Tonight we visit Foster, Quebec on the ex-CP Sherbrooke Sub, now operated by the
Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railroad. This was originally a part of Canadian
Pacific’s line from Montreal to St. John, New Brunswick which ran through Maine.
The MM&A, which struggled to survive in its early years of existence, is
enjoying an upsurge in run through business recently in the form of crude oil
unit trains destined for the Irving refinery in St. John. Needing to acquire
additional locomotives to handle the heavy oil trains, MM&A turned to CP to
lease engines, mainly worn out SD 40-2’s. In several instances however, the
photogenic ex-SOO LINE SD 60s have been leased! It is one of these instances
that brings me here to Foster tonight, as well as the previous night, LOL! One
of the ex-SOO SD 60s to have been rebuilt and painted in CP colors was the
leader on an eastbound manifest train two nights back, and I was hoping to catch
it passing through this excellent night photo location in Foster. Visiting
Foster after a couple years I thought I knew what to expect from spending many
nights shooting passing trains here, but after jumping out of the car and
looking around, I found my mouth hanging open! Ha,ha,ha! All that fresh snow! As
we all know, even the best laid plans can fail. In the best of road conditions,
it’s a bit more than two hours drive up here from Hinesburg, VT, and the
previous night found me short of setting up the lights by twenty minutes when
train #1 passed by after eleven pm. Tonight I arrive even later, due to snow
covered roads, and eleven pm finds me on the scene. I would have had misgivings
if not for my friend Frank Jolin, who assured me I had plenty of time to set up
via cell phone, as Frank had heard the time #1 was called earlier at Megantic,
Quebec further east. You step out of the car here, and it is silent. Not just
quiet, it’s silent. Once I finished tweaking the lights for the last time, I
could hear #1, blowing an air horn for a crossing way off to the east, the time
was 00:43. It would be fifty six minutes before it passed in front of me here at
Foster! It was not until I heard that air horn blowing for the last pair of
crossings east of me that I could happily conclude it was the unique toned air
horn found on the SOO SD 60s I used to shoot often on the nearby D&H. It was
then that gratifying feeling arose of knowing I had ‘em cold! Standing atop the
step ladder in a snowstorm in the middle of a lightly used street, one hand
holding the extra large brightly colored “Golfing” umbrella purchased in La
Grange, Kentucky, the other hand steadying the camera mounted on a tripod, which
rests on a platform laid across the two upper struts. What could possibly go
wrong? ha,ha,ha! The humor of the moment strikes me followed by the wonder that
the operation produces such pleasing night photos! It seems like a long wait
after #1s engineer blew for the crossing at the east end of Foster, adding to
the drama. Then out of the silence, I hear EMD and GE prime movers close by,
headlights appear below the crossing, and I fire off the lighting as #1s
engineer blows for the crossing. He notches out his locomotives, and I’m
thinking............oh, this is gonna be good! Years ago I remembered trains
restricted to ten mph here. Due to the track improvements needed to support the
heavy unit crude oil trains train speed is easily thirty mph here as I noticed
last night! With a last long blast of the air horn, CP 6042 emerges from the
dark into the street lighting, is over the grade crossing and I’m trying to
judge its speed as closes in on flash units positioned on the far side of the
track which will light up the house.............what a sight and sound! As 6042s
cab passes last flash unit I fire off the lighting, capturing the image.
Success! I wore a smile on the trip back south tonight! Special thanks to Frank
Jolin for his help in obtaining this image! Shot on March 3, 2013 at 01:39 in
Foster, Quebec. Please enjoy!
Gary Knapp
