![Prince Edward Island Railway Engine No](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Prince_Edward_Island_Railway_Engine_No._1.jpg)
The Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR) was a historic
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 ...
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
in
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
(PEI). The railway ran tip-to-tip on the island, from
Tignish
Tignish is a Canadian town located in Prince County, Prince Edward Island.
It is located approximately northwest of the city of Summerside, and northwest of the city of Charlottetown. It has a population of 719. The name "Tignish" is derive ...
in the west to
Elmira in the east, with major spurs serving
Borden-Carleton
Borden-Carleton is a town in Prince County in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. It is situated on the south shore fronting on the Northumberland Strait. The town was originally incorporated as a community on April 12, 1995, through ...
's
train ferry
A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...
dock, the capital in
Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
,
Montague and
Georgetown and the original eastern terminus at
Souris. A major spur from Charlottetown served
Murray Harbour on the south coast.
Construction began in 1871 but costs almost bankrupted the government by the next year, a problem that helped pave PEI's entrance into Confederation. The work was picked up by the
Canadian Government Railways
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 ...
and largely completed by the mid-1880s. The PEIR saw heavy use, especially during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, but like many railways saw declining use through the 1970s. The line officially closed on 31 December 1989 and the rails removed between 1990 and 1992, with the provincial government receiving a one-time payment of $200 million to upgrade the road network in exchange for not opposing the closure.
The provincial government purchased the properties in 1994, and 75 per cent of the route now forms the basis of the
Confederation Trail
Confederation Trail is the name for a 470 kilometre recreational rail trail system in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.
It was developed in the 1990s, following the December 31, 1989, abandonment of all railway lines in the province b ...
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 ...
system. The station in Elmira at the eastern end of the line is now used as the Elmira Railway Museum.
History
Construction
Located wholly within the province of
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...
, construction of the PEIR started in 1871, eventually financed by
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The line was initially built to gauge, under the supervision of Chief Engineer
John Edward Boyd a native of
Saint John, New Brunswick
Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...
who first advocated the use of narrow gauge for the
New Brunswick Railway
The New Brunswick Railway Company Limited (NBR) is currently a Canadian non-operating railway and land holding company headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick that is part of "Irving Transportation Services", a division within the J.D. Irving ...
in the 1860s, and was responsible for the first surveys of the
Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway
The Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway (TG&B) was a railway company which operated in Ontario, Canada in the years immediately following the Canadian Confederation of 1867. It connected two rural counties, Grey County and Bruce County, with the provi ...
and the
Toronto and Nipissing Railway
The Toronto and Nipissing Railway (T&N) was the first public narrow-gauge railway in North America. It chartered in 1868 to build from Toronto to Lake Nipissing in Ontario, Canada, via York, Ontario, and Victoria counties. At Nipissing it would ...
in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. The PEIR was frequently criticized for its meandering path, reputedly caused by construction contractors who were paid by the mile; this may also be accounted for in economies taken by reducing the amount of grading and trenching required by going around hills and obstacles. At one point there was on average one railway station for every of track. The main line connected the northwestern port of
Alberton (later extended to
Tignish
Tignish is a Canadian town located in Prince County, Prince Edward Island.
It is located approximately northwest of the city of Summerside, and northwest of the city of Charlottetown. It has a population of 719. The name "Tignish" is derive ...
) with the
Northumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait (French: ''détroit de Northumberland'') is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western sho ...
ports of
Summerside,
Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
,
Georgetown, and
Souris. By 1872, construction debts threatened to bankrupt the colony.
Confederation
The
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
had consistently encouraged the small colony to enter into
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...
, something which it had been avoiding since playing host to the
Charlottetown Conference
The Charlottetown Conference (Canada's Conference) was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for representatives from colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation. The conference took place between September 1 thro ...
a decade earlier. The railway construction debts pushed the colony into reconsidering Confederation, and following further negotiations, Prince Edward Island became a province of Canada on July 1, 1873.
