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Planning the Newfoundland Railway:
Railway developers were reluctant to include Clarenville along the
proposed mainline route. The developers recommended bypassing
Clarenville and its hills on its way heading west. The people of
Clarenville, though, were very much against this. In the end though,
despite the hills (including the island’s second highest slope along the
mainline), Clarenville won out and would get the railway to pass
through. Perhaps not only the strong support from the people, but the
importance of Clarenville, as a port and service area, led to the
railway arriving in Clarenville.
Mainline Mileage (Local Area)
126.1 – 65th Siding
130.9 – Location of Collision involving Train and Car.
130.7 – Location of a derailment.
131.6 – Clarenville Station
132.8 – Shoal Harbour (Bonavista Branch Junction)
135.8 – Shoal Harbour Sand Pit (Rioux)
136.5 – Stanley Siding - ? Cars
Bonavista Branch Mileage (Local Area)
0.75 – Church Siding – 2 Cars
1.85 – Mills Siding (Cooperage) – 6 Cars
4.00 – Trinity Bricks Products Brickyard
5.50 – George’s Brook
Facts and Figures
- The Bonavista Branch proved to be the most useful of all Newfoundland
Branch lines.
- Rioux (Shoal Harbour Sand Pit) possibly named after Ferndinand Rioux,
Robert Reid’s superintendent, born in Quebec in 1867. He came to the
Newfoundland Railway in 1898.
- A ferry train was setup between Gander and Clarenville to transport
automobiles before a road was constructed between the towns. It was
later shortened to Gambo to Clarenville, as road construction
progressed.
- The railway was also tied to the coastal ships in Newfoundland. The
Ethie was one of the ships that would use Clarenville as one of its
ports.
Timeline
1881 – The railway in Newfoundland officially begins in St. John’s
1889 – General proposed route between Clarenville and Hall’s Bay is
defined.
1891 – Road bed construction reaches Clarenville
May 24, 1892 – William Duff Reid and Manager Noble take members of the
Legislative Council and Members of the House of Assembly on a special
train to the end of the line, at Lower Shoal Harbour River from St.
John’s. The trip took about six hours.
Summer 1893 – Robert Reid builds a 40 mile access road from Shoal
Harbour to Trinity.
1898 – The railway begins operating through Clarenville. Clarenville
becomes one of four division points. The St. John’s Division would run
from St. John’s to Clarenville, the Clarenville Subdivision would run
from Clarenville to Bishop’s Falls, the Bishop’s Falls Subdivision would
run from Bishop’s Falls to Corner Brook, and the Corner Brook
Subdivision would run from Corner Brook to Port-aux-Basques.
November, 1909 – Construction begins on the Bonavista Branch.
March 22nd, 1910 – Legislation is officially passed to extend the
railway by way of branch lines.
November 8th, 1911 – The Bonavista Branch is opened, with its junction
from the mainline established near the mouth of the Shoal Harbour River.
To mark the opening, a special train with a large party including
Governor Ralph Williams, Premier Sir Edward Morris, W.D. Reid and a
seven-member bagpipe band travels the branch line to Bonavista. Around
that time (before or after) the Shoal Harbour Station was constructed.
1937 – The Colas Company Asphalt plant is established in Clarenville.
Photo
Source: Centre for Newfoundland Studies
Archives (Coll - 239, Photos 12, 13, 23), Memorial University of
Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland.
1937 – Gord Tavernor starts his railway career, working at the coal yard
in Clarenville.
1938 – The Colas Company is renamed to Colas (NFLD) Limited.
1938 – Wilson Stanley starts his railway career, working at the coal
yard in Clarenville.
1939 – Railway operations begin at the Colas (NFLD) Limited asphalt
Plant.
1941 – Colas (NFLD) Limited is sold to Flintcote Company (NFLD) Limited.
1944 – A new three stall roundhouse and machine shop is built in
Clarenville.
Station & Yard from hotel - October 1955
Photo Taken By:
Theodore
F. Gleichmann, Sr. ©
1944-47 – The Splinter Fleet is constructed in Clarenville. These 10
ships were built for the government for coastal service but were also
used as minesweepers for World War II. The ships were named Bonne Bay, Codroy, Glenwood, Twillingate, Burin, Exploits, Placentia, Clarenville,
Ferryland and Trepassey.
