Skip to main content

Nova Scotia Day 2: The Ocean Day 2

 The second day aboard train number 14 the Ocean, started off quite eventfully. I woke up around 5:30am to the emergency brakes going off. I didn't really think much of it and figured that we had stopped due to a broken-down freight train in front of us. Instead, it turns out part of the rail was broken in half.  This meant that we could not move forwards, or backwards because we might derail. So after a very long wait and a lot of back and forth between CN and VIA, they decide to move all the passengers to the back half of the train and try to move the front half of the train over the broken rail at 1km/h. This worked, which meant that once the first half went over the broken rail, the train stopped, all of the passengers moved to the front of the train and we moved the back half of the train over the fractured rail at 1km/h. After that eventful morning, we finally got moving again around 12:30pm. This was about a 7.5-hour delay which meant we did not get into Halifax until 3:30-4Am in the morning. 

We were stuck at Amqui Quebec for about 7.5 hours, due to a broken rail under the train. 

Looking at the curve of the train in Bathhurst New Brunkswick. 

The leading engine, 6419 was behind it. 

One of the few times you actually see the ocean aboard the Ocean. 

Another view of the ocean around Petit-Rocher New Brunswick. 

A sighting of a covered bridge. 

The breakfast menu

The Crepes I got. 

The inside of the service car, that joins the Renaissance fleet with the HEP fleet. 

Renaissance coach class. 

HEP coach class

A HEP bedroom in its daytime configuration 

The service car

The fish and chips I had for lunch that I forgot to take a photo of until halfway through. 

The menu for lunch

Carrot cake for dessert

Seafood chowder as a starter. 

Due to the delay we got St Huberts chicken for dinner in Moncton. 

A brief station stop in Moncton





Popular posts from this blog

Godda and Booth Lake Trip Report: Algonquin Provincial Park Solo Trip

 My longest back country camping trip this year was into Algonquin Provincial Park. I went from September 16-19, 4 days and 3 nights. Originally my plan was to stay until the 20th but circumstances forced me to change my original route. Originally, I had planned on going from the Shall Lake Access Point(17) to Godda Lake for one night, then head down to Boot Lake for two nights, up to Booth Lake for one night, then home. However, during my first day, I realized that I had overestimated my capability to portage with a 75 pound canoe, and I had planned too long of a route. I altered my plans and instead spent two nights on Godda Lake and one night on Booth Lake.  Day 1: I got to the access point at 11:10am and had everything unpacked and loaded into the canoe by 11:25am. I made my way through Farm Lake (which has super clear water) to the first portage into Kitty Lake. The portage was only 100M and was the first of the trip. It took 10 minutes to double carry. I was able to do t...

Six Days Alone in Algonquin: Canoe Lake to White Trout and Back

Six Days Alone in Algonquin: Canoe Lake to White Trout and Back My first back country canoe trip of 2025 was to what is normally the busiest part of Algonquin. I left on May 4th from Canoe Lake and returned on May 9th to Canoe Lake. In between, I stayed on Rainbow, McIntosh, Misty, White Trout, and Sunbeam Lakes, each for one night.  The total distance for the trip was 99.07 km, as recorded on Strava. The way I recorded my days on Strava didn’t differentiate between paddling and portaging, but I did roughly 36.03 km of portaging. I double-carried each portage, so I did each portage length three times.   Waterfall between Timberwolf and Misty Lake   Day One – Canoe Lake to Rainbow Lake: 12.18 km, 4 hours 17 minutes I recently got a new car this winter -a Chevy Equinox EV. Since this was my first time traveling with a canoe on the EV, I was interested to see how much it would affect my range. I left Ottawa at 98% and got to Bancroft with around 30%. From there, I charged ...

Four Days, Ten Lakes, and a Thunderstorm: My Fall Canoe Trip in Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park

 My last backcountry canoe trip of the year was to Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. This was my first time in the park. I started the trip on October 4–7. The trip comprised 43.51 km total, of which 13.6 km was portaging. I double-carried each portage, which meant I ended up walking each one three times. Day 1. I left Ottawa around 7 a.m. and drove to Madoc, where I charged my car for about 20 minutes. I got to the access point around 10:45 a.m. After unpacking the car and parking, I got on the water around 11 a.m. Long Lake is a very pretty lake and sure lives up to its name. You essentially go straight for a long time until you hit Loucks Lake. It would be impossible for anyone to get lost on Long Lake as it’s super narrow. Loucks Lake has a bunch more cottages than Long Lake did, which made finding the first portage a bit of a challenge. It ended up being right beside someone’s cottage which, as someone used to Algonquin, I found a bit odd. However, before I got to my first ...

Oram Lake-Algonquin Park

My most recent trip to Algonquin Provincial Park was a short one-night stay on Oram Lake. This was my third back country trip of the year, but what made this trip important was that it was my wife’s first time going back country camping. We left Ottawa around 6:45 and, after a quick stop at A&W, hit the road to the park. We got to the Shall Lake access point just before 11 a.m., including a quick stop in Bancroft to charge our EV. The parking lot at the access point was full, so full that there weren’t any spots, and I had to make the trek up to the overflow parking lot. We got on the water around 11:20 a.m. and made it to the portage around 11:45 a.m. The landing for the 480 m portage into Oram Lake is nothing but mud. My wife sank up to her knees, and I managed to sink up to my mid-calf. The thing with this landing is that the ground looks very solid, but it’s far from it. After a lot of work freeing ourselves, we scrambled onto some rocks and made quick work of unloading the c...

Charlevoix Quebec

 For our summer holidays, my wife and I rented a cottage for a week in the Charlevoix region of Quebec. Our cottage was right by Cap-aux-Oies, in fact we could walk down to the public beach from our cottage.  During our trip we made two day trips down to Baie-Saint-Paul. One in the rain the first day, where we stopped in for lunch/brunch and the second a few days later when it was nicer out to explore the beach and their main drag which is quiet pretty and full of art galleries.  We also went whale watching as we were only an hour away from Baie-Sainte-Catherine which is situated in the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park. This marine park is renowned for its whale watching. During our whale watching tour, we spotted a Harbour Porpoise, Beluga and Minke whale.  During another day trip, we took the free ferry over to Isle-aux-Coudres. We had a very nice lunch once we got on the island. From the patio, we were sitting on we could see more Beluga whales swimming by. After...