Potomac Chapter membership includes individuals interested in many aspects of railroading including historical and current operations; steam, diesel, and electric power; historical research; riding trains; rail photography both still and video; historical preservation; railroad stations and structures; and model railroading that spans various gauges. Our monthly meetings in Rockville, Maryland, feature programs on rail topics of current or historical interest. Programs feature a guest speaker or presenter and include an audio/visual component of railroad slides, digital photos, video, or movies. We’re very proud of our monthly newsletter, Potomac Rail News. We contribute to local railroad-related preservation efforts and our annual Chapter activities include a banquet, a picnic, and occasional field trips. The Chapter was founded in 1970 and visitors are always welcome.
What a fantastic video of the Newfoundland Railways of the past, something Canadians growing-up in the 60s and 70s never heard about. I was not aware of the Newfie Bullet nor the Narrow Gauge railway even existed. I'm curious to know whatever happened to all of the CN narrow gauge rolling-stock. Does the US Air Force Base still exist in Newfoundland?
No, Harman AFB hasn’t existed at least since the end of the Cold War. Some buildings still there, barracks, base HQ, hangars, etc., abandoned or repurposed. Stephenville (the town adjacent) airport used some of the paved bits and was still there last I checked. Search Harman AFB on RU-vid or Google. Some former US airmen present pictures and recollections therein. In the 1990’s when last I lived in NFLD there were air shows at Stephenville featuring CDN and American civilian and military planes. There was still a big globe and F106 “jet-sickle” in front of the HQ bldg , maybe still there. Always impressed me, the post-war global American military presence, ready to take on “Ivan “ in all corners if “the balloon went up”.
Been there done that . I remember the train getting stuck on a steep hill between Cornerbrook and Steadybrook on a regular basis. I was on the passenger train's final trip before it shut down . It still ran freight for a couple of more years .
Boy...that takes me back...I loved the trains growing up in Newfoundland and loved it even more when I learned about the people who worked on the railway. They were the very best. Thank you for your presentation! It's beautiful.
Some great photos in the video. A couple of clarifications. The end cab locomotives you identified as G8's are actually the NF-110 (900 - 908) and NF-210 (909 - 946). The G8 model was slightly smaller with a short hood behind the cab. The G8's were numbered 800 - 805. These were mainly used on the branchlines due to being lighter than the 900 classes. Also the photo of the ferry with the strapped down letter "A" would've been the ships name and not CN Marine. This was either the "Marine Atlantica" or sister "Marine Nautica". This would be a light up sign with the ships name on it that lit up at night. These were under a long term bare boat charter to CN from Stena Line. Its possible the "A" got damaged in a storm and was strapped from falling off completely.
Some track still in place in St.John's at the Dockyard, Avondale, Carbonear, Clarenville, Bonavista, Clarkes beach, Bishops falls, Humbermouth, Port-aux-basque, most short lengths of track has rolling stock stored as museums. Of note, Avondale and Clarenville still have active rail in terms of Heritage society tourism runs. Avondale has about 3km of track in use, Clarenville has roughly 1km of track in use. These are no means commercial.
Though from Ontario I totally 'despise' CN to this very day for what they did to Newfoundland and closer to me in the Algoma Central Railway, I will never be a fan of this Quebec based criminal enterprise...that's a FACT!
A company in New Zealand makes models of the G8s. The 900s(nf-110 and 210) are usually kitbashed. S-gauge equipment used on HO track is supposed to mimic 42'.
@@skeezix91Ha, your comment beat me to it! HO track would be approximately S-scale 42-inch gauge. Just gonna say There’s an article in a 1990’s Canadian Railway Modeller, in which the author describes scratch building an s-scale CN/TT GMD NF 110 or -210 shell on an HO athearn drive. Correct me please.
Hopefully anyone that is interested in the Newfoundland railway system sees this. Very good documentation. The Trinity Train Loop was turned into an amusement park with a train ride but shutdown in 2004.
At 41:49, we see the mountain close to Gaff Topsail. At that barren location in the middle of nowhere, a gentleman was paid for decades to go there and call if weather conditions were good enough to let a train pass in winter. Very high wind and deep snowfall have trapped trains there more than once. It´s too bad i´ve never been on the island while train was still running. Too young. As long as it was a government railway it could survived, but everything was old. 30 years old locomotives in salty climate, harsh winters.... Too bad there was quite interesting pieces of equipment down there. The Newfie Bullet finally hits its bullet. Thanks for the document, and forty years old inhabitants have never seen a train in their life, just lissened old tales...
