Thanks, CSSHEGEWISCH, for the thought! I wonder if Canadian National's Newfoundland Railway, later Terra Transport, could have been saved by standard gauging. Methinks the 42" line could have been converted by replacing every fifth- or sixth tie, for starters. That would have obviated replacing trucks on the freight cars at Port-aux-Basques, and expensive and time-consuming thingie. Of course, the politicians (Pierre Trudeau and Jacques "The Bus Driver" Martin) were quite anti-railroads, except for those lines in Québec. The "New-fund-LANDERS" didn't help their cause, with all the in-fighting. I never did get to see the railroads on Prince Edward Island, but did ride a passenger train in Newfoundland. Cool, it was!
Hays
[Edited to try to fix paragraphing and formatting - new computer 'bugs']
I wouldn't swear to it, but I am recalling that one of these articles - or perhaps another one that I can't find a reference to at the moment - said that the every 5th or 6th tie for standard gauge installation had been done.
- Paul North.
Newfoundland Railway farewell - Trains, January 1989 page 26
CN shut down Newfoundland operations 10/1/88
( ABANDONMENT, CANADA, CNR, "CRAWFORD, WILLIAM", NARROWGAUGE, NRR, TRN )
Integration in the north - Trains, July 1971 page 36
How White Pass & Yukon, Alaska, and CN-Newfoundland interchange
( ARR, CNR, CONTAINER, FERRY, "HILTON, GEORGE W.", WP&Y, TRN
From what I've read, the engineering standards on the Newfoundland Railway were rather typical of North American narrow gauge and it would have taken a fair amount of rebuilding and relocation to make the line a viable proposition. The line was also at the far end of a fairly long carferry route, also an expensive operation even without a change of gauge.
Note the abandonment of the Prince Edward Island operation, a much shorter car ferry and no change of gauge. Now there is a causeway highway link but as far as I know that did not plan for any rail addition in the future.
100% politics, methinks. The new bridge is not designed for any retrofit for rail traffic. It is going to ruin the charm of PEI (read: Yuppie invasion), even though it costs an arm-and-a-leg to traverse! BTW, the U. S. Air Force had a branch, from White's/Whites Road to Stephenville Air Force Base -- only 8, or 10, miles, later taken over by Terra Transport. I wonder if the USAF ever had any locomotives or rolling stock there, and what happened to it, if they did. They might have had some activity at Gander, too, but dunno, me. Kind-of an odd gauge....
The 42" gauge was the British colonial gauge. Remember Newfoundland did not join the Canadian federation until 1949. Prior to that it was still a British Crown Colony. One part of the agreement to join the rest of Canada was that CN would assume operation of the Newfoundland railroad.
BTW you would also find the 42" gauge in places like India and South Africa where the railroads were built as part of the colonization process.
BNSFwatcher100% politics, methinks. The new bridge is not designed for any retrofit for rail traffic. It is going to ruin the charm of PEI (read: Yuppie invasion), even though it costs an arm-and-a-leg to traverse!
You pay no toll if you are traveling to The Island; you pay toll only when going to New Brunswick.. I had hoped that we would be able to go directly from Moncton to Charlottetown and then take the ferry from P. E. I. to Nova Scotia when we were in the area last year, but another part of our trip put us in the Maritimes too early in the year to take the ferry. Perhaps another year?
Incidentally, a large part of New Brusnwick was settled by Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies.
Johnny
Paul_D_North_Jr Newfoundland Railway farewell - Trains, January 1989 page 26 CN shut down Newfoundland operations 10/1/88
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