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Down on Beaverbrook, capturing the every day…

It only feels like yesterday, the tiger stripes had given way to emerald green long enough before to feel like forever. Pausing to enjoy an every day sight, let alone capture it on camera hardly ever occurred to me…


Looking back through these old prints I can’t recall what was different on this occasion. Down on Beaverbrook the shuffling of cars for the Co-op and Atlantic Transload happened daily. Back then Holcim maintained their spur too - traffic was still bouyant. 

So capturing the every day just wasn’t a priority. Perhaps I had my camera with me for another reason that morning? A chance encounter captured, by chance, and shared today with warm nostalgia.

I never thought the green would end but it wasn’t to last and when TerraTransport was bought by Genesee and Wyoming the industrial switching around Moncton was spun off introducing us to HMLX and bringing us the variety of motive power and managed decline of traffic on the spur. 

Today I realise the fragility of rail operation here along Beaverbrook road, I visit as often as possible and capture and share moments with you all. Here today… who knows about tomorrow. Enjoy it whilst you can and capture the mundane - for one day it won’t be. Until next time, more soon…


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Comments

  1. Alan Sewell2 November 2025 at 15:27

    Hi James

    A great set of photographs. Always good to see the work at Beaverbrook.

    If I get the thoughts behind your comments it is to record as much as we can when out trackside or watching switching (shunting). Not just the locomotives but the rolling stock, buildings, track and the scene in which the railway works, and if possible the operations in some way, all should have an equal part . I guess I always did (and still do) that, although pre-digital, and early on as a student, sometimes I could not afford to do that but making notes helped.

    The other strand I take is that for modelling we need to replicate the normal and mundane to achieve a sense of realism. In a small town or around an industrial plant the incidence of wedding funerals, car crashes, police chases and unique buildings is never as great as appears on some layouts. That these do not figure on Beaverbrook or your other layouts and that it is the normal you model makes your work so realistic.

    Best regards
    Alan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. James H2 November 2025 at 18:22

      Thank you for the reflections Alan, and yes, I think you’ve summarised the unconscious meaning here well.

      Delete
  2. Ian Longden2 November 2025 at 17:49

    That first photo James... Fab-u-lous!

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    Replies
    1. James H2 November 2025 at 18:21

      Thank you Ian, very Strictly!

      Delete
    2. Ian Longden3 November 2025 at 08:01

      You should be grateful I didn't add "darling"! :-)

      Delete

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