Several of the NF-210's that were used in track dismantling had these devices fitted. Usually this was done with locos that were to be scrapped. A few however were later sold or went to museum/town displays.

@@RobertValinsky conversion to standard gauge was looked at several times by CN. Just after confederation in 1949 when CN took over the railway and again in the 60's and 70's. While it would've been beneficial to the railways survival, the cost was deemed to high and it was more than laying the rails further apart. The roadbed needed to be widened, rock cuts made wider or removed altogether, several trestles either widened or rebuilt. Big money to do this but it might have kept the railroad running.

The line shown in the video was in central Newfoundland at a place called the Gaff Topsails. The entire main line ran from St. John's on the east coat to Port aux Basque on the west covering 906 miles. It was a narrow gauge line of 3ft 6" . Canadian National took over the railway on Newfoundland in 1949, when Newfoundland joined Canada, and ran it until 1988 when they shut it down.

Probably for the same reason so many other old rail lines were torn up. The scrap value for the rails and whatever else was greater than the cost of removing them. It’s too bad no long sections could have been saved for a tourist railroad. There’s one short stretch (1.6 miles) in Avondale used for speeder rides, and the Trinity Loop was another one but it’s fallen greatly into disrepair.

iirc it was because of the railroad being not as popular as it was in the say, 20s, its sad

@@millythecat7211 Sadly the Nfld Railway had to go and for various reasons. 1) the company had over-extended with too many money-wasting branch lines. 2) When Nfld joined Canada the amount of shipments from the mainland increased so much the lighter narrow gauge rails couldn't take the additional weight. CNR did start to put in heavier rails but then gave up. 3) It took too long to change the bogies to narrow gauge at Port aux Basques to make the railway viable. 4) The gradients on the Nfld railway were much greater than on the mainland so it took too many engines to pull the freight and it didn't make money because of the lighter rails. 5) When CNR took over the railway, the business methodology had to change to mainland safety practices etc. In this day and age, with all the environmental concerns, it's probably too bad the railway wasn't updated and improved--trains carry far more freight than trucks! Last important factor regarding the Nfld railway--they never had an accident during all their years of service!

Now there are no buses since Greyhound went bankrupt in western Canada so everyone has to hitch hike or go buy another expensive old car to and pay more money for gas, unless you want to wait hours to charge an electric in far town before driving back out of the towns

A little birdie tells me that they are planning to restore these rails and run freight on the island again. There were members of this project in CN's Winnipeg campus a few months ago

That's from 1994

“nObOdY cOuLd GiVe A rAt’S aSs AbOuT oNe Of If NoT tHe MoSt ImPoRTaNt AnD iNfLuEnCiAl CrOpS iN tHe EnTiRe WoRlD.”

funny I had that exactl same thought when I watched this.

The genius graphic designer Allen Fleming to thank 🇨🇦

@@halon7476 I was 11 years old and a model train nut when the Noodle came out. I was so obsessed with it I stuck it on every loco I owned

The most we got from CN was several displays of rolling stock at various communities and museums around the island plus the Trinity Loop Railway park which is now sadly closed. In the years since the railway closed a few displays have been scrapped due to vandalism and lack of interest.

​@@shnorth888 I could understand why CN would've reduced service to "as needed" but scrapping the operation entirely was incredibly short sighted, I guess they were desperate to increase their profits to appeal to private investors as the Canadian government looked to privatize the railways.

@@rockguitarist931 True and the service was downgraded to a point where most shippers switched to road transport, although the privatization of CNR was still a few years off. That didn't appear until the 1994 federal budget but by getting rid of money loosing operations like the Newfoundland rail operation and PEI's railway in 1989 plus selling off non rail/transportation assets like CN Hotels and CN Telecommunications put CN in a better financial position for when the idea to privatize appeared several years later.

@@shnorth888 Many rail displays have been destroyed since the closure, breaks my heart. My friend and I volunteered at Avondale for several years and helped get the place noticed. Currently I’m on the board of the Railway Coastal Museum in Water Street, it shouldn’t be a struggle to preserve our heritage but it is. The Trinity Loop still has massive potential, unfortunately the government has been making it extraordinarily difficult to make any progress.

There was an effort by former St. John’s mayor John Murphy to preserve the line from St. John’s to Holyrood, running excursion trains. So many people today say it would have been great, and with how much the area has developed it could have even worked as a commuter train. Seems like CN had everything sold and did everything possible to make sure the railway was erased, purely political.

You said it brother.

Apparently it was looked at just after confederation but wasn't deemed done to the cost. Again in the 70's CN looked into it but the cost and time to do it wasnt worth it. Unfortunately the narrow gauge is what doomed the lines future.

@@shnorth888 had it been standard gauged, would it still exist? What commodities would it carry?

@@wavesnbikes Unknow if the re-gauging would've have extended the railroads life. CN probably wouldn't be running it anymore. selling it to a short line operator more than likely. As for commodities the Newfoundland Railway carried pulpwood and other wood products, newsprint, mining minerals, some oil was also hauled. Also some locally manufactured goods. However most goods were shipped in from Canada or the U.S.

@@shnorth888 The only contender in my mind would be avondale,, but then it be one hell of a task

@@marcleslac2413 Avondale to Whitbourne would make for a fine run.