News photos: Irving short lines add more SD70M-2s

Five more locomotives added to earlier group of six units refurbished by Progress Rail

Six locomotives at front of train, including four bright green units being delivered to short lines — Four locomotives bound for the J.D. Irving Ltd. short lines in New Brunswick and Maine work their way east on Canadian Pacific. They are shown at Wolverton, Ontario, on Jan. 28, 2023. Stephen C. Host

The J.D. Irving Ltd. short lines in New Brunswick and Maine have added five more locomotives to their fleet of refurbished SD70M-2s.

The first six units were delivered starting in June 2021 [see “Locomotive news: First New Brunswick Southern Railway locomotive refurbished,” Trains News Wire, July, 2021]. Four of the second group of locomotives are shown en route from Progress Rail in Mayfield, Ky., on Jan. 28, 2023, at Wolverton, Ontario. They include No. 6407, lettered for New Brunswick Southern; Nos, 6408 and 6411, lettered for Eastern Maine; and No. 6409, lettered for Maine Northern. They were on CP train 2-230 at the yard in Wolverton, bound for Toronto after an overnight trip from Welland, Ont., where they had been set off by the previous day’s train 132 from Chicago.

The fifth unit, No 6410, is still en route.

New Brunswick Southern and Eastern Maine Railway together provide a 189.5-mile connection with CP’s former Central Maine & Quebec at Brownville Junction, Maine, to reach the port of Saint John, New Brunswick. Maine Northern is a 258-mile line between Millinocket and Van Buren, Maine.