The understated provision in the ''Prince Edward Island Terms of Union'' reads as follows:
''That the railways under contract and in course of construction for the Government of the Island, shall be the property of Canada;''
Canadian Government Railways
Thus the
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
came to inherit the PEIR in 1874 at the same time as construction was progressing on the
Intercolonial Railway
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely o ...
(IRC), which would link the strategic winter ports of the
Canadian Maritimes with
Central Canada
Central Canada (french: Centre du Canada, sometimes the Central provinces) is a region consisting of Canada's two largest and most populous provinces: Ontario and Quebec. Geographically, they are not at the centre of Canada but instead overlap w ...
. New locomotives were purchased from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and from Canadian manufacturers along with new rail cars.
In 1885, a new line was built connecting the Charlottetown-Summerside main line at
Emerald Junction with another
Northumberland Strait
The Northumberland Strait (French: ''détroit de Northumberland'') is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western sho ...
port at
Cape Traverse. From Cape Traverse,
iceboats would cross the
Abegweit Passage Abegweit Passage is the narrowest part of the Northumberland Strait, comprising the 13-kilometre-wide portion between Cape Traverse, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. Tidal currents in this area can reach up to . This portion ...
to
Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick
Cape Tormentine is a local service district in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is located on the Northumberland Strait at the Abegweit Passage, the shortest crossing between Prince Edward Island and the mainland. It once flourished as a ...
during the winter months.
Another new line was built east from Charlottetown to
Murray Harbour, part of which included building the
Hillsborough River Bridge
The Hillsborough River Bridge is a bridge crossing the Hillsborough River (Prince Edward Island), Hillsborough River estuary between Charlottetown and Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Stratford in Queens County, Prince Edward Island. The current ro ...
, using a former IRC bridge over the
Miramichi River
The Miramichi River is a river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick, Canada. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The name may have been derived from the Montagnais words "Maissimeu Assi" (meaning Mi'km ...
at
Newcastle, New Brunswick. Branches were also constructed at this time off PEIR lines to
Vernon Bridge,
Montague, and
Elmira.
From 1915–1918, PEIR and IRC would come to be known collectively as the
Canadian Government Railways
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 ...
(CGR), although each company would maintain its separate corporate identity and management.
The most revolutionary change to the PEIR occurred in 1915 when a new
icebreaking
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
railcar ferry called ''Prince Edward Island'' was ordered by the federal government, arriving from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
with a capacity of 12 rail cars, however it would not be until 1917 that the port facilities at
Port Borden and Cape Tormentine would be ready to handle the vessel. In the meantime, the ''Prince Edward Island'' continued to operate the service to the port of
Pictou, Nova Scotia
Pictou ( ; Canadian Gaelic: ''Baile Phiogto'') is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km (6 miles) north of the larger town of New Glasg ...
from Georgetown and Charlottetown for the next two years.
The new ferry port at Borden required the Cape Traverse-Emerald Junction line be modified, and a line was constructed to Borden, along with
marshalling yards
A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard ( British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...
and other facilities. The Cape Traverse line would only last a few more years before being abandoned following the move to Borden. Up until this point, the PEIR was a completely captive system, having no need for interchange with mainland
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n railways. Following the start of railcar service in 1917, the lines to Charlottetown and Summerside from Borden were ''
dual-gauged'', capable of handling mainland cars with the standard gauge of and the PEIR's narrow gauge of .
Canadian National Railways
In September 1918, management of CGR (including PEIR) was transferred to the newly
nationalized
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...
Canadian Northern Railway
The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonton.
Mani ...
(CNoR). These companies were assumed by a new
Crown corporation
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
established by the federal government in December 1918, called
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 ...
s (CNR). By 1923 all corporate entities ceased to exist under CNR.
![MusquodoboitRailwayMuseum3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/MusquodoboitRailwayMuseum3.JPG)
Soon after CNR took over, it was decided to standard gauge all narrow gauge trackage on Prince Edward Island. This was completed from Tignish to Charlottetown by 1924, and remaining lines in the east end of the province were completed by 1926 except for the Murray Harbour line which was
standard gauged by September 1930.
