Return to the Island

View of the Confederation Bridge

I was back on Prince Edward Island earlier this month for work. I decided to combine that with a quick visit to see my mom in New Brunswick. My plan was to land in Moncton (YQM), drive to Oromocto to stay overnight with her, then drive on Sunday to Charlottetown for my work.

I messaged my friends Taylor Main and Chris Mears to let them know I was coming back to the Island, and they invited me to a model railway operations session on Sunday evening in Summerside. Great!

Saturday

Vroom, vroom!

After landing in Moncton, I obtained my rental car and hit the road. One of my other missions on the trip was to do a little model train car exchange with another friend, Caleb Wentzell (see his 10 Questions interview here). He had left some cars with a mutual friend in Salisbury so I drove down there to make the switch.

I pulled off the Trans-Canada Highway by the Irving Big Stop and drove into Salisbury. I wasn't quite sure where to go so I stopped by the tracks of the CN Sussex subdivision to plug the address into my phone. After doing that, I decided to check the RailsNB Facebook group to see if there was any news about CN movements on the line. Apparently there was a potash train into Saint John and five locos were running light out of Saint John that morning, but they were at least an hour away from me and I couldn't wait that long.

Suddenly the crossing bells started ringing.

CN 406!

I thought quickly. My camera was still in its bag, in the trunk - no time to get that. I grabbed my phone and jumped out of the car, frantically opening the Camera app and setting it to video. I started it just in time to catch the train blasting through the crossing.

A nice wave from the conductor and toot from the engineer!

After that excitement, I headed out of town to make the switch. Unfortunately our mutual friend was not home, so I left my cars in the mailbox and headed to Oromocto to see my mom.

Since I can remember, we almost always had cats and/or dogs in our house. My mom currently has two dogs and a cat, and she often fosters animals from the local SPCA until they are ready for adoption. When I visited, she was fostering a momma cat and six kittens. SO cute.

I fixed a few things around the house for my mom, and we went for supper.

Sunday

In the morning, we visited the market in Oromocto and had a delicious waffle breakfast. Then it was time for me to hit the road for Prince Edward Island. It was nice to see my mom in person again.

I drove past Moncton with only a quick glance toward the CN rail lines - no traffic - and continued on toward the Confederation Bridge to the island.

Checking the time, I saw I had some free time before I was to meet Chris and Taylor for supper before going to Summerside. I decided to stop in Cape Tormentine, former terminus of the ferry to PEI prior to the construction of the Confederation Bridge. I had never been there as a railfan and I wanted to see the station, roundhouse and water tower there.

I did this and you may already have seen my post about it. If not, here's my post on Cape Tormentine.

Cape Tormentine train station

I crossed the Confederation Bridge. They must have a problem with people stopping to take photos from the bridge, as there are large signs warning of zero tolerance and big fines for mobile device use on the bridge.

Chris and I arrived at my hotel at the same time, and Taylor was there shortly afterward. We piled into Chris' car and headed for supper at The Old Triangle and then went to Summerside to operate on Scott Jay's Bayside and Tidewater layout. I wrote about that on Confessions of a Model Train Geek. Good times!

CN 1762, Kensington

Before we went to Scott's, we stopped in Kensington to pay our respects to the train station and to CN 1762, the only locomotive on PEI. She's looking well, although the red seems to be fading to orange... which I guess is what happened to many CN locomotives.

(psst... want to hear more about diesel locomotives that once roamed Prince Edward Island? I wrote an eBook about the diesels on PEI)

I didn't realize that another former Kensington train station still exists in the town. It is currently a private residence and is not very far away from the stone train station everyone sees.

Tuesday

Another day I stopped by the former Charlottetown train station, which was close to my hotel. The station is now being used for the island's Worker's Compensation Board and is in good condition.

The former Charlottetown train station

The station opened in 1907 and served the city for many years. After the cessation of passenger service, it held the main offices for CN on the island until the end of the railway in December 1989.

Wednesday

Tank car on PEI

I visited another remnant of the railway on Wednesday. There are two former CN tank cars that are located next to the Confederation Trail and Island Construction, a local construction firm. The two cars used to store waste oil from the ferries, and they were apparently acquired by a construction company to be cut up and reused. This never happened and they remain there on the rails beside the trail.

They appear to be quite old, judging by the riveted construction and where the handbrake is. The paint is still pretty good on one of them!

