TerraTransport switching at Corner Brook
It's the dreary afternoon of Thursday, May 26, 1988 while three TerraTransport NF210 narrow gauge diesel engines switch the yard at Corner Brook, Newfoundland under overcast skies.
The 936, 938, and 945's combined 3,600 horsepower jockey a combination of containers on flat cars and pulpwood cars on the railroad's three foot six inch (1,067 mm) gauge track.
The pulpwood cars are likely destined to the giant Bowater paper mill nearby in Corner Brook. Easily the town's biggest industry, the mill was undoubtedly also part of the reason this archaic railway lasted as long as it did.
Containerization on this island operation was seen as a way of eliminating some of the inefficiencies inherent to traffic traveling between Newfoundland and the mainland. Prior to the appearance of the containers, a railcar originating on the island would have its lading transferred from narrow gauge box cars onto the ferry at Port-aux-Basques; upon arrival on the mainland after the seven-hour passage across the Cabot Strait to North Sydney, the lading would again have to be transferred – this time onto a standard gauge boxcar – before it could continue by rail to its destination.
The containers eliminated much of this manpower-intensive and hence costly operation. Subsequently, at Port-aux-Basques, each container would be transferred in one operation from a narrow gauge flatcar onto a standard gauge flatcar, and then shoved onto the ferry (which had standard gauge rails) by a standard gauge locomotive at Port-aux-Basques.
The adoption of containers streamlined the movement of freight to and from the mainland. Though TerraTransport's move to containers reduced the cost of the operation, any rail operation on an island is inherently inefficient because any transfer, even a simplified one at port, is less efficient than a line haul from origin to destination. Furthermore, the inherent inefficiency of narrow gauge was evident to this observer: containers on the island were stacked one to a narrow gauge flatcar, while on the mainland the same containers would be packed two-high ("double stacked") on a standard gauge flatcar.
Once highways were improved and extended to all population centers on the island of Newfoundland, the rail operations had little advantage over road transport. Ultimately, time ran out for the railway on Newfoundland. The entire TerraTransport rail operation ended operation in fall 1988, only four months after these pictures were taken. In subsequent years, the rail was torn out. The three NF210 diesels in this picture were sold to a buyer in Chile.
TerraTransport switching at Corner Brook
It's the dreary afternoon of Thursday, May 26, 1988 while three TerraTransport NF210 narrow gauge diesel engines switch the yard at Corner Brook, Newfoundland under overcast skies.
The 936, 938, and 945's combined 3,600 horsepower jockey a combination of containers on flat cars and pulpwood cars on the railroad's three foot six inch (1,067 mm) gauge track.
The pulpwood cars are likely destined to the giant Bowater paper mill nearby in Corner Brook. Easily the town's biggest industry, the mill was undoubtedly also part of the reason this archaic railway lasted as long as it did.
Containerization on this island operation was seen as a way of eliminating some of the inefficiencies inherent to traffic traveling between Newfoundland and the mainland. Prior to the appearance of the containers, a railcar originating on the island would have its lading transferred from narrow gauge box cars onto the ferry at Port-aux-Basques; upon arrival on the mainland after the seven-hour passage across the Cabot Strait to North Sydney, the lading would again have to be transferred – this time onto a standard gauge boxcar – before it could continue by rail to its destination.
The containers eliminated much of this manpower-intensive and hence costly operation. Subsequently, at Port-aux-Basques, each container would be transferred in one operation from a narrow gauge flatcar onto a standard gauge flatcar, and then shoved onto the ferry (which had standard gauge rails) by a standard gauge locomotive at Port-aux-Basques.
The adoption of containers streamlined the movement of freight to and from the mainland. Though TerraTransport's move to containers reduced the cost of the operation, any rail operation on an island is inherently inefficient because any transfer, even a simplified one at port, is less efficient than a line haul from origin to destination. Furthermore, the inherent inefficiency of narrow gauge was evident to this observer: containers on the island were stacked one to a narrow gauge flatcar, while on the mainland the same containers would be packed two-high ("double stacked") on a standard gauge flatcar.
Once highways were improved and extended to all population centers on the island of Newfoundland, the rail operations had little advantage over road transport. Ultimately, time ran out for the railway on Newfoundland. The entire TerraTransport rail operation ended operation in fall 1988, only four months after these pictures were taken. In subsequent years, the rail was torn out. The three NF210 diesels in this picture were sold to a buyer in Chile.