Napadogan Memories

I received a very interesting message from a Ms. Ellie Hutchinson a while ago. She lived in Napadogan in the 1940s and 1950s and saw my post about Napadogan. She graciously provided some snapshots that I am sharing with you. I find this stuff fascinating!

According to Ellie, there was a water tower, coal facility and crew house in Napadogan, all on the east side of the roundhouse and the north side of the tracks. The water reservoir for the steam engines was north of the roundhouse on the existing road. The station itself was west of the roundhouse.

None of this shows on the 1985 CN track plan for Napadogan.

Just for trivia's sake, I looked at the September 25, 1955 CN public timetable and there was a 10-minute scheduled stop in Napadogan for passenger train 51/52, a three-times weekly train between Moncton and Edmundston. It looks like train 51 and 52 met at Napadogan, actually.

If anyone has any more details on Napadogan, please pass them along and I will post them.


The station building in Napadogan.


Baby Ellie in front of the Napadogan roundhouse, 1948.


The camp car in Napadogan. Note the nicely tended gardens in front. Ellie's father is leaning in the doorway. 1950s.


Ellie's Nan Colwell and her brother-in-law pose in Napadogan, 1930s.


Ellie's grandfather Colwell stands on the steps of a passenger car, 1930.


Snow clearing in Napadogan.


Snow clearing in Napadogan. I wonder what that building to the left was?

Appointment at McGivney

I decided to head to McGivney to see VIA 614 detour through there. Given my disappointment from the last time I went for the detour, I allotted plenty of time before and after the expected time to catch the Ocean.

I left home at about 06:15 and I was in McGivney by 07:00. The weather was overcast but not bad, until about 10 km from McGivney when the fog rolled in. Drat!

When I arrived, the east-facing signals showed green over red, indicating a westbound was coming. I set up near the depot, then got out my Model Railroader magazines and started reading. After a while, I heard a thrum and it turned out to be CN 121 (I believe) rocketing through at 07:27.


I believe the power was 2261, 2436, 5529, 8xxx, and a GP38 and a GP9.

I decided to take a walk to the west end of the siding, since I'd never seen it before. I walked past the 30 bulkhead flatcars in the storage siding, then well into the boonies before I finally reached the other end at mile 87.1. Quite a walk - 1.6 miles.

I waited there for about 5 minutes, then I decided to start walking back. Of course, that's when I heard the hum of an approaching engine. I quickly set up to get VIA 6400 split the signals at 08:42.



So if my last time was disappointment, this must have been an "appointment". ;)

Word has it that the detour will last until September 17 (Wednesday).

1994 Causapscal Derailment Video

Trainmasterpat has posted a video showing the wreck site of a CN derailment at Causapscal, Quebec, the same place that CFMG derailed Thursday night. Watch video

Speaking of the CFMG derailment, apparently the bridge was damaged and will need about a week to repair. During this time, VIA is detouring trains over the Napadogan subdivision again. Hopefully someone will get some photos!

The Bridges of Victoria County

CN 149 crossing the Salmon River trestle near Grand Falls, NB

I was recently asked to provide some information on the Salmon River area, and especially the Little River trestle near the giant Salmon River trestle. I've done some digging and I'll share some random notes with you.

The Salmon River bridge

The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was built in the 1910s for a variety of reasons, none of which seem good from a vantage point of almost one hundred years later. Its construction was authorized as part of an agreement between the federal government and the Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) on July 29, 1903 where the government would built a railway from Moncton, NB to Winnipeg, MB, while the GTP would build from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, BC. The GTP would then lease the NTR from the government for 50 years, paying 3% of construction costs per year for 43 years, after getting the first 7 years rent-free.

The problem was this. There was already a transcontinental railway - the Canadian Pacific Railway. Some people felt that the CPR needed some competition, so in a bizarre move the government authorized two additional transcontinental railways, the GTP and the Canadian Northern Railway. In the end, both of those failed and eventually became Canadian National Railways.

Back to the NTR. As was noted in the "Report of the National Transcontinental Railway Investigating Committee" in 1914, noone on the 4-person Commission appointed to oversee the NTR's contruction "had any experience or knowledge of railway building or operation" until 1911 when Major R.W. Leonard was added. The NTR was built to very high standards, including a prohibition against grades greater than 0.4% in the east, and the use of steel bridges only. It was estimated that the total cost of the NTR would be $161,300,000 in 1914 dollars. Conservatively, that's about 3 billion dollars in 2006 (source).

The Salmon River bridge under construction, 1910

OK, now back to the Salmon River trestle and its little sisters. The Salmon River trestle was built to span the Little Salmon River, and if you've ever seen the bridge you can see it is not a mighty river by any means. The bridge, however, is. Some statistics:
- completed: 1910 (see below)
- length: 3920 feet
- height: 195 feet
- cost: $815,070.87 (including sub- and superstructure)
- steel: 13,991,310 lbs. (just under 7000 tons)
- spans: 51

This is the second longest bridge of its type in Canada. The longest is in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Here is the Salmon River trestle on Google Maps, in the middle of the map.


