Trains in Newfoundland!

[Pathfinder]

While on a business trip to central Newfoundland, I found these sitting outside the still in use station at Whitbourne (now the city hall).  I was not expecting anything so was quite pleased to see this string.  It includes a plow, the locomotive, two passenger cars and the caboose.

[samfp1943]

While on a business trip to central Newfoundland, I found these sitting outside the still in use station at Whitbourne (now the city hall).  I was not expecting anything so was quite pleased to see this string.  It includes a plow, the locomotive, two passenger cars and the caboose.

Interesting photos, but what is the status of the equipment?..Looks like CN heritage, but I don't recognize the locomotive, the cab seems unique, is it a local shop rebuild? I recall that there was at one time in that part of Canada [Canadian Maritimes] a narrow gauge operation, but know little beyond that. Is this equipment abandoned? There seems to be no track beyond the caboose in that photo? Please give us some more details, Thanks.  

[Pathfinder]

Yes, narrow gauge.  The locos are GMD NF210, built 52-60, total of 47 units.  1,200 hp built special for CN's narrow gauge line on the Rock.

This unit is less its prime mover and like all the rest of the equipment in rather poor shape up close.  They are being kept painted but that is about it.

[samfp1943]

Thanks, Pathfinder;

Any plans to do anything with this equipment, such as get under cover, or incorporate it into a local museum?  I would think that this narrow gauge operation was at the very least, important to the development of the area, seems a waste to let it melt away.

[Pathfinder]

I was there on a Sunday and no one was around to talk to.  I agree, they have more than I thought I would see and it would be a shame to let it go.

Some more info here

And what looks like a good preservation effort here

Corner Brook was too far for me to travel while I was there.

[samfp1943]

http://www.hhm.k12.nf.ca/museum/index.php?page=railelements

"Freight train service continued across the province until 1988. In December of 1987, the Province and Ottawa agreed to the closure of the Newfoundland Railway because of the lack of use, in return for a payment of $800 million dollars for road improvement. On June 20, 1988 it became official that the island's railway would cease operations as of September 1, 1988.

Today most of the tracks have been removed with the exception of ones at historic stations"

(Cut and Paste from above website) 

http://www.cornet.nf.ca/web/rsn/

Interesting websites:  

I wonder if the people got their $800Millions worth of road improvements for loosing their rails?

Thanks, again Pathfinder, for the info. 

[daveklepper]

In 1968 I went on a Maury Kleibolt (Chicago RR Club) exursion from Chi to St. John's and back, and rode an upper berth both ways on the Newfy Bullet.   Gauge was/is 3'-6". not 3'.   Great trip, and we had the use of a business car at the rear as an observation car.   The narrow gauge diner served regular CN high-quality meals.  Passenger service ceased about a year later.

[egmurphy]

There are small bits preserved all across the province.  Unfortunately, much of the equipment, even what you saw in Whitbourne, is suffereing from vandalism.  Funny you should post about it, as it doesn't come up that often.  I was there this summer.  The following is a copy of what I had posted elsewhere regarding the trip, and also has some links to info on the railway itself.

As far as "CN heritage", CN took over the line in 1949 after Newfoundland joined Canada, as part of teh agreement regarding Confederation.  At that time they repainted the rolling stock in CN colors.  Towards the end of the line, it was changed to "Terra Transport".

 

As you may remember, we made a trip to Newfoundland this summer, and I’m just now getting around to editing my photos and writing up some notes.  Thought I’d share a few thoughts about the trip. I was born in Newfoundland, but not raised there.  And I’ve never been all that interested in the history of the railroad there until I started preparing for this trip.

 

To give a quick, condensed summary of the Newfoundland Railway, suffice it to say that it was built between 1881 – 1898.  It was narrow gauge, built to 3’-6” gauge.  About 550 miles of mainline from the capital, St John’s to Port-aux-Basques on the southwestern coast. 

Including all branch lines, total mileage was around 900 miles (depending on at what period you were measuring), making it the longest narrow gauge system in North America.  After Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, the Newfoundland Railway came under the control of Canadian National.  Towards the end of its run, they changed the name to Terra Transport. 

Like many railroads serving large, underpopulated regions, it was a money losing proposition.  When government funds starting running low, and with the competition from the newly completed Trans-Canada Highway in 1956, traffic decreased and deficits mounted.  Service was terminated in 1988.  Tracks were torn up almost immediately afterwards.  Very little track or equipment remains today.

For more detailed information see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_Railway

Okay, enough background.  We landed at St Johns, and spent most of our time out on the Bonavista Peninsula, so my train watching was limited to spots in between those points, which covers basically the eastern section of the island.

Here’s a map of the island:

http://home.earthlink.net/~lkstrong/NfldMap.htm

Considering that I had the wife and junior in tow, I got to see a good number of sites.  We hit the Railway Coastal Museum, Avondale, Whitbourne, Clarenville, Trinity Loop, Bonavista and Pt Union.

 

Best Museum

Wow, they sure did a good job on restoring the old main station and railroad headquarters building in St John’s and turning it into the “Railway Coastal Museum”.  Good exhibits with lots of photos and displays.  Learned a lot about the Coastal Boats too.  (The railroad also operated a fleet of small coastal boats providing passenger and freight service to outlying posts).  Nice job restoring and/or preserving the building.  Too bad they didn’t have more rolling stock outside, but the museum itself is excellent.  Here’s a shot of the building.

