Seven Days in September 1994
The new book from Laughing Frog Images chronicles seven days of train photographs in New England and New Brunswick as well as a few shots from Quebec.
Seven Days in September 1994 – the back story.
At the time, I was working on the Boston Harbor Project and my project was nearing completion. As often as possible, I was in Maine photographing the Canadian Atlantic (Canadian Pacific), VIA Rail Canada, and Guilford’s former Maine Central operations. Something I hadn’t done was to explore Canadian National’s former Intercolonial and National Transcontinental Railway lines in New Brunswick. It was time to do so.
I planned a circle tour that would begin and end in Danville Junction, ME. Four days in New Brunswick were the bulk of the trip. Besides my time coming to an end, the era of Montreal Locomotive Works and Bombardier locomotives on the Canadian National was also coming to an end. As a fan of MLW power, the Maritimes were a prime place to see them in 1994. Gordon Yard Diesel Shop was the maintenance base for a good deal of CN’s fleet.
The book.
Seven Days in September 1994 is perhaps a different sort of railroad book, a snapshot in time that will appeal to railfans and modelers alike. You’re coming along for the trip as I relive it 25 years later.
If you’re a fan of blue skies and sunshine, and like your books the same way, well, you get what I saw. The weather in those parts can change in five minutes. I saw blue skies, I had rain, and I saw clouds. And I shot every train that I possibly could!
Seven Days in September 1994 doesn’t attempt to provide a comprehensive history of the lines and locations photographed, but I do try to give context and a little contemporary (to 1994, anyway) history for your journey. For those of you interested in the history, the bibliography and references will be worthy of follow-up. Through freight schedules from 1994 and 2019 for the CN lines in New Brunswick offer a different understanding of the changes over time.
Highlights from the book.
- Guilford Rail System on the former Maine Central at Danville Junction, ME
- St. Lawrence and Atlantic trains 393 and 394 on the former Grand Trunk
- New Hampshire and Vermont on the Connecticut River Bridge
- Canadian Pacific’s Newport – Richford VT Wayfreight and Newport-Montreal freight 917
- Lamoille Valley 3612 on a Passenger Extra
- Canadian National’s Pelletier, Napadogan, Newcastle and Dalhousie Subdivisions, including the Little Salmon River Viaduct and Foley Brook Trestle
- Interior and exterior images from CN’s Gordon Yard Diesel Shop
- One-third of CN’s Bombardier HR-616 fleet and more GMD-1s than I remembered
- Canadian Atlantic Railway (CP Rail) train 284 at the Section House in Bodfish, ME
Seven days of train photographs in New England and New Brunswick required over 2000 miles of driving and consumed 26 rolls of film. The days are memorialized in 138 pages and 163 color and black and white images.
Seven Days in September can be purchased on Amazon by clicking here. You can also click here to see other books by Laughing Frog Images.