The Newfoundland T'Railway Provincial Park is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

located in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Protected as a linear park under the provincial park system, the Newfoundland T'Railway consists of the railbed of the historic

Newfoundland Railway The Newfoundland Railway operated on the island of Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow-gauge railway system in North America. Early construction ] In 1880, a committee of the Newfoundland Leg ...

, later renamed

Terra Transport Terra Transport (TT) was the name for the ''Newfoundland Transportation Division'', a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian National Railway (CN), created in 1979 as a means to organize the company's operations on Newfoundland. Background Canadia ...

as transferred from its most recent owner,

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CN), to the provincial government after rail service was abandoned on the island of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in 1988. The rail corridor stretches from

Channel-Port aux Basques Channel-Port aux Basques is a town at the extreme southwestern tip of Newfoundland fronting on the western end of the Cabot Strait. A Marine Atlantic ferry terminal is located in the town which is the primary entry point onto the island of Newfo ...

in the west to St. John's in the east with branches to Stephenville,

Lewisporte Lewisporte is a town in central Newfoundland, Canada, with a population of 3,288. It is situated in Burnt Bay which opens on to the Bay of Exploits. Lewisporte has a deep water port and related facilities that serve many communities in the r ...

, Bonavista, Placentia and

Carbonear Carbonear is a town on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It overlooks the west side of Conception Bay and had a history long tied to fishing and shipbuilding. Since the late 20th century, its economy has changed to emphasi ...

. The Newfoundland T'Railway forms part of the

Trans Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail, officially named The Great Trail between September 2016 and June 2021, is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the A ...

system and covers a distance of .

History

Construction of the railway began in 1881. The first passenger train traveled from St. John's to Channel-Port aux Basques on June 29, 1898. The railway was abandoned in September 1988 and the last rails removed in 1990, whereby the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador acquired the property from CN. The Newfoundland T'Railway was established in July 1997 as a rail trail. This linear park uses both the railbed and bridges. In February 2008, the provincial government announced that they were closing every bridge and trestle along the route pending safety inspections. Government officials admitted that regular inspections are not performed on the structures.

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

inspected 14 structures and found them to be in a wide state of disrepair. In some cases debris is starting to fall off bridges. The Federal government got involved due to its responsibility to ensure the safety of navigable waters. By 2010 all 130 bridges had been upgraded under a $3 million program funded by the federal government's

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective regi ...

, the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador refers to the provincial government of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was established by the Newfoundland Act and its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. Lie ...

and the Trans Canada Trail Foundation. Sections of the Newfoundland T'Railway in the Clarenville-Bonavista area were washed out on September 21, 2010 due to heavy rain resulting from

Hurricane Igor Hurricane Igor was a very large Cape Verde hurricane and the most destructive tropical cyclone on record to strike the Canadian island of Newfoundland. It originated from a broad area of low pressure that moved off the western coast of Africa on ...

with subsequent repairs taking several years to complete. Sections in the Gander-Clarenville area were washed out on October 10, 2016 due to heavy rain with repairs lasting into summer 2017. The trail is still a work in progress. To date, about 20% of it has been resurfaced with crusher dust or asphalt (mostly near urban areas) making it suitable for walking, running, cross-country skiing, cycling, wheelchairs, horseback riding, all terrain vehicles, and snowmobiles. The remaining 80% of the trail surface is still large crushed stone railway

track ballast Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties (sleepers) are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to bear the load from the railroad ties, to facilitate drainage of water, and also to keep down vegetat ...

with conditions varying from region to region. Several bridges and culverts are usually undergoing repair or replacement every year. Trail signs have been posted in most urban areas. In 2020, a 20-kilometre stretch near Maccles Lake was approved for temporary use by heavy forestry harvesting equipment.

Missing sections

When CN abandoned the rail system on Newfoundland in September 1988, the main line was contiguous between St. John's in the east and Channel-Port aux Basques in the west and most branches were contiguous from their junction points with the main line to their respective termini. However, the Newfoundland T'Railway is not a contiguous system due to land use changes that have impacted several locations along the former rail corridor. ;Corner Brook The majority of the Newfoundland T'Railway is missing within the city of

Corner Brook Corner Brook ( 2021 population: 19,333 CA 29,762) is a city located on the west coast of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Corner Brook is the fifth largest settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

. A gap exists in the

Curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

neighbourhood between Hilliards Road in the west and Barretts Road in the east. This gap is partly due to a culvert washout, as well as appropriation of the rail corridor for public streets, including a section of Griffin Drive, Barry Place and Star Street. A gap exists in the Westside neighbourhood between Leggos Avenue through to the east end of St Aldens Road, partly due to appropriation of the rail corridor for public streets and partly due to non-development of the rail corridor into a trail which has resulted in it being impassable. A gap exists in the city's downtown and Humbermouth neighbourhoods, between Pier Road in the west through to Humber Road in the east. This is partly due to non-development of the rail corridor as it passes the pulp mill and Port of Corner Brook, as well as appropriation of the rail corridor for public streets, including a section of Riverside Drive. The port property largely occupies the former

railway yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for kee ...

and the trail is non-existent in this area. ;Corner Brook to Pasadena The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador received an $800 million settlement from the federal government to allow abandonment of the railway in 1988. This funding was delivered through several programs, one of which was named the ''Trans-Canada Highway Program'' and was intended solely for upgrading

Newfoundland and Labrador Route 1 Route 1 is a highway in the Canada province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the easternmost stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. Route 1 is the primary east–west road on the island of Newfoundland. The eastern terminus of Route 1 is St. ...

, which carries the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway ( French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean o ...

designation on the island of Newfoundland. During the mid-1990s before the establishment of the Newfoundland T'Railway, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador used some of the funding from the ''Trans-Canada Highway Program'' to upgrade Route 1 between

and Deer Lake from 2-lanes to 4-lanes. A section of the abandoned rail corridor between the Humbermouth nighbourhood of Corner Brook to

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

was removed in order to accommodate the highway expansion and realignment. This occurred in the narrow Humber River valley as well as along the southwest shore of Deer Lake. Some sections of the former rail corridor were also appropriated for public roads to access residential subdivisions. These developments have resulted in a gap on the Newfoundland T'Railway of approximately between Humber Road in the west through to the end of Tipping Drive in the east. ;Gander A section of the rail corridor within the town of Gander has been appropriated for a retail development, however, the town has built a bypass for the trail around this property, keeping the contiguity of the trail intact through the town. ;Clarenville A section of the main line in the

Shoal Harbour Shoal Harbour is a small community in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, linked to and under the same Municipality of Clarenville, Newfoundland and Labrador, Clarenville. See also

* List of communities in Newfoundland and Labrador Forme ...

neighbourhood of the town of

Clarenville Clarenville is a town on the east coast of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Clarenville was incorporated in 1951. It is located in the Shoal Harbour valley, fronting an arm of the Atlantic Ocean called Random ...

has been realigned due to construction of Shoal Harbour Drive. This road has also resulted in a gap of of the Bonavista branch between Thistle Place and Huntley Drive. Additional gaps exist on the main line in

Conception Bay South Conception Bay South is a town located on the southern shore of Conception Bay on the Avalon Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is commonly called C.B.S. Conception Bay South is the ...

as well as on the

branch.

References

External links

The Newfoundland T'Railway CouncilMap

History

Missing sections

See also

References

External links

Further reading