1949 – Coal piles are replaced by Oil tanks and Pipelines in at the
division points, including Clarenville.
1949 – Canadian National Railways takes over the Newfoundland Railway as
a result of Confederation.
1951 – 54’ Steel Sleeper “311 Clarenville” is built by Canadian Car &
Foundry. In 1970, it was renumbered to Work Car 5012.
August 4th, 1952 – Monroe Greening starts his career with the railway as
a fireman.
1952-53 – Pat Butler works at the Clarenville Station.
1952-54 The US Army (1st Communication Construction Squadron) sets up a
few camps along the mainline (including Camp I at Shoal Harbour Sand
Pit) to assist with the telephone pole wiring along the railway.
Photographed By:
Jerome
Young
Source:
First Communications Construction Squadron Website
1953 – Newfoundland’s fleet of Steam locomotives begin to be replaced by
new diesel Locomotives. The first to arrive were the NF110’s (900-908).
In later years, NF210’s arrived (909-946).
No. 900 diesel - June 1959
Photo Taken By:
Theodore
F. Gleichmann, Sr. ©
1955 – The Newfoundland Government purchases the Flintcote Company (NFLD)
Limited and renames it to the Newfoundland Hardwoods Limited.
1956 – Six G8 Locomotives (800-805) arrive in Newfoundland for use on
the Branch Lines.
1960 – All new diesel locomotives finish arriving.
1965 – The road gap between Gambo and Clarenville is completed and
paved, bringing the end to the ferry train between the towns.
The road from St. Johns ended at Clarenville. The only way to get to
Gander was by train, including your vehicle.
Photo Taken By: Theodore
F. Gleichmann, Sr. ©
1969 – Passenger Service from St. John’s to Port-aux-Basques is
terminated, after the introduction of CN buses.
1971 - The railway first submits an application to the Canadian
Transportation Commission (CTC) to close the Bonavista Branch Line.
Photographed By:
Mr. Richard Taylor 1978
March 30th, 1979 – The railway is restructured and renamed Newfoundland
Transportation Division.
October 16th, 1979 – CN announces the renaming of the Newfoundland
Transportation Division to Terra Transport.
Photographed By:
Steve Hunter
1980 – Train Scheduling: One Train a day in each direction (St. John’s –
Port-aux-Basques), seven days a week. One train a week between
Clarenville and Bonavista. Also that year, another application to close
the Bonavista Branch Lines is submitted, citing continuous annual losses
as the reason.
1982 – The railway shifts towards containerization (intermodal service)
in an attempt to bring profit to the railway.
June 20th, 1984 – The Bonavista Branch is closed.
1986 – The rails are lifted from the abandoned Bonavista Branch.
September 29th, 1988 – The railway is officially closed. The last
revenue train, enroute from Bishop’s Falls to St. John’s stops in
Clarenville for a crew change (Engineer Monroe Greening is replaced with
Jim Penney). After a brief stop and some switching, the train leaves
Clarenville for St. John’s.
October, 1990 – The last train passes over the tracks in Clarenville.
NF210 914 along with a Box Car, Coach and Caboose arrive in Clarenville.
November, 1990 – All rails on the island are removed from the rail bed.
Early 1990’s The trestle crossing Shoal Harbour river, along with the
road bridge, is dismantled, to allow for the smoother flow of river ice
during the spring.
September, 1995 – A private company based out of Nova Scotia purchases
the Newfoundland Hardwoods.
1996 – Sam Adey takes over for Malcolm Ryan as locomotive engineer at
the Newfoundland Hardwoods.
1998 – The Newfoundland Hardwoods at this time are utilizing 2 diesel
locomotives and 16 flat cars on approximately 3 miles of track. – The
only industrial rail operation left remaining on the island. 30-Ton
Plymouth Locomotive #31 and 35-Ton Plymouth Locomotive #32, both built
in 1942 for the U.S. Air Force Base in Argentia.
2000 - The Shriners take control of the station and it gets a facelift.
Also, a small display including a Caboose and a flat car is set up.
2005 - Railway operations at the Newfoundland Hardwoods are terminated.
December, 2005 – The Clarenville Heritage society extends the length of
track and adds a 40’ Flat Car and a Locomotive (formerly used at the
Newfoundland Hardwoods) to the display. Please
visit page two (Use Page 2 link below) of this section to see more of
the work that The Heritage Society is doing to keep the railway history
alive.
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