Tank cars on PEI

Thursday

I flew out Thursday evening, for a quick turnaround to head to Calgary on Friday with my wife... but that's the subject for another set of blog posts.

Until then, I'll leave you with a photo of the Cape Jourimain lighthouse I visited on my way out of PEI.

Cape Jourimain lighthouse

Further reading:

• Cape Tormentine
• Steve Hunter's PEI Photos
• Railfanning on PEI

Cape Tormentine

Railway facilities at Cape Tormentine

The village of Cape Tormentine was once a very important location, being one terminus of the ferry between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The Cape hosted the ferries that carried people, vehicles and rail cars between the mainland and Borden, PEI.

The opening of the nearby Confederation Bridge on May 31, 1997 rendered the ferry service obsolete.

Recent Railway History

Cape Tormentine was the end of the CN Tormentine subdivision that ran to Sackville, NB to connect with the rest of the CN railway network.

This track diagram, from the August 1988 CN Car Control manual, shows the layout of the track in Cape Tormentine at the time.

Some of the tracks shown:

• R059 - turntable and roundhouse.
• R061 to R064 - storage tracks
• R065 - locomotive storage and fueling
• R069TT - team track and storage track
• R070 - new main line
• R071 - old main line
• R081 - ferry ramp track 1
• R082 - ferry ramp track 2
• R083 - ferry dock storage track
• R085 - reacher car storage

Cape Tormentine station

Reacher cars (usually flatcars) were used to "extend the reach" of the diesel locomotive to allow it to move cars on and off the ferry without the diesel locomotive putting its weight on the ramp or the ferry.

The nearby Hill Yard, less than a mile away from Cape Tormentine, had two storage tracks of 2515 feet each.

The last train left the Island on December 28, 1989 aboard the M.V. John Hamilton Gray, with CN 1786 and 1750, six flatcars, two tank cars, two gondolas, two snow plows and two cabooses.

There's a lovely A.W. Mooney photo on Railpictures.ca showing CN 3632 in front of the station. An RS-18 was stationed in Cape Tormentine to switch the ferry.

My Visit

On a recent trip to PEI, I decided to stop to visit Cape Tormentine. I had never been there before, and a recent series of photos posted by Taylor Main inspired me to visit while the railway infrastructure was still present.

The former train station at Cape Tormentine, NB

Cape Tormentine features several railway buildings - the train station, roundhouse, turntable and water tower.

The provincial Department of Natural Resources acquired the station and property from CN. The station was leased by the local Cape Tormentine Community Development Corporation until 2005 and used as a tourist information centre.

Former tourist information sign at the Cape Tormentine station

The tourist information function is now performed by the new buildings at Cape Jourimain where the mainland end of the Confederation Bridge touches the land.

The station's roof is definitely deteriorating, and I understand the floor has at least partially collapsed inside.

Two stall roundhouse at Cape Tormentine

The roundhouse is a two stall roundhouse, clearly in some disrepair. I did not go in any of the buildings so I do not know what it is like inside, but I can't imagine it is in good shape.

The turntable pit is filled in but the walls of the pit are still evident in places. You can see a portion of the wall in the foreground of the photo above.

Speaking of the turntable, that is nearby, very overgrown and rusted by this time.

Turntable at Cape Tormentine

I'm told the turntable was air-powered and it was connected to the locomotive on the turntable to provide the compressed air to move the turntable.

Closeup of turntable at Cape Tormentine

The railway water tower also stands.

Water tower and roundhouse at Cape Tormentine, NB

I don't know the function of this other building but I have to assume that it was related to the railway.

There is no trace of the railway between the station and the wharf as far as I could see. You can drive out to the pier but you can't drive very far along it as most is now fenced off. There is a great view of the Confederation Bridge from here, though!

Confederation Bridge from Cape Tormentine

That was my visit to Cape Tormentine. If you are driving to Prince Edward Island, I encourage you to drop by and have a look at these relics of the ferry operation while they are still there. There have been calls to have them demolished.

Ownership and Future

I reached out to the provincial government and Jean-François Pelletier from the Communications Department responded very quickly to provide some background on who owns the station and area. It is owned by the provincial Energy and Resource Development (ERD) department, formerly the Department of Natural Resources. He provided some details on its recent history, included above, and said that in 2015 an engineering firm "was retained to assess the condition of the buildings". The firm recommended that the buildings should be removed.

This month, an engineering firm was engaged to survey the site for hazardous materials. Railway sites are often contaminated with various substances, such as spilled coal and diesel fuel and various lubricating oils.

