Caption: Side by side at Hawk Junction.
CN L571 with CN 2419 in the lead idles in the yard while beside it on another yard track CN 4730 prepares to move the regular passenger train from its overnight storage location over to the station platform.
Officially, the passenger train is a Sault Ste. Marie to Hearst schedule, however since new operator RailMark Canada took full control of the operation in late June, the schedule has been abysmally shattered. Due to a gross lack of crew manpower, for the last several weeks of operation the train was operating north of Hawk Junction only, if it operated at all (an investigation into allegations of a major rules violation at one point shut down service for almost an entire week, stranding passengers and giving RailMark a huge black eye; the crew was apparently later cleared of wrongdoing, but could not operate a train during the investigation period).
Sadly, the train seen here is actually the last northbound run of the passenger train out of Hawk Junction, as CN had put a stop to their relationship with RailMark effective July 15, 2015. And this train would only operate as far as Oba to runaround and return to Hawk Junction later that evening, with the equipment shipped off to Sault Ste. Marie the next day for storage.
|