CN trestle near Grand Falls, NB

[trainsinmaine]

A couple of years ago there was a post on the New England Railfan forum that had to do with an enormous trestle on the CN main near Grand Falls.
There was an accompanying photo. I'm guessing this must be the biggest railroad bridge east of Quebec City and northeast of the Hudson Valley.

Can someone tell me exactly where it is and how accessible it is? I'd love to see it. (I know it can't be walked --- this is a very active rail line.)

[murray83]

From what I understand its very isolated and I'd say its not worth the risk tresspassing on CN land to get some pictures.

[NS VIA FAN]

From what I understand its very isolated.........

Not isolated at all and quite visible from NB Highway 108 about 5 or 6 miles east of Grand Falls in the direction of Plaster Rock. Here’s directions that were recently posted to the “Atlantic Rails” Yahoogroup.

If you're driving on the Trans-Canada (NB #2), take
exit 75 at Highway 108 and follow it along the east side of the Saint
John River through Grand Falls, then continue east toward Drummond and
New Denmark.

After you climb some hills east of the town through the village of
Drummond (lots of potato fields), you drop into the Salmon River
valley and the trestle is on your left. At the west end is Ennishore
and east end is New Denmark Station - Ennishore has a siding and you
can go down to it on local roads (all paved and they're well plowed in
winter so no off-roading) where you can see signals. You can watch
trains from the 108 about 1 km west of the trestle, or you can watch
from some of these local roads about the same distance east of the
trestle, or you can take a local road directly underneath. The best
photography vantage point is a local road running past farm fields on
a hill overlooking the trestle from the east end.

You can then continue west on this road (Cemetery Road?), crossing
over the rail line on a subway to get back on Highway 108. Trains go
slow (10-15 mph) on the trestle so you can sometimes get ahead of
eastbounds on #108, watching them go over another shorter trestle in
New Denmark proper. If you're still ahead of the train, you can stay
ahead of them by crossing at a grade crossing a few miles further east
at Blue Bell, then follow the 108 where it turns at Hazeldean (if you
continue straight it becomes 393, the direct route to Plaster Rock but
doesn't follow the rail line). You have to be ahead of the train at
Hazeldean as you cross the line here, then you're on the west side of
the tracks through Anfield to the Tobique River trestle.

[graftonterminalrr]

I grew up in Woodstock, and many was the time I drove up to Grand Falls to get my fill of railfanning.

That bridge is HUGE.

[trainsinmaine]

Hey graftonterminalrr,
You mentioned being raised in Woodstock --- is the old CP (I think it's CP) trestle over the Saint John in Upper Woodstock still partially standing? I visited the spot about six years ago and walked out onto it a little ways. It felt bizarre to walk a bridge that goes to nowhere, the center span having been washed away. I did get some good photos of it.

[graftonterminalrr]

Hey, buddy... nice to see a fellow ferroequinarchaeologist in my neck of the woods.

I've walked every inch of the roadbed around Woodstock. That bridge you refer to is still standing. Technicaly, there are two bridges there, one two spans long and the other four spans, with a small island in the middle. The shorter two-span bridge is the one with the missing span.

Most of the bridge ties have been removed in an effort to keep trespassers off the bridge so no one gets hurt. The island is accessible if you have a canoe, but during spring and summer the river is quite shallow, usually no more than a few feet deep in most places so swimming or walking in hip waders is an option as well.

[Highball]

The Salmon river trestle, at 4600 feet long and 200 feet high, is the longest in CN's transcon system.

[Highball]

I've walked every inch of the roadbed around Woodstock. That bridge you refer to is still standing. Technicaly, there are two bridges there, one two spans long and the other four spans, with a small island in the middle. The shorter two-span bridge is the one with the missing span.

Hard to believe somewhat, that it's been almost exactly twenty years since that span on the east shore of the river, was lost due to ice from the spring thaw.......April 01, 1987.

I took several photos of the bridge at that time, some which I recently had converted to digital. I felt, that span could have been replaced at minor costs to restore rail service from CP's main line @ McAdam. However, CP most likely saw this as an opportunity to start the process, to have their lines in western N.B. abandoned.

I always felt the line from McAdam to Florenceville ( service to McCain ) plus the branch from Newburg, giving access to the Nackawic pulp mill, would have made for a nice present day Shortline operation.

Some of the lines in New Brunswick, that were removed in the early nineties, in hindsight, should have been rail banked.......the creation of Shortline operations in Canada, came just a bit late for this to happen perhaps.

[Dieter]

Ditto on your thoughts of premature abandonment.

I also cannot help but wonder if after CN shed lines if the line between St. Leonard and Tide Head would have survived.

D/

[graftonterminalrr]

That's exactly what I'm doing with the Grafton Terminal Railway.

[Highball]

In the fall of 1985, CP shifted their service operations with relationship to the Nackawic mill.

Woodstock yard became the interchange point with trains operating over the Shogomoc sub, for the majoity of traffic to / from the mill, primarily Bunker ' C ' Oil inbound, paper products outbound. Prior to this date, all cars came by way of Fredericton.

A train operated from Fredericton over the Gibson Sub and serviced the mill, using the 10 mile Nackawic spur. The usual operation was to go into the mill on the northward trip, pick up traffic for Woodstock, and bring cars from there, to the mill, on the trip back to Fredericton.

Of course, everything changed after the two bridges on the Shogomoc sub, were damaged/ destroyed on April 01, 1987.

[graftonterminalrr]

Highball, you couldn't send me a couple of those pictures could you? I wouldn't mind having a few copies for reference and memories of home.

Email address is sunbirdkris at yahoo dot ca.