There are three other trestles in the neighbourhood, none of which are small.
- Little River: 1242 feet
- Caton Brook: 1060 feet
- Graham Brook: 520 feet

I am trying to find out when the Little River trestle was completed. It appears to have been done by the end of 1910. Shirley E. Woods' great book Cinders and Saltwater states that "by the end of 1910 the road was finished and most of the track had been laid. On November 24, 1911, the 231-mile stretch from Moncton to Edmundston was opened for traffic."

Today the Salmon River trestle and its little sisters are on the Napadogan Subdivision of CN's eastern mainline, and sees six mainline freights and one or two locals each day. The photo below shows CN 305 crossing in August 2007.


See also:

• Lethbridge's High Level Bridge
• The Salmon River Trestle in winter

CN Videos

New YouTuber downeastrailfan put two videos up for our enjoyment. The first shows CN 306 rolling through Penobsquis, just outside Sussex.


The second shows shiny CN 4728 shunting the Truro Industrial Park. 4728 was recently repainted and looks good as new.


Finally, Jammin' Joel caught a CN local at Napadogan with CN 6021 pulling 20 cars.


Thanks, guys!

NB Southern and CN YouTube videos

Dave Dineen has an excellent video on YouTube showing the NB Southern transfer train from Island Yard crossing the Reversing Falls bridge and then heading to through Bayshore to the Port of Saint John - with a caboose no less! Very nice work.

The power was NBSR 9801, NBSR 3701, and NBSR 2610.

Joel Scott has a nice video at Parker Ridge, NB showing CN 149 at 11:47 on Saturday October 6. CN 5706, 2582, 4762, and 4774 are pulling 77 cars.


Joel has another video at the same location of CN 305 at 09:35 with CN 8800, 8803 and 2532 with 125 cars.


Thanks, guys!

An Afternoon on the Napadogan

I decided to take the afternoon and make a trip to Napadogan (pronounced Napa-DOG-an, not Napa-dough-gan like I keep saying it). Why? I've never been, and I wanted to see the old roundhouse. I knew there was a thunderstorm watch but, hey, it was beautiful at noon. What could happen?

I left Fredericton just before 14:00 and headed north on highway 8, leaving at Taymouth to take the back way since there's construction on highway 107. After I passed through Stanley and approached Cross Creek, I got this bright idea to go to Maple Grove Station to see if there is anything there. According to my Back Roads of New Brunswick book, it is on the CN line. As I got further into the sticks, the sky became very dark and the wind started blowing hard. The rain started falling as I left pavement and started driving through gravel roads in the woods. After a few minutes of that I decided to turn around before a) I got lost, and b) the road washed out. Back to Cross Creek.

As I was driving west on highway 107 in the pouring rain and occasional lightning, I was thinking I must be the stupidest railfan ever for going out during a thunderstorm watch.

I arrived at Napadogan at 15:00. The place was.. underwhelming. There are about six or seven houses there, half of which are abandoned. The roundhouse is still standing but has a bunch of tin shacks appended to it.



I figured I might as well proceed on to Deersdale, since it is not far away. After stopping to check on a stranded motorist, I made good time. The weather cleared as I approached Deersdale, and this sign showed me where to go.

After a short trip through the woods and over a narrow bridge, I was face to face with Irving's Deersdale facility at 15:30. There were trucks everywhere, the CN main line with a siding, and two tracks going into the plant with woodchip cars on them.


The siding ends past the woodchip cars, and there is a signal there. Note the green over red signal, and the bridge past it.


Since the signal was green, I knew an eastbound was coming.. sometime. I set my video camera on my tripod on the north side of the tracks, lined everything up, and waited. After a while the sun came out, so I put sunscreen (and bug spray) on. Cars and trucks shuttled in and out, and eventually Irving security came over. He was quite friendly, and mentioned that in the storm they had some trees come down just outside their plant. After he left, I read my new Canadian Railway Modeler and noted they have a link to my web site in there. Thanks!

After over an hour, I heard the distant thrum of diesel engines and got ready for the train. At 16:41, CN 308* came around the bend. CN 5519, CN 5368, CN 5375, and old friend CN 6021 with a whopping 148 cars of various types. Many of those cars were visibly empty.




* I assume it was 308 based on the composition of the train.



I packed up and headed back to Napadogan again. Since the weather was nice, I decided to walk the line east to the end of the siding and look at the signals there. It is quite a walk! The signals were red over red facing west and dark facing east, so nothing was coming. I left at 17:46 and was back in Fredericton in 56 minutes.