The man you're speaking of is Lauchie MacDougall from Wreckhouse which is in the wind warning area near Port aux Basques. Lauchie could sense when a high wind was on the way and was hired by the railway to inform them. On one or two occasions, CN cleared trains to go regardless of Lauchie calling because it was a beautiful day in Corner Brook or Port aux Basques. They ended up on their side when the train got to Wreckhouse due to the wind, obviously. Lauchie passed away in 1965 but his wife carried it on until 1972. The Gaff Topsails aka "the Hill" was a place between Howley and Millertown Jct. The most problematic spot on the railway due to snow drifts up over 10 feet high and still having snow as late as May. Three hills are the Topsails, there's fore, main and mizzen Topsail to refer to a ship. The ball shaped hill is main, the one to the right of it is fore.
Thanks a lot for upgrading my memory. It was exactly about that gentleman i was thinking. I´ve never been there, but if winter was really harsh for the railroad, even more for their employees , i understand the run took too much time. Not sure if truck winter driving is faster. And since road is parallel to the railway, if train get stuck, on the road it should have been worst. I had great pleasure following most of the tracks via Google Earth. Some stations became museum with a locomotive, caboose etc.... but the main problem is close to the coast with salty air and never moving equipment. They´ll rust so fast. East of Bathurst NB when track to Caraquet and Shippagan was removed, they left a caboose, 2 or 3 boxcars and a 1919 old clerestory roof coach. That poor car rotten so fast...and everything was scrapped. Too bad there is just few hundred feet of track here and there. Nothing will ever move again, except for scrap. The longest part like they said in the document was where the train track passed over itself. An amusement park was created with some passengers cars, caboose and speeder ride was done. Then bad weather, some washouts and park closed. Equipment being vandalised, and so close the last alive part of Newfounland railway. Accounting management saw old tiny rails, 30 years old specific locomotives that had ultimately to be replaced, too much manpower and stations on old rules with declining trafic. Closure was just ahead. Not to mention labor and time for swapping trucks and ship navigation. So why they went to Terra is a good question. Did they really try ? I´ve some doubt. Probably more a marketing political gimmick.... Well one of their locomotive ended up on the continent. 805 and some cars are preserved at Exporail, in St Constant QC south of Montréal on a small lenght of track. Don´t know if those "preserved" are complete or just empty hood ? Neighbor on PEI island with sneaky track fell also. 2 provinces without train service.
Love you're photos this is MRL/ man in west valley city Utah. I miss the MRL I wish that the employee,s had the opportunity to buy it . And keep it going with blue engine,s From Neil schwerdt 😊
great video ! and fantastic photo quality. Love that you have so much of the trains and their surroundings and not only the engines. To me , running the friendly road in n scale, this is gold and very inspiring indeed. Thank you Sir !
I'm in Butler Pennsylvania. Terrace apartments overlooking the tracks. We get many. Average 90 cars. Two locos in front. Two locamotives in the back. 90..92 cars in between. Coal. Petrol. Steel. 6...7 times a day. Sometimes more. Out my high rise window and over the creek they go. Several tracks. Pullman company around the corner. Closed now of course. Bantam Jeep was invented around here too. So every day I sit by my window and enjoy the trains. I'll probably take some more pictures soon. Took the Erie Lackawanna to hs in the 1970's. Short Hills to Madison. The old green cars and rattan seats. Once you get the train bug it never leaves. Summit New Jersey station was cool. Then a train into the city. After 911 My friend Rabi Horn helped the people disembark off the trains in Summit coming in from Manhattan. So those are my best train stories. My window is open now. It's 5am. And I'll here that train horn soon. A few months ago some one walked across the tracks and died. Right out my window. Anyway nice video.
thanks for a great video ! it was so inspiring to see the area and the trains that this little railroad served. especially to me running the Erie Lackawanna RR in n scale , late 1960 to 1970 s in New Jersey, N Y and Pennsylvania. Having seen photos of freight trains pulled by Susquehanna engines over Erie Lackawanna Starucca viaduct i had to seek more information, and your slideshow was gold ! I subscribed , keep up the good work !
This was a very well put together video but I’ve got to say that the Western Maryland in my opinion was an extremely handsome railroad with it’s speed lettering and circus colors and the scene at the 8:19 mark was especially outstanding in the snow. Excellent work. Thank you for sharing. 👍👍👍
Thanks for this video, Tom. I'm one of those modelers who goes crazy for infrastructure photos. Presently (Feb 2024) I am designing a WWII era Susquehanna layout.