In his email, Mr. Pelletier concluded, "Once the results of the Hazardous Material Survey are received, ERD will be in a position to make recommendations regarding the future of the site."

The rear lighthouse at Cape Tormentine, NB

The PEI Ferries

There were four ferries operating on the Cape Tormentine-Borden route when the Confederation Bridge was being completed: MV John Hamilton Gray, MV Abegweit, MV Holiday Island and MV Vacationland.

The first MV Abegweit is in Chicago and the second MV Abegweit has been scrapped. MV John Hamilton Gray was sold and eventually scrapped.

MV Holiday Island, 2003

MV Holiday Island continues to serve PEI on the Wood Islands - Caribou route between PEI and Nova Scotia, working that route with MV Confederation. The accompanying photograph was taken from on board Confederation, en route to PEI.

MV Vacationland was acquired by the province of New Brunswick for Grand Manan service but never put into use. At last report she was in Quebec for refit for freight service.

The wharf itself is privately owned. The lighthouse at the end is owned by the Canadian Coast Guard and is off limits. The rear lighthouse, pictured above, is deteriorating.

Updates

The Cape Tormentine railway station was demolished in early November 2016, after a provincial government tender was issued for its removal at the end of August. The status of the roundhouse, turntable and water tower is unknown at this time.

See Also

• History of Cape Tormentine Terminal
• History of the Cape Tormentine Lighthouses
• Diesels on Prince Edward Island eBook
• Blog posts about PEI

Diesels on Prince Edward Island eBook Now Available

I wrote an eBook!

Diesels on Prince Edward Island is my first eBook. This 18-page PDF describes every diesel-electric locomotive type known to have operated on PEI. The book has 15 photographs, including a few never published before. Check it out!

You can buy it on Amazon or as a PDF from Gumroad below.

Diesels on PEI eBook

Railfanning on Prince Edward Island?

PEI is famous for its Cows brand ice cream

Back in October 2015 I went to Summerside, PEI for work for four days. I didn't have much time for non-work activities, but I did manage to see a precious few train-related items.

Most people know that there are no* railway tracks on Prince Edward Island since CN ceased operations and the last train left on December 28, 1989.

* well, none of any appreciable length. There is some track at the Elmira Railway Museum and maybe a few lengths here and there throughout the Island.

There are still a few railway items around on the Island. There are several train stations on the island, some in private hands and some in public hands. In Summerside itself, the former CN station is the town library and is handsomely decorated with murals. I walked over to it late one evening after getting my Greco donair fix.

Former train station in Summerside, PEI

Prince Edward Island had a few grain elevators, and three are still owned by the provincially-owned PEI Grain Elevators Corporation. The largest is located outside Kensington next to the former CN right-of-way.

Kensington, PEI grain elevator

An elevator like this would not be out of place on the Prairies! It was built in 1971 and is of wood construction, unlike the other two elevators at Roseneath and Elmsdale.

Speaking of Kensington, this town houses two important railway artefacts - the only locomotive on the island, CN 1762, and the beautiful Kensington railway station. I photographed them (and the above grain elevator) en route to the airport in Charlottetown. Fortunately it was a lovely day for photographs.

CN 1762 in Kensington, PEI

CN 1762 is an RSC-14 locomotive that would not have been out of place on the Island. I'm not sure how much it operated on the island, if at all, but it ended up here.

Kensington, PEI train station

The Kensington train station is fairly unique with its New Brunswick fieldstone construction. It is a National Historic Site and currently hosts the Island Stone Pub.

That was all I had time to visit on that trip. I was pleased to be able to meet up with the talented Taylor Main and Chris Mears of the great Prince Street Terminal blog.

Other railway sites of note on PEI include:

• The Elmira Railway Museum, mentioned above
• The Borden railway station (a replica?) and ex-CN 78301 caboose
• The Montague railway station
• The Charlottetown train station

---

Further reading:

• My previous visit to Kensington.
• My five-part series on Diesels on Prince Edward Island
• David Othen on PEI railroading
• Recent news item on the Elmira Railway Museum

Steve Hunter's PEI Photos

Noted Prince Edward Island rail expert Steve Hunter has posted a selection of his PEI rail photos from the 1970s to abandonment. I applaud his decision to share some of his photos and I encourage you to go have a look. If you have Alan Graham's Prince Edward Island Railway book, you'll probably recognize a few. Please keep in mind these photos are for personal use only - please read the notice at the top of the gallery.

