Held up, but worth it…

I nipped out for a coffee from Tim’s on Saturday morning, and took a detour via the old CN Franklin spur that’s now operated by TerraTransport…

Sometimes it’s as little as the thud thud as my car crosses the tracks, I might spot a car or two further down the spur at the Co-op but often it’s quiet. On those rare occasions when I’m held up I get to savour even more of this railway backwater. Movement beyond the passive senses, noise and smells too! This time an aging ex CN GP9RM rattles across the road, it’s distinctive engine note a blend of 567 and 645, a cross between the GP9 of old and the GP38s that replaced them, a relatively clean exhaust but the unmistakable smell of a diesel engine wafts in through my open window. As I watch it roll down Beaverbrook, day dreaming of prairie branch lines a from a lifetime ago, a honk from the car behind me brings me back to 2022 and on for that coffee.

Halifax South Western GP9RM crossing Beaverbrook street in Moncton, NB.

It's amazing how well Beaverbook moves from geographic place to place seemlessly and just about everything looks right on it.

As Chris says, I love the blank canvas that Beaverbrook provides and with a well placed car or figure the feeling of life, of reality can be suggested in just the most subtle of ways, the model makers art… 

This Kaslo Shops GP9RM has elements of both the CN and the GT builds with a body inspired by the former and the chassis by the latter. It is unique, of my imagination and my hand and although Rapido have announced a ready to run model, I doubt this one will be replaced. The boxcar is a 50’ Berwick type from a Branchline models kit that I patched for the HSWR. As with the models the Halifax South Western is also a work of fiction and it’s genesis started the whole TerraTransport conversation that Chris and I began early last year. Until next time, more soon…

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