Regarding the Skyline cars on VIA Rail, they use one on the 'Hudson Bay' train to Churchill MB. As well as using the dome on the car, the car provides the food service on that train. Regarding the icicle breakers on the CP F-units, they were installed on the units when new to protect the dome car windows. This was in 1955, long before multi-level automobile carriers were used. Later on, boxcars with special extensions were used to protect the freight trains. Regarding the 2 Fairbanks Morse (CLC) H16-44 units on the passenger trains, these units were 'dual service' units equipped with steam boilers for use on passenger trains if necessary. The beaver shield on the nose indicates that these are used on passenger trains sometimes. These are the same beaver shields as on the nose of the F-units. CP had dual service GMD GP9's, MLW RS-10's, and CLC H16-44's all equipped with steam generators. Also, they had some GMD FP7's, MLW FPA-2's and CLC CPA16-44's with steam generators, but with freight unit gearing. Paul Smith
THANK U for this video !!!! I "was" an IC brakeman back in 1968 out of Palestine, IL. We could go either way out of Palestine..to Indianapolis or to Effingham and get on "the Main" and head South to the Bluford Cutoff. However, since your video is about the passenger side of IC, it reminds me of a story I remember in Trains Magazine about David P. Morgan (the Editor) stating that "Burlington's #21 was the fastest passenger train in the Country". He was sent 2 tickets and an invitation to ride any IC passenger train out of Chicago to anywhere South but specifically to New Orleans if he wanted. Morgan was told he had to ride in the cab !!!!!! Later he wrote another article in Trains stating that he had been WRONG about Burlington's #21. He had ridden either The City of New Orleans or the Panama Limited (I don't remember which) from Chicago to New Orleans...in the cab. He stated that going thru Homewood , IL the speedometer hit 105 mph !!!! He admitted he had been wrong !!!
The sequence beginning at 9:30 and running to 15:18 are from the Buffalo Creek and Gauley and the Elk River Coal & Lumber logging railroad. The first coal train being pulled tender first by BC&G Consolidation is arriving at Dundon (and the B&O interchange),. It came from the Rich Run Mine at WIden, 18 miles away. The engine was turned on a wye about 3 miles from Dundon so arrived tender first and ready for the run back to Widen the next day. These hoppers will be set on the B&O interchange track about 2 miles from where this footage was taken. The Shay is ex- Elk River Coal & Lumber #19 (now owned by Georgia Pacific). The engine is pulling one of the line's two logging cabooses back and fourth at the sawmill at Swandale. The engine was for sale at this point and the footage was made at one of the lines railfan days. For more info on the BC&G and ERC&L visit www.buffalocreekandgauley.com.
Thank you for the video I remember my dad taking me to see the Bicentennial Train when I was 6 or 7 years old also took me to see the freedom train if I remember correctly. Is there anyway would sell photos
I lived in Glen Rock frpom 1950-'65. I had aq friend in pompton lakes. His house was near the NYS & W tracks. i remember an SW1 going by with one car. The wistle was sporadic in sound. I can remember the sound still. Great story, Thank You.
My father was a signal maintainer for the reading railroad same name as me! From 47'-82' briefly went with Conrail. Stationed out of race street tower. Enjoyed your video!
Thank you for a wonderful video. Will watch again and again. I know I hit you with many comments. I don't claim to be a wizard, but history of sr722 was in the brochure I have from my first excursion ride in 1971. Other comments I gave are found in the book Rails Through Dixie by Johnny Krause and H. Reid. Thank you again.
Vbr caboose is ex southern railway and contemporary with srr cabooses at that time. Plant in background at start of vbr footage is American Cyanamid at piney river,va.
630 &722 were originally southern railway locomotives that were sold to et&wnc. Later after 4501 had initial success as an excursion loco the southern railway traded 2 diesel switchers for those 2 et&wnc consolidations and brought them back to srr for excursion service.
I remember NKP 759 being used on trips back around 1970. I have a photo of it at the Washington Blvd. crossing in Baltimore. I was also at Port Covington one day when it pulled in to tie down. Miss the WM's presence in Baltimore. The only WM steam powered fan trip I rode was with Reading 2102 back in February 1972, running from Baltimore to Hagerstown. Lots of memories for me in your slides and narration.