Go have a look!

My PEI blog posts including my series on Diesels on Prince Edward Island.

Borden Station and Caboose

As I mentioned, I was on Prince Edward Island in late August to see the Atlantic Canada International Air Show. I decided to shoot the Borden station as we arrived on the island, because there was no caboose there the last time I saw it in 2003.

The caboose has some new paint on it, but alas, no markings.



The caboose is a CN Pointe-St. Charles caboose, rebuilt in November 1941 from the Grand Trunk boxcar 23368 that was itself built in October 1912. It was CN 78301, and after its retirement it spent a long time in Riverview, NB at a sandblasting business. It was put up for sale in June 2003 by the Town of Riverview after the New Brunswick Railway Museum passed on it. In late 2003 it was donated to Borden and was trucked up there.

Michael Taylor has a photo of it from August 2004 in front of the station... with the CNR logo Serves All Canada but in poor condition. There are lots of good photos on his site, by the way!

There is a small plaque on the caboose that reads DONATED TO BORDEN / CARLETON MARINE RAIL PARK - 2003 BY THE TOWN OF RIVERVIEW N.B.

Plane Geek

Hornet and Mustang flying together

Sorry I haven't been posting as much as I usually do... I'm in New Brunswick for work and I've been pretty busy. I have also been editing and posting my airplane photos from this past weekend's Atlantic Canada International Air Show.

The weather was great and the show was even better. I drove my oldest son up to Summerside, PEI and we spent the day watching planes and helicopters and parachutists, and getting sunburnt while trying to stay hydrated. Good times.

You can click on the photo above, or follow this link, to see my photo album on Google+. If you're a member of Google+, feel free to add me to a circle and I'll add you back.

PS - despite what my wife says, the photo above was not Photoshopped in any way except to crop it and bump up the saturation a bit. There really was a Mustang flying around with the Canadian CF-18 demonstrator Hornet!

More PEI Stations

Inspired by the good feedback to my post about Kensington, I dug into my photo archives and found a few more railway station photos from Prince Edward Island.

Here is the former CN station at Borden, PEI right at the end of the spiffy Confederation Bridge. In fact this is pretty much how you would see it from the bridge, if you were looking as you were coming onto the island.


I understand they now have a caboose there, imported from the Moncton area.


Next is the station at Montague, PEI. Apparently this was redeveloped in 1999. I remember there were some artifacts inside and some signage on the inside of the fence. It was quite pleasant to visit and near the marina in Montague.


Finally, here is the station in Summerside, PEI which is now the Rotary Library. This is a terrible photo. The Google Street View is much nicer.


All of those shots were from September 2003, which may have been the last time I was on PEI.

I also have photos of the Elmira station and railway museum, such as it was. I will have to dig those up as they have photos of the Railway Post Office (RPO) car that was subsequently scrapped.

Kensington PEI

Back in 1998? I toured Prince Edward Island with my future wife. We spent a couple of days driving around and enjoying the beautiful scenery on this island jewel. One of the places we drove through was Kensington, and I was amazed to see the unique station building there.

This station was constructed in 1905, Kensington's third and final station. There is a great history of the station online. The stone on the outside of the station is from New Brunswick, embedded in stucco. They used New Brunswick stone because the PEI sandstone is not durable enough.

The station served passengers from its construction until the end of railway passenger service on the Island on October 25, 1969. The station was designated a National Historic Site in 1978. It was officially closed by CN in 1983 and became the town tourist information centre in 1984. It is currently the home of the Island Stone Pub.

When I visited, MLW RSC-14 CN 1762 and caboose CN 78431 were located a little ways from the station, and looking pretty shabby.

It seemed like kind of a dumb location for them, several hundred feet away from the station. I understand CN 1762 has since been moved up to sit beside the station. I'm not sure if the caboose is there too.


CN 1762 was built as RS-18 CN 3859 in 1960 by the Montreal Locomotive Works company. It was rebuilt as an RSC-14 in 1975 and became CN 1762. It was one of the diesel engines on PEI. It spent a little while sitting in Summerside after its retirement, before being moved to Kensington. There's a great story of the move of 1762 from Summerside to Kensington, over the remaining rails (and even bridging a gap or two).

CN 78431 was originally a Grand Trunk boxcar, 19908, built in December 1911. It Became CN 342608 and was rebuilt into a caboose by the CN Pointe St. Charles shops into CN 78431. It graced the McDonald's in West Royalty, PEI for a short time before being moved to Kensington.

