CN and NBSR sightings Nov 6/07

This morning I was driving Saint John Transit's East/West route and I made quite a few trips through Rothesay Avenue. Anytime I travel that way my eyes are always on the look out for trains in the Island Yard. The first thing I noticed was a new CN unit SD70 #8819. The fresh paint job made it stand out quite nicely. As I drove by Brett Chev Olds on Rothesay Ave I realized I could get a nice picture from the parking lot of Brett's. I was working a split shift today so I wanted to get a pic of the new locomotive before it left for Moncton. I finally got out to Brett's to get my photo and when I drove into the parking lot the shot of the locomotive changed. A tank trailer had been parked beside #8819 ruining the shot. So I took two photos anyway, one of the nose and just a wide shot. While taking the photos of #8819 I also noticed a bit of a sad sight. NBSR SW9 #3703 was sitting outside the Island Yard shop all by itself. It looks to be that it might be retired. Although I'm not 100% sure on that but it just doesn't look good. The headlight bulbs are removed. It appears to have some of the glass removed. I have a video of #3703 along with #2610 working the Dever Rd Yard on Aug 14/07. So I would say it was parked shortly after. If anyone has any idea the story of what's to come for this engine I would love to hear it. I will try my best to find out.

It used to be if someone was rail fanning NB Southern in Saint John they would always see the two SW9s #3702-3703 working hard together. I often heard on the scanner the NBSR employees calling the little engines "Huff & Puff." Here are a couple of more pics of #3703 working with it's mate #3702.