So I waited to see if it would return from Smithville before it got dark. It did.
There wasn't a lot of light left, but certainly enough. The train returned with a single pipe flat car. Not bad for after work.
Today was the day after Sam and I returned after our trip to the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade. Our entire plan for the day was to relax which we mostly accomplished by playing Lego Batman on the Xbox 360. Very nice. The weather was quite nice so I turned the scanner on. Canadian Pacific held off running a train until late afternoon, but at least it was something.
The 3042 was to be dropped off in Welland yard. A northbound was also soon to follow, but I decided to just listen to it pass behind my house.
It was the Monday after the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade and it was back to work for our hosts Ken and Kim and time for Sam and I to start our trek home. First we drove to Farnham, Quebec to see if anything was there. Farnham used to be home to a variety of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic power but in the last couple of years it has all been moved to other locations. Today the yard was void of locomotives so Sam and I continued on.
Our next destination was Rouses Point, New York. My GPS (nicknamed Flo) decided that the best way to get there was to cross the border at Alburg, Vermont. Now I've crossed the border between Canada and the United States over one hundred times from coast to coast and never had any significant problems. Today was the day. We were pulled into the office to fill out paper work and have the car submitted to a search. I have no idea what prompted this, but in the end nothing came of it. What a bother. Anyway, when we got to Rouses Point, New York Canadian Pacific train 252 south was just clearing customs. I think they took less time than we did.
I decided to photograph the train again in Plattsburgh so Sam and I hit Interstate 87 and made our way to the rather amazing Delaware & Hudson station there. It wasn't long until train 252 arrived.
I considered photographing it again, but it stopped to switch along the way so I went to Port Henry to find the former CP 1800 which is on display there.
Sam and I awoke to a beautiful morning in Brunswick, Maine. After our complimentary breakfast we headed a few blocks to the junction of Guilford and the Maine Eastern, my first quarry for the day. There was nothing of interest there so we ventured east to Rockland whilst keeping an eye and ear out for anything in between. US 1 sort of follows the track, but we found nothing between. Upon arrival at the shops in Rockland we were rewarded with one of their FL9s and a snow plow. This is what I was hoping for.
We then made our way down to the cement unloading facility on the coast and managed to locate a local switching cars.
Sam wanted to get a photo of her by the ocean so we headed over to the local pier and took a couple pictures. After exploring a bit more we heard on the scanner that the local was switching so I returned to the unloading facility and caught the local leaving with a cut of concrete cars.
The rest of the day was filled with nice scenery and visits to railways with nothing to photograph. Nothing was left at the Belfast and Moosehead Lake in Belfast. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic offered nothing at either Bangor or Brownville Junction. We also dropped by the MMA shops in Derby. I could see a pair of ex-Canadian National SD40-2s off in the distance, but nothing to photograph there since everything was behind the shop buildings. It was interesting to see though.
That was about it for daylight so Sam and I drove straight on to our friends Ken and Kim's home in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Quebec for the Montreal St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday.
Sam and I awoke to what was looking to be a promising morning in Rutland, Vermont. After a quick breakfast at the Red Roof Inn we drove over to the Vermont Railway yard to see what was up. There were two sets of power around but the Providence & Worchester and Washington County pairing was hiding on us. However, the pair of former Helm Leasing engines was easily photographable.
Next we began our northerly trek through Vermont. First stop was White River Junction where we discovered a New England Central GP38-2 parked across from the Amtrak station.
The sun was just starting to come out on the way to our next major stop, St. Johnsbury, Vermont. This is on the former Canadian Pacific (later Canadian-American) Lyndonville Subdivision. It's now operated by the Washington County Railroad, a member of the Vermont Rail System. Two locomotives were present with the crew chatting in front.
We continued north to the junction at Newport, Vermont but aside from a variety of freight cars nothing else was present. We then turned southeast and drove to North Stratford, New Hampshire to check out the New Hampshire Central. Unfortunately the only locomotive around was comfortably parked inside the shed. Onward we trekked through Crawford Notch en route to North Conway and the Conway Scenic Railroad.
After photographing what I could we continued eastward to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic's shops in Lewiston Junction, Maine. It was getting pretty dark, but I managed to photograph two locomotives parked in front of the shops. Quite a few other engines were parked back by the shops.
I spent the day at home but had the scanner on. Sundays are typically pretty quiet on the Canadian Pacific Hamilton Subdivision and today was no exception. However, train 426 did announce itself in Smithville so I drove over to Boyle for a photograph.
I took a couple slides and returned home. That's about as eventful as it got.
Soon after Amtrak I could hear more horns approaching from the west on the Norfolk Southern tracks.
Then a foreman got on track one east of me to conduct a track inspection. Unfortunately that meant all trains were routed on track two for most of the morning.
I was getting rather tired of the eastbounds so I was delighted to see a westbound signal.
Time was getting on and the lighting at Angola was degrading so I decided to call it a day. I couldn't stay much longer anyway because I was going to a Bulldogs hockey game at 1900.
I was home sick today which sucked. The day started out sunny but would Canadian Pacific run any trains? Of course not. In the afternoon it clouded up and that's when the first train of the day showed up. I was feeling up to a walk so I hiked down to the Foss Road crossing to see train 426.
It was gloomy but at least I got to photograph something.
