Montreal Trip - Action at Côteau Jct.

In a short period of about 30 minutes, I caught 3 VIA trains and 2 local switchers at Côteau Jct, in the small town of Les Côteau, near the Ontario border.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• coteau jct
• cn
• canadian national
• freight
• local
• switcher
• via rail
• passenger
• fast
• ottawa
• ontario
• canada
• toronto
• montreal
• quebec
• 100 mph
• high speed
• train
• railway
• railroad

[EasternOntarioTracks]

Congratulations on catching CN train 584 at Coteau. That's the Ottawa-Coteau-Ottawa train with CN 4788 based out of Ottawa. I saw this train in Casselman that evening. They're facing east in your video, right? Well they're heading west in my video with exactly the same consist. They must have turned the entire train somewhere. I'd like to know where and why :-)

[chrisvazquez7]

@EasternOntarioTracks Yes they are facing east in this video... There must be a wye between Coteau and Ottawa...

[EasternOntarioTracks]

Great Coteau video!

[chrisvazquez7]

@EasternOntarioTracks Thanks :)

[EasternOntarioTracks]

Hopefully a signals expert can tell us why they would have a "limited" sign on the signal mast when the signals are obviously capable of flashing and thus able to display limited indications.

[chrisvazquez7]

@EasternOntarioTracks Haha, who knows :P

[GEES44DC]

584 is heading right for the wye in this video. Your answer to where they turned the train is already here! :)

[GEES44DC]

@EasternOntarioTracks I couldn't tell you why the bottom one is capable of flashing and the middle one isn't. I guess it's just the way that the plant is set up.

You may also wonder why the train had a limited to clear on it's departure but first had a slow to stop. The track speed through there is good for 45mph but the distance to the next light is only about 600 or so feet (Signals .2 and .3) so it's not wise to allow a train to do 45. Give is a slow signal and limit it to 15.

[GEES44DC]

@EasternOntarioTracks In main track territory when you have an excluisve work authority and there are no crossings of any kind that you will come within 150 feet of.

[EasternOntarioTracks]

@GEES44DC So they use the Valleyfield sub as a wye? I never thought of that; you could turn any train on there as it's almost 4 miles to the first crossing. But when is it permissible to back a train with no one on the rear?

[GEES44DC]

@EasternOntarioTracks They would have set the train up east and took it around the wye at Coteau, shoved out at Coteau East and then took off for Ottawa.