 

Best preserved rolling stock

I have to hand it to Bonavista.  The locomotive (#932) and cars there were in the best condition of those that we saw.  The station building is nicely maintained and serves as a senior citizen center.  I have no idea how much the current condition resembles the station as it was when it was in service.  #932 is a class NF210 diesel, 1200 hp, built by EMD in the late 50’s.

 

Biggest (pleasant) surprise

I’m originally from Pt Union.  Of course, the trains were gone from that particular branch long before I came along.  In fact, I never associated trains with Pt Union.  I knew they had recently turned the old station into a museum, but didn’t really expect to see much.  Turns out that they did a very nice job of reconditioning the building.  It was moved some 50-100 yards from where it originally stood.  While about half the station is dedicated to the town in general, they do have much more railroadiana than I expected to see.  Where the station once stood, you can still see the original platform curb.  And you can see where they blasted the spur leading to the station and it’s associated wharf, and the spur leading to the Fisherman’s Union buildings, through the local rock.  I also toured the local Fisherman’s Union buildings, and in one of them they had an old (+/- 1918) plot of the town, which showed the whole track arrangement at Pt Union, including the wye, the station and spur, the wharf track, and the spur leading over to the Fisherman’s union buildings and wharf.   Didn’t seem to include trackage up to the main branch line at Pt Union Jct, or at least I didn’t make it out.

  

Trinity Loop was a well known site on the railroad.  As far as I know it’s the only visible train loop in Canada.  Originally constructed as a long trestle, it was eventually filled for most of its length. 

When most of the tracks of the Nfld Railway were taken up, they left the trackage at the loop, which was operated as a very short tourist attraction for a number of years (using small home made motors and cars).  It was apparently still operating last year, but I’m sorry to report that Trinity Loop park was shut down by the time we got there this summer.  We walked around the loop just for the sake of it.  The right of way is really overgrown with weeds, and the ties are badly in need of replacement. 

The little Plymouth switcher they have there has suffered badly from vandalism.  I understood that the #802 (a class G8, 875 hp unit built by EMD in 1954.  Designed for use on light weight branch lines) was supposed to be there, but if it is it must be well camouflaged.  We looked around and found the few cars that they have spread around.

 

As a side note, I was surprised and a bit disappointed at the amount of vandalism I saw at the various sites.  Maybe I shouldn’t be.  But I guess I just didn’t expect it.  It was especially evident at Trinity Loop, Whitbourne, and to a lesser extent at Avondale.

 

Whitbourne

I guess I expected the museum to have more of a train orientation, especially considering that for a long time the railroad maintained their main shops here, but most of the material was about the town in general.  They did have a locomotive, snowplow, and a few cars on a siding.

 

 

Avondale

Excellent job of restoring the depot.  Nice selection of items on display.  I think they are operating one of the cars as a diner, but it didn’t appear to be open when we were there.  Here’s an overall shot of the depot area.

 

Clarenville

The station is now a Shrine Masonic Center.  As at Bonavista, at least the building still exists and is being used for something.  Kind of easy to see where the yard tracks were.  Considering that it was a division point it’s too bad they didn’t preserve more equipment or make the station into a rail museum.  But hey, at least they have something there.

Overall it was a great trip.  We’re hoping to get back there again next year.  If I do I’ll certainly continue exploring what’s left of the railway.

By the way, if anyone is interested I do have more photos.  But the ones here are representative.  Since I was only photographing static displays and old station buildings, there are no dramatic shots.

Best regards

Ed

[Pathfinder]

Thanks Ed, that is great stuff!

I only had a few hours on the drive up/down form St. John's to Grand Falls (where I was working for the week) to take in what I could.  With so little time and so much to see, the train stuff was a bonus side trip that I just stumbled upon.  Your trip was way better!

And I want to go back, with the family, to see what else there is.  Got to go to that 1,000 year old Viking village they have.

[MStLfan]

Nice work Ed.

There was a video around about the last days of railroading in Newfoundland. Forgot which company made it. If I remember correctly a lot of equipment was sold to South America, the Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway in Chile I think.

Greetings,

Marc Immeker

 

[Murphy Siding]

     Thanks for sharing Ed.  That was very interesting.

[CrazyDiamond]

There is a Yahoo Group that specifically dicusses the Newfoundland Railway:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nfld_Rwy/

A good bunch of people to have a discussion with.

I too am from Newfoundland and might be able to help with some questions, espescially those regarding operations in Port Aux Basques.

[daveklepper]

Some of the equipment has been preserved and a recent visitor has posted pictures on the Classic Trains General Forum.

[ghCBNS]

daveklepper

Sme of the equipment has been preserved and a recent visitor has posted posted pictures on the Classic Trains General Forum.

Here's the link to my post over at Classic Trains with lots of photos of a walk-thru of CN's 'Caribou' narrow gauge equipment.

http://cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/t/284043.aspx

[Overmod]

CrazyDiamond

There is a Yahoo Group that specifically dicusses the Newfoundland Railway:

It is likely ruined for most purposes in the wake of the great never-was-something-better-named Oath conversion.  I believe they have migrated to the groups.io platform; try NfldRwy.groups.io

[daveklepper]

I have posted some of the 1968 trip photos on the thread in the Classic Trains Forum.