October 1st, 1988 - I'm Standing at the Station, Waiting for the Train to Leave

We only lived 15 minutes away from the train station so we were there by 11:15am. Things were relatively busy at the Moncton station at that time of the day as the period of between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM had many arrivals and departures.

On Track 1, eastbound train 14, the Ocean arriving from Montreal, had arrived at 10:15 AM. Moncton was its eastern most terminus at the time, so all passengers had either arrived at their final destination or would have been transferring to other trains or buses before continuing on their way.

On Track 2, eastbound train 12, the Atlantic arriving from Montreal via Maine and Saint-John had arrived at 10:30 AM with both arriving and departing passengers before leaving for Halifax by 11:00 AM.

In addition to these larger transcontinental trains, a westbound RDC passenger train from Halifax was arriving around noon on Track 1 with her passengers.

During this period, the station was pretty busy with passengers either collecting or checking in baggage or simply milling around waiting for their train to leave.

On Track 1, Via Rail had moved the equipment being used for westbound train 615 to Saint-John departing at 12:15 PM. On Track 3, they were busy readying train 15, the Ocean, for her evening departure west to Montreal.

However, despite all the trains to see, my attention was focused on Track 2 where Via had moved the equipement for our trip to Bathurst. Sitting there in all her majesty was a single RDC-1 passenger coach. Train 617 with a scheduled departure time of 12:30 PM.

This is going to be fun...