Scotian Railroad Society 1978-06 News

Scotian Railroad Society - News June 1978

Scotian Railroad Society members ride the Mixed train. A transcription of the article text follows the scanned images, for ease of reading and for search purposes.

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Please use this tag when referring to this article: Scotian Railroad Society, News June 1978

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Members Excursions: A trip on the DAR mixed train from Windsor NS to Truro and return was planned for the weekend of April 28th/29th by a few of our local members. The evening of Friday the 28th was about as poor as one could ever want, but four of us decided to make the trip anyway. B. Hollett, G. Curtis, G. Ridout and D. Conrad took off for Windsor in heavy rain mixed with snow, hoping all along the way that it just might clear up. Temperatures were way down, which didn't help matters. Arriving at the Windsor station, we met the crew that were getting ready to make up our train and run us over to Truro. The operator on duty Bill Clark sold us our tickets, and a general chit chat followed about the Mixed, and railroading in general. At 2100 hours local time (2000) CP Rail time, our train was sitting at the station ready to depart, and so we clambered aboard coach 1720 after taking a couple quick photos with flash in the rain of the rear end of our car. It sure is nice to see those kerosene markers hanging on the tail end. After adjusting ourselves in the car, we got the highball, and were off through the rain and darkness, being pulled along by one SW1200RS unit No. 8137. Our train consisted of about 15 cars, and despite being a freight train, our coach rode very well with no slack action to be noticed. Inside car 1720, one oil stove was burning and this kept the interior quite warm, and it was comfortable for us, even though outside it was still very cold. Off and on, on the way over to Truro, we would go out and stand in the rear vestibule, to listen to the sounds of our car running over the joints in the track. A sound that is music to a railfans ears.

Shortly before twelve midnight we were pulling into the DAR yard at Truro, and the interchange with CN. Our cars from CN were not yet in sight, so we thought maybe there would be a long delay, while waiting for CN to bring their cars down, but when we reached the DAR station/office, we were informed that the cars were on their way down, and our stay in Truro wouldn't last too long. CN brought down 14 cars for us to take back to Windsor, and after they cleared the yard with the train of cars that we had brought over, our engine and crew went to work making up our train for the return to Windsor. While we waited in Truro, still raining and cold, we managed to takea couple photos of our engine sitting beside the DAR station there.

On our return trip, the coach was to be just another car in the consist, no longer to bring up the markers. We were wedged in between the van and a covered hopper, which is the usual practice on all trips of this train. The coach brings up the rear on the way over to Truro, but is not switched out to bring up the rear on the return. Shortly before 1 AM, we are leaving Truro with a straight run over to Windsor, as there is no switching tonight to do on the way back. After we eat our lunch, and have talked a bit, the warm car plays its part, and soon there are four railfans snoozing while the miles slip past. Wakie wakie, it's 0315 hours and we are arriving at the Windsor yard where our crew cut out the freight cars, and then run the coach and van down to the station where we detrain. Here we are in the middle of the night, rain coming down, cold and half awake just having completed a trip on a rare mode of transportation in this day of age, we had rode a-mixed train....... Oh well the ride was fun and we all enjoyed it, vowing to take it again when the weather warms up a bit more, and before this mixed is a thing of the past.

Another trip on the DAR mixed is planned soon, and members will be informed of this at the next meeting, when its hoped a date for this trip can be confirmed. The hours that this train runs may not be appealing to some, but believe me its still a lot of fun. Come along on our next trip and see for yourself........

Hopefully over the next months, we can make more rail trips as a group effort. There are three possibilities for day trips, returning to Halifax the same day, and they are:

Halifax to Digby on the DAR RDC service and return approx 8½ hours.

Halifax to Moncton on No. 15 Moncton to Halifax on No. 12 11 hours.

Halifax to New Glasgow and return approx 11 hours.

Any members who are interested in making one of these runs as a day's outing, please let us know, and we will see if something can't be worked out to accommodate a group of our members.