Stunning Drone Video of Salmon River Trestle

François Foulem has produced this video of the impressive Salmon River Trestle - with a train on it! - near New Denmark, New Brunswick. Check it out.

Here's the link if you can't view it as an embedded video.

I featured one of his videos before, of the VIA Rail Ocean near Bathurst.

Check out François' other videos - he's been all over New Brunswick with his drone.

More about CN's impressive Salmon River trestle by reading these posts:

• The bridges of Victoria County
• The Salmon River Trestle in Winter

Salmon River Trestle in Winter

Al in Vancouver sent me a couple of winter photos of CN's Salmon River trestle in New Denmark, near Grand Falls. Here is his description.

My Visit to NB's Most Impressive Railway Site



I grew up in Saint John, Campbellton and Fredericton during the 1960's and 1970's then moved away to the west coast. I thought I knew something about trains in NB but then I discovered Steve's site and have been hooked ever since. One thing that surprised me was the Salmon River trestle - I saw a photo and could not believe it was in NB !!

I return to NB occasionally to visit family in Fredericton, so I have been looking for a chance to go see this structure. Earlier this month, the opportunity arose and I saw it in person for the first time. Let me tell you... photos cannot portray the scale of this trestle! You need to see it in person!

I think the route I took was a good way to experience it... I took Foley Rd. north off Hwy 108 at New Denmark. Less than a km up the hill, just before the railway crossing, is the Valhalla Restaurant. It serves awesome home cooked food and has some historic photos of the New Denmark station circa 1939 as well as CNR 5527 Type Pacific 4-6-2 Hand Fired Passenger Engine that apparently was used on the Moncton - Edmundston run. The restaurant is in an old building which I believe is shown in another old photo with some rolling stock.

Looking south along the tracks I could see an impressive trestle less than a km from the crossing, which at first glance I thought might be the Salmon River trestle.

I continued north along Foley Rd. It wasn't long before I was greeted with my first vista of the (unmistakeable) Salmon River trestle. A picture is worth a thousand words but I have to say you need to see it in person.

I continued down to the right, then left and across the Salmon River at a single lane army bridge, then left again and eventually passed under the trestle. All along the route are nice vistas - this is beautiful country.

If you have never seen this in person, I draw your attention to the size of the telephone poles in the photos.... this gives an idea of the scale. It is deceptive to judge scale by various buildings in the photos as some are huge barns that look like small houses from a distance.

It is a little off the beaten path (Trans Canada Hwy) but well worth the trip. I'd like to return in summer and stay at a bed and breakfast in the area.

My only regret is that I did not spot any trains during my visit. This will be my excuse to go back! I periodically remind Steve to give me a heads up on any Via diversion over the Napadogan sub. I would love to ride over this trestle; adding this to the memories of wigwags in Moncton and Campbellton during the 1960's, my cab ride up the Matapedia Valley in the early 1970's to 8mm movie and my RDC ride into Fredericton station during the early 1980's.

Happy Holidays and all the best for 2009.

Al in Vancouver

PS Steve here - you may wish to read my post Bridges of Victoria County for more information on this and nearby bridges.

PPS I was sent a few older photos of the Salmon River bridge..

The Salmon River bridge under construction

A double header steam train crossing the Salmon River trestle

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