Canadian National in Nova Scotia

Canadian National in Nova Scotia - Springhill Sub

Mile	Stations	Siding (feet)
0.47	Truro
4.8	Belmont	15340
12.1	talking hot box
16.9	Londonderry	6635
24.0	Folly Lake	7160
24.9	talking hot box
37.7	Atkinson	6150
42.5	talking hot box
46.7	Oxford Jct	6360
52.9	Saltsprings
53.1	talking hot box
59.5	Springhill Jct	11350
69.0	Maccan
69.1	talking hot box
76.8	Amherst	8785

Amherst Area
CN's main line enters Nova Scotia from New Brunswick at the border and will be on the south side of the 104 highway (also called Trans Canada) and will cross under the highway just past the weigh scales when the highway swings right. The track then runs parallel to Laplanche Street for while and then swings away towards the south as it enters into Amherst.The track will lead to the old station in Amherst found on Station Street. It then continues and crosses Pleasant Street and and crosses to the south side of the 104 between exits three and four. The track then heads due south to Maccan and Athol following route 302 before it swings compass east to Springhill. If you want to pace a train you should just take highway 104 between Springhill and Amherst.

Springhill Area
I don't know nuttin about this!

Folly Lake Area
If you want some close up action of a meet or a high trestle/viaduct you need to take exit 7 from the 104 if you are eastbound or exit 11 if you are westbound and follow what is now Highway 4. This used to be the main highway between Truro and Oxford but when the new toll highway was built this became less used. By doing so you avoid the toll but the speed is greatly reduced (70 kph vs 110kph) so prudent pacing is required.You cannot miss the tracks in Folly Lake as they are on the compass east side of the road along the lake. Meets often take place here or at Belmont which is closer to Truro. Westbound trains are climbing the hill so seeing them on the trestle which crosses highway 4 near Londonderry and then compass north at Folly Lake is not impossible.

There are back roads between Folly Lake and Debert where the tracks run parallel to the tracks and allow some more shots but again positioning for following shots must be taken into account. You can also get to Belmont through Debert.

Belmont
Belmont is the longest siding on the three subdivisions just shy of three miles long. The mainline crosses under the 104 just east of the 102/104 interchange and the siding begins just north of there and runs west to the community of Belmont which is located north of highway 104 between the interchange and the Debert exit. Access to the east end of the siding would take some long pants, a saw and GPS. The west end of the siding is located near a local road. Easy access back to the highway from the west end of Belmont siding is time consuming so if you plan on being here you may miss other local opportunities.

Truro
The track from Amherst follows route 2 into Truro from the 102/104 interchange. The VIA station is located at the Esplanade, one block south of Queen Street. The CN yard and interchange with CBNS is found on the east leg of the 'Y' east of here straddled by Queen St/Salmon River Road and Prince Street. There is a road bridge over the CN yard further down and a walking bridge is further down over the CBNS yard. The CN mainline to Halifax begins to exit Truro parallelling the Esplanade/Arthur street and then veers south following Willow Street.

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