A Covid 'Atlantic Bubble' Road Trip (& some Trains too!)

[Dakota 400]

but not the Winter

Celebrated Christmas in Anchorage, Alaska with my family once. I had a good time dressed in a parka and multiple layers of clothing. Beautiful winter scenery and one has not "lived" until you have been driven onto a frozen lake--not realizing where one was--and then, an OMG! moment takes place. Christmas Day temperature was a minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill added. Dressed as I was, I was still COLD!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Celebrated Christmas in Anchorage, Alaska with my family once. I had a good time dressed in a parka and multiple layers of clothing. Beautiful winter scenery and one has not "lived" until you have been driven onto a frozen lake--not realizing where one was--and then, an OMG! moment takes place. Christmas Day temperature was a minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill added. Dressed as I was, I was still COLD!

Coldest I ever was happened in Northern Alberta where it was -40 F with a Wind Chill of -75F!!!!

 

[NS VIA Fan]

There were shelves and shelves of balsa wood, glue, pre-assembled wheels and couplers. Model railroading was then and still is an expression of dreams and fantasies of railroading. But! This car above looks just like one I built so long ago. Could it be that it actually came to life?????


View attachment 18694

Cool!.....Nice Layout!

 

[NS VIA Fan]

Coldest I ever was happened in Northern Alberta where it was -40 F with a Wind Chill of -75F!!!!

I enjoy winter.....but we don't get those extreme cold temps! The old rail trails you're riding your ATV on in summer.....you just switch over to your Skidoo in winter!

I've been to Florida but you're more appt to find me heading off skiing in Maine, New Hampshire, Quebec.....or even Newfoundland. Here's Marble Mountain near Corner Brook.....about 5 miles from that display (above) of the 'Newfie Bullet' equipment. The highway overpass in the photo below is about the location of the old abandoned CNR narrow-gauge right-of-way through the Humber River Valley at Steady Brook.




















And getting to Newfoundland in winter can be interesting on those big ice-breaking ferries! We'll get the overnight crossing on a Friday and be skiing by 11am on Saturday......then back on the Ferry Sun or Mon night and into work the next morning.

 

[Seaboard92]

I have to say that is an amazing report. It makes me want to get on a plane and visit Newfoundland which has never had appeal to me before seeing the pictures of it. Now I know I have to make it there sometime.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I have to say that is an amazing report. It makes me want to get on a plane and visit Newfoundland which has never had appeal to me before seeing the pictures of it. Now I know I have to make it there sometime.

One of the Worlds hidden Gems!

 

[Dakota 400]

It makes me want to get on a plane and visit Newfoundland which has never had appeal to me before seeing the pictures of it.

I visited Newfoundland and Labrador during a cruise and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the tours that I did and the citizens whom I met.

One of the Worlds hidden Gems!

And so close to home and so easy to get to!

 

[Marbleski]

Through the Humber River Gorge near Corner Brook the 4-lane Trans Canada is built on a portion of the old railway right-of-way.









Along the way I was searching out the remnants of CN's narrow-gauge Newfoundland Railway that's now been abandoned for 30 years. There's some equipment 'stuffed and mounted' at several locations including a very nice display at Corner Brook of CN's Caribou....a.k.a 'The Newfie Bullet' with cars you can walk through. (I'll do a separate posting of these car interior photos following this Trip Report) I also did a bit of hiking along the old railbed and across several of the bridges and trestles. It's now the T'Railway Provincial Park.....a multi-use hiking, biking and ATV trail)










] [

NS Via Fan

Thanks for showing me the link to this thread. I mentioned in your other thread in which we have been corresponding that I had a few photos related to this thread that may be of interest. I figured it best to put them on this thread so as not to highjack your "Ocean first Trip" thread. Below is a pic that CN gave my dad upon his early retirement when they closed our railway in 1988. I do not recall the year the photo was taken but the train happens to be going in front our house. Dad passed away three years ago but my mom still lives in the house with the green roof. The photo came like this. The negative was probably very old and well used by the time they printed this photo for dad in 1988 as somehow the roofs came out green. They gave this photo to all the retirees. This photo is taken along Riverside Drive near where the bridge crosses the Humber River to the North Shore of the Bay of Islands. Basically a short walk up the road from the first two pics you presented in the post. We spent our childhood on these tracks, fishing along the river after school and all summer long as well as hiking and picking berries on the mountains along the valley.

 

[Marbleski]

I enjoy winter.....but we don't get those extreme cold temps! The old rail trails you're riding your ATV on in summer.....you just switch over to your Skidoo in winter!

I've been to Florida but you're more appt to find me heading off skiing in Maine, New Hampshire, Quebec.....or even Newfoundland. Here's Marble Mountain near Corner Brook.....about 5 miles from that display (above) of the 'Newfie Bullet' equipment. The highway overpass in the photo below is about the location of the old abandoned CNR narrow-gauge right-of-way through the Humber River Valley at Steady Brook.




















And getting to Newfoundland in winter can be interesting on those big ice-breaking ferries! We'll get the overnight crossing on a Friday and be skiing by 11am on Saturday......then back on the Ferry Sun or Mon night and into work the next morning.

NS Via Fan.

Here are a couple more pics I dug up of the Humber Valley from Marble Mountain. I have pic upon pic over the years but they all have someone in them and most of them are of the boys jumping out the trees LOL. The boys are pretty young here but the view is the same today. My wife's dad is now 87 and he still skis a couple hours most every day. He has the yellow trim on his jacket.

 

[Marbleski]

In the diesel era...the Caribou would have been led by GMD NF110/210s like #931 here:















And here's a typical 'Caribou' consist from the late 1960s


GMD NF210
GMD NF210
Steam Generator Unit
Storage Mail (wood boxcar)
Baggage/Express
Diner (as lounge)
Coach
Coach
Coach
Diner
Sleeper (as Dorm)
Sleeper
Sleeper
Sleeper
Sleeper
Sleeper (Corner Brook set-out/pick-up)
Sleeper (Corner Brook set-out/pick-up)

In the fall of 1968 CN had introduced a new fleet of new Roadcruiser buses and passengers soon abandoned the train for the frequent and faster bus service that now covered the 900 km run in 14 hours vs the 22 hours the train took.

The 'Caribou' was discontinued and and completed it's last run between Port-aux-Basques and St. John's overnight on July2-3, 1969.

Here's the CN Timetable from 1969 showing the last 'Caribou'.....Trains #101-102 along with the new 'Roadcruiser' bus service (#500 series):

NS VIA FAN

Here are two pictures of the snowplow or a similar one you have included in this post. The first picture is an action shot while the second one is a "end of action shot" LOL.

My dad is inside the moving plow and beside the non moving plow. The moving plow was heading west staffed with the Corner Brook to PAB crew. Meanwhile, the derailment image was taken after they hit a massive snow drift on the Gaff Topsails high up in the interior of Newfoundland, just west of Millertown Junction. My dad is on the far left. Both pics are still on the wall at our family home in Corner Brook.

 

[NS VIA Fan]

NS Via Fan.

Here are a couple more pics I dug up of the Humber Valley from Marble Mountain. I have pic upon pic over the years but they all have someone in them and most of them are of the boys jumping out the trees LOL. The boys are pretty young here but the view is the same today. My wife's dad is now 87 and he still skis a couple hours most every day. He has the yellow trim on his jacket.

Thanks for posting the pictures.....I know the area well!

Easy to follow the old CN right-of-way in those views. To bad it's been mostly obliterated with the construction of the divided Trans Canada Highway.