans where we caught NECR train 324 leaving town. We heard it get a clearance to Milton to meet a northbound. We did beat it to Milton, but then didn't find the tracks. By the time we found the tracks, we watched the train go by from five or six cars back at the grade crossing line up and didn't try to photograph it. We then found the train it was meeting, which turned out to be a unit train of 6-bay hoppers, but we found no roads to the head end of the train.
Beaconsfield, Quebec
(map) My uncle used to live in Beaconsfield near the tracks. When I visited him when I was a kid I could watch the CN and CP trains go by quite often, and I learned about a pedestrian overpass there at the time. It is a great spot with a lot of traffic and CN and CP are closer in a way that is visible than anywhere else I know.
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CP's westbound expressway crosses under me at the pedestrian overpass.
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An eastbound manifest freight heads by on the CN with 2 units.
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A CN intermodal train heads to Montreal.
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A Via train with a P42 and 3 LRC coaches zips by me heading into Montreal.
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A lengthly eastbound manifest passes with a CSX unit in second of three spots.
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A Montreal commuter train heads toward the city.
Verdun, Quebec
(map) Verdun is just to the South-West of downtown Montreal on the island. It hosts a number of CN tracks and the Via Montreal Maintenance Centre.
Farnham, Quebec
(map) Just East of St-Jean and a little under an hour from Montreal, Farnham hosts the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic. MMA tracks leave Farnham in five directions, but no other rail companies have tracks to the town.
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2 Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic GE units switch the yard at Farnham.
St. Albans, Vermont
(map) CN and NECR (New England Central Railway) meet at St. Albans. Amtrak's Vermonter originates here at 06:35 and returns at 20:45. There is a large yard in the town and the station is sufficiently well lit for readable night shots without a tripod or flash in the winter.
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NECR #324's power backs into the yard to pick up its train.
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NECR #324 passes the NECR office building on its way out of St. Albans.
Milton, Vermont
(map) Milton is a small town between St. Albans and Burlington, Vermont and hosts an NECR passing siding.