The last significant railway construction on Prince Edward Island occurred during the early 1930s when the
Hillsborough River Bridge
The Hillsborough River Bridge is a bridge crossing the Hillsborough River (Prince Edward Island), Hillsborough River estuary between Charlottetown and Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Stratford in Queens County, Prince Edward Island. The current ro ...
carrying the Murray Harbour line over the Hillsborough River was unable to handle the heavier standard gauge cars, thus a connecting track called the ''Short Line'' was built from a point at
Maple Hill Junction on the Mount Stewart Jct.-Georgetown line, to connect with the Murray Harbour track at
Lake Verde Junction. In 1951, the Hillsborough River bridge was deemed too weak to carry even the lightest engines and cars, thus the trackage was removed and trains trying to reach
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
on the opposite side of Charlottetown Harbour would have to run over via Mount Stewart Junction and the ''Short Line''.
CNR was busy on Prince Edward Island during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
when a spur line was built from
St. Eleanors, west of Summerside, to service a new
air force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
base (
CFB Summerside
Canadian Forces Base Summerside (CFB Summerside) was an air force base located in St. Eleanors, Prince Edward Island, Canada, now part of the city of Summerside.
RCAF Station Summerside World War II
The airfield was constructed by the Royal Ca ...
), and the railway was pressed into service to supply a radar base in Tignish, as well as a flight training school in
Mount Pleasant, midway between Summerside and Tignish.
Increased use of diesel locomotives in North America during and after the Second World War saw CNR completely dieselize its operations on Prince Edward Island by the late 1940s as a means to save money on hauling bulk coal to the province. This meant that Prince Edward Island rail lines had
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...
s fully one decade before the rest of Canada saw the last of
steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
, giving the province a prominent place in Canadian railway history as one of the first regional dieselization projects.
Rise of automobiles and trucks
The rising popularity of automobiles travelling on government-funded all-weather highways saw passenger rail traffic decline sharply during the 1950s and into the 1960s. The last passenger train on Prince Edward Island operated in 1968, being replaced by buses thereafter.
CN (name change to Canadian National Railway or acronym CN in 1960) was a major presence in Prince Edward Island's economy, from operating the freight and passenger railway (and later bus) services, to a large fleet of company owned and operated ferries. The ferry system was noteworthy by the fact that it was mandated by Prince Edward Island's "Terms of Union" under the
British North America Act of
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...
, to provide "efficient steamship service." This required the use of
icebreaker
An icebreaker is a special-purpose ship or boat designed to move and navigate through ice-covered waters, and provide safe waterways for other boats and ships. Although the term usually refers to ice-breaking ships, it may also refer to smaller ...
s, some of which were the largest of their kind in the world at one time.
Decline
Trucks
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
soon began to take traffic away from freight operations on Prince Edward Island, particularly as CNR improved the ferry system to accept more road vehicles. By the 1970s, critical
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
cargo such as the
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
harvests were increasingly transferring to trucks with each successive season. As a result, CN increasingly began to avoid investing capital into improving railway infrastructure in the province. In a classic "demarketing" strategy, CN's deteriorating track conditions resulted in further loss of service to trucks.
By the early 1980s CN made it clear the days of its railway operations on Prince Edward Island were numbered, but Island politicians at the provincial and federal level managed to dissuade CN from abandoning. The renewed talk of a
fixed link
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
in 1985–1986, following aborted attempts at building a highway/railway causeway across
Abegweit Passage Abegweit Passage is the narrowest part of the Northumberland Strait, comprising the 13-kilometre-wide portion between Cape Traverse, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. Tidal currents in this area can reach up to . This portion ...
in 1957 and 1965–1969, saw CN accelerate its attempts to withdraw railway service on Prince Edward Island.