Follow the link for a tremendous amount of interesting PEI railway material.

To finish, here's a photo of CN 1754 (now at the New Brunswick Railway Museum) rolling past Kensington station in 1987, two years before the end of rail operations on PEI.

Port Elgin Bridge

I saw a news article in the Sackville Tribune Post that said the Port Elgin railway bridge is being replaced by a "190-foot through-truss bridge with a 12-foot wide wood deck so it will be suitable for snowmobiles, walking and cycling."

Port Elgin received a railway connection when the New Brunswick and Prince Edward Railway was completed in 1886 to link Sackville with Cape Tormentine. The NB&PEI Railway was absorbed into the Canadian Government Railways, which became CN. The line was abandoned by the end of 1989, coincident with the abandonment of all railways on Prince Edward Island. Port Elgin was on CN's Tormentine Subdivision, at mile 19.9.

The Port Elgin bridge was built in 1917 and was a swing bridge, rotating at its centre to provide passage for boats. I wonder if there any photos of this bridge out there in someone's collection?

Diesels on Prince Edward Island, References

Thanks for reading my recent series on diesel engines on Prince Edward Island. It was a fun series to write and I learned a lot by doing the research. Here is a list of my research materials.

"A Photo History of the Prince Edward Island Railway"; Allan Graham
"CNR Diesels in N.B. & PEI"; Gary W. Ness; CN Lines magazine V10N1.
"CN's GE 70 Tonners"; Wendell Lemon; Branchline magazine September 2008.
"Diesel Study: RS-18"; Leslie Ehrlich, Bill Linley, David Othen; CN Lines magazines V12N4, V13N1, V13N4.
"CN Travels on PEI"; John A. Rushton; Branchline magazine December 2008.
"CN's Dieselization Program"; Tom Patterson; Branchline magazine March 2009.
"Canadian Trackside Guide"; various; Bytown Railway Society.

The first book in particular was invaluable and remains the key reference for anyone interested in Prince Edward Island's railway history. I hope Mr. Graham publishes a second volume, or publishes another edition of his excellent book.

Read the series

NOTE: The information in this blog post series has been collected and expanded upon to make an eBook:
click for more information

Diesels on Prince Edward Island, Part 5

CN 1754 by the Kensington station, May 1987

Previously: 44 tonners, 70 tonners, Fairbanks-Morse units, RSC-13 units.

The last type of diesel engine to work on Prince Edward Island was the MLW RSC-14. They arrived in 1975 or 1976 to replace the MLW RSC-13s. Ironically, part of the RSC-13s kept on working on PEI, as most of the RSC-14 units used the six-axle trucks from retired RSC-13 units.

The 38 RSC-14 units were rebuilt by CN from MLW RS-18 units between June 1975 and June 1976. The rebuild consisted of replacing the 4-axle trucks on the RS-18 with 6-axle trucks from retired RSC-13 (1700 series) and RS-24 units (1800 series), as well as reducing the horsepower from 1800 HP to 1400 HP by limiting the generator output. The RSC-14 units were renumbered from 38xx to the series 1750-1787. They were not repainted as part of the modification, so some of the RSC-14s retained the black 1961 paint scheme with the CN noodle, and some had the zebra stripes.

CN 1753 outside the Charlottetown shops around 1984. Photo by Errol Robertson.

Errol Robertson mentioned the following when he was at Charlottetown taking that photo: "At that time there were also three or four unmodified 4 axle Alcos stored in the shop. I inquired about them and I was told that they were stored serviceable waiting for a buyer and they had come to PEI as part of a regular freight, but not running. As I recall they were numbered 36??. Unfortunately there was never enough light in the shop to get a good photo."

The MLW RSC-14 units served all through the Maritimes. The lower numbered units worked on PEI, and after abandonment of PEI's railway on December 31, 1989 they went to the mainland. The RSC-14s could be seen on branchlines in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and at least one unit (1787) was the standard-gauge switcher at Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. The last RSC-14, CN 1786, was retired in May 1996.

Of the 38 units, four were sold to ACINOC in Cuba, one was sold to ALCAN Jamaica, three were sold to the CB&CNS railway (since scrapped), two remained in Canada, and the rest were scrapped. One of the two Canadian survivors is CN 1762, on display in Kensington PEI, and the other is former CN 1754, which went to the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad in 1994 after their disastrous fire, and still remains there in operable condition.


CN 1750 and 1754 at Borden, PEI, July 4, 1986

Some PEI sightings of RSC-14s:
1976/07: CN 1750, 1751, 1752, 1754, 1755, 1756
1977/12/30: CN 1752
1979/07/31: CN 1753, 1756
1980/07: CN 1756
1982/06/10: CN 1751
1982/06/09: CN 1754
1983/08: CN 1756
1983/08/22: CN 1754, 1755
1984/09/04: CN 1752, 1755
1984/09/05: CN 1750, 1751
1984/09/13: CN 1752, 1753
1984/09/14: CN 1751, 1755
1985/10: CN 1754
1988/09: CN 1750
1989/fall: CN 1757
1989/12/28: CN 1750, 1786 - final day of trains on PEI

It's probably no secret to regular blog readers that I am an Alco/MLW fan, and the RS-18 and RSC-14 are my favourite MLW engines. I think I fell in love with them while riding in the New Brunswick Railway Museum's RSC-14, 1754, and their S-12, 8245. Here's a video I did of 1754 pulling the dinner train back in October 2002, two years before the railroad shut down there. This is in Hillsborough, NB.


Reference material

NOTE: The information in this blog post series has been collected and expanded upon to make an eBook:
click for more information

Diesels on Prince Edward Island, Part 4

Previous: 44 tonners, 70 tonners, Fairbanks-Morse units.

The next type of diesel-electric locomotive to visit PEI was the MLW RSC-13 units. They started working on PEI in 1967, displacing the Fairbanks-Morse units. The RSC-13 was essentially a 1000 HP Alco RS-1 with smaller fuel tanks, a different cab, with A-1-A trucks for use on light branchline track. CN's RSC-13 units were built between 1955 and 1957 and were numbered 1700-1734. They served for about 20 years, before being retired in 1975 and 1976.

Sightings on PEI from various sources:
1968/10/12: 1733, 1732, 1734
1975/04/29: 1732, 1702
1975/04/30: 1732, 1727, 1700, 1730, 1734
1975/05/01: 1727, 1730, 1734, 1732, 1702
1975/10/24: 1719, 1727, 1734

I am told the ugly duckling MLW RSC-24 also served on PEI, although I have not found any photos of them there.

An unusual sighting was CN 8211 in Borden, PEI on July 1969. 8211 was an MLW S-12 and I did not realize they served on PEI at all.

I will wrap up the series next time with the RSC-14s, the last diesels to serve on PEI.

NOTE: The information in this blog post series has been collected and expanded upon to make an eBook:
click for more information

Diesels on Prince Edward Island, Part 3

Previously: 44 tonners, 70 tonners.

This time I'll write about the Fairbanks-Morse diesels.

Fairbanks-Morse was a manufacturing company, started in 1823 with Thaddeus Fairbanks. In the 1890s it started building engines, and it started building railway locomotives in the late 1930s. F-M built locomotives until 1963, and the Canadian licensee the Canadian Locomotive Company continued until 1969.

Three Fairbanks-Morse H12-64 diesels arrived on PEI in 1951, numbered 1615, 1616 and 1617. At some point only two remained on PEI, one for each "main line train" in each direction.

Some sightings I found in various places:
1962/1/26: 1639
1962/6/23: 1616
1962/8/7: 1636, 1639

The H12-64 units were retired between 1957 and 1968. On PEI, they were replaced by the MLW RSC-13 units in 1967.

Side note: RDC D302 was tested on PEI in March 1958 but "it proved unsuitable because of difficulties it encountered crossing the ferry ramp, and negotiating the sharp turns between Borden and Charlottetown".

EDIT: It is unlikely the RDC ever made it to PEI. I understand it was tested at Cape Tormentine in New Brunswick but had issues with ferry loading.

EDIT 2: RDC D302 was indeed tested on PEI in early March 1958 but the tests were not successful.

Next: the RSC-13 units.

NOTE: The information in this blog post series has been collected and expanded upon to make an eBook:
click for more information

Diesels on Prince Edward Island, Part 2

Previously I wrote about the two 44-ton diesels that were the first diesel engines on PEI.

CN tried several 75-ton diesels, a Whitcomb design built by the Canadian Locomotive Company (CLC), in 1948. They proved unsatisfactory and were sent back.

Shortly thereafter CN purchased 18 GE 70-ton units that were to prove much more successful. The engines arrived in 1950. Later that year, the last steam engine, 1149, left PEI on September 23, 1950. The 70-tonners were initially numbered 7800 - 7817. They were renumbered in 1954 to 1526-1543 and again in 1956 to 26-43.

The 70-ton units originally wore the original green and yellow CN switcher paint and evolved over time to the CN black and red paint starting in 1961. I have not seen any photos of the 70-ton units in the "sergeant stripe" livery.

These engines appear to have been the mainstay of the island fleet for about 15 years. There are quite a few photos showing two of them pulling mainline trains on PEI.

At least a few of the 70-tonners lasted into the 1970s before being retired. A few of them went to the Thurso and Nation Valley Railway (TNVR), a logging railway in western Quebec.

Here is a partial list of where the locomotives went.
CN 26: built May 1950, to TNVR for parts April 1970
CN 27: retired April 1969, scrapped in Moncton 1972.
CN 28: built March 1950, wrecked Feb 27 1965, retired April 1965
CN 29: built March 1950, to TNVR as #11 April 1970
CN 30: retired October 1983, to Canadian Railway Museum in 1984
CN 31: built March 1950, retired Dec 1967, scrapped in Moncton 1972
CN 32: retired Nov 1969, scrapped in Moncton 1971
CN 33: to St. Lawrence Iron & Metal #33 in October 1969
CN 34: retired and scrapped in Moncton Sep 1969
CN 35: retired Oct 1983, scrapped in Moncton 1984
CN 36: built May 1950, to TNVR as #12 April 1970
CN 37: wrecked Dec 1963, scrapped in Moncton 1964
CN 38: retired Sep 1969, scrapped in Moncton 1969
CN 39: retired Oct 1968
CN 40: retired Feb 1980, scrapped in Moncton 1984
CN 41: retired Oct 1980, scrapped in Moncton 1984
CN 42: built May 1950, retired December 1967
CN 43: to Acadia Coal #43 in May 1962, now in Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum

Next, the Fairbanks-Morse units.

EDIT: I found an excellent article by Wendell Lemon on the 70 tonners in the September 2008 Branchline magazine. Wendell as usual has a lot of good detail and photos there. Link to PDF

NOTE: The information in this blog post series has been collected and expanded upon to make an eBook:
click for more information

Diesels on Prince Edward Island, Part 1

I was having a good discussion on YouTube about diesels that were on Prince Edward Island, so I thought I would do a few posts on them. I am no expert on PEI railway action but I can summarize from the reference material I have on hand.

The first two diesels on PEI were GE 44-ton units 7751 and 7752, built in 1947. These little pocket rockets had a mighty 400 horsepower. I would imagine they were used for switching, not for main line operation. They had their cab in the center, not on the end like most engines.

CN 7751 became #7550 in December 1950 and then #1 in June 1956. It was sold in February 1966 and became GWWD 103. In 1994 it was transferred to the Port Stanley Terminal Railroad and became #3, where it operates today.

CN 7752 was renumbered to 7551 and then 1501 before becoming CN 2 in June 1956. It was sold to Bowater Mersey Paper in 1965, and went to the Musqudoboit Harbour Railway Museum in Nova Scotia in 1991.

Next: the GE 70-tonners.

NOTE: The information in this blog post series has been collected and expanded upon to make an eBook:
click for more information

CN 1754 on Prince Edward Island

I saw this slide on eBay and I knew I had to have it! It's a lovely scene of CN 1754 leading a local freight past the beautiful Kensington station on Prince Edward Island.

You can see that 1754 is running long hood forward, which was normal operation for the CN RS18s.

Nowadays, CN 1754 is one of the two diesel engines at the New Brunswick Railway Museum in Hillsborough, New Brunswick. Here's my video of it leading the dinner train on October 19, 2002... long hood forward, of course.

It's a shame she hasn't pulled any trains since 2004. Maybe someday.

CN Charlottetown Yard

Here's another photo I won off eBay. This one features CN's Charlottetown yard, especially the turntable. Note the roundhouse to the right and the caboose in the background. The photo was taken in July 1986.

CN 1750 and 1754

Continuing the theme of CN engines now at the New Brunswick Railway Museum, here is a photo of CN 1754 and 1750 from July 4, 1986 in Borden, PEI. These lightweight RSC-14 units were used on branchlines all over the Maritimes. CN 1754 was sent to the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad in 1995, after their disastrous fire of September 1994.