Preservation
In 1975 the railway station in Elmira was re-opened to become the Island's first railway museum.
[Friends of Elmira Railway Museum website](_blank)
/ref> The museum is housed in the actual Elmira railway station. The museum originally included two former Canadian National Railway passenger cars: one former wood sided baggage car and a steel railway post office (RPO) car. In the 1990s arson claimed the baggage car. Approximately a decade later, RPO was scrapped having succumbed to age and a lack of preservation activities. The trucks from the baggage car are still on the property. Several railway cars were on display at the provincially operated railway museum at Elmira until the mid-2000s but have since been scrapped due to neglect on the part of the PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation. A ex-CN caboose 78431 was acquired and moved to museum in 2009.
In 1990, a diesel locomotive (class MLW RSC-14 number 1767) donated to Summerside several years earlier, needed to be moved to nearby Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
. Although now abandoned, the railway's tracks were still intact between both locations, except for several grade crossings at local roads where rails had been removed. The locomotive was towed by construction machinery across temporary tracks built over these roads to its new location, where it remains on display as part of a community-operated railway museum. The former Kensington Railway Station was designated a National Historic Site of Canada
National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment
An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...
.
Another railway car is currently undergoing preservation at Borden-Carleton
Borden-Carleton is a town in Prince County in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. It is situated on the south shore fronting on the Northumberland Strait. The town was originally incorporated as a community on April 12, 1995, through ...
. This car is a plywood sided, former CNR, caboose and is located adjacent to a replica railway station. Both can be seen from the Confederation Bridge
The Confederation Bridge (french: Pont de la Confédération) is a box girder bridge carrying the Trans-Canada Highway across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking the province of Prince Edward Island with the province of Ne ...
.
Two former railway tank cars reside beside the railway on the property of Island Construction on the Sherwood Road in Charlottetown. Both tank cars are adjacent to the railway trail can be easily seen and photographed from the trail. These tank cars are 36' long each. During the final years of railway operation on PEI these tank cars could be seen parked in the Borden railway yard and were used to store fuel oil for the ferry boats. Both tank cars are painted a light blue colour (the same paint scheme they featured during their railway service).
Route
The western end of the PEIR starts in Tignish, abutting Church Street which forms the downtown axis. A wye-junction just west of the end serves as a turnaround, running north to Maple Street. The line initially runs west-southwest out of town but soon turns south towards the northern edge of the original western terminus of the line at Alberton. Here the line folds back on itself, leaving town west-northwest almost parallel to the incoming line, an artifact of its later extension. The line originally bent south to run through town to the docks at Northport. The line to Northport was turned into a spur by building a large wye junction at the sharp curve that developed when the extension was added.
The line continues westward, avoiding Cascumpec Bay Cascumpec Bay is within Prince Edward Island in Canada and is adjacent to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
Description
Cascumpec Bay is located where Prince Edward Island's north shore at its northwestern extreme turns northeasterly to become the east s ...
, which extends inland to the west for some distance. This takes the line through Elmsdale and O'Leary
History Ancient
The Uí Laoghaire clan, today associated with the Uibh Laoghaire parish in County Cork, is considered by scholars to have originated in the early Middle Ages on the south-west coast, in the area of Ros Ó gCairbre (Rosscarbery), ...
, where it starts bending back toward the east and south, running through Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
(and forming Wellington Station). Here it turns east to Summerside. Just west of Summerside a wye was built to provide a spur line to service Summerside Airport
Summerside Airport is located north-northwest of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
History
The airport was formerly a military airfield, established in 1940 as RCAF Station Summerside, changing its name to CFB Summerside in 1968. The b ...
, running along the eastern side of the airport.
The line continues eastward out of Summerside to the New Annan area, where several large potato processing factories were built. Today this is the site of major factories for Cavendish Farms
Cavendish Farms is a Canadian food processing company and subsidiary of the J. D. Irving group of companies. Its headquarters are in Dieppe, New Brunswick and potato processing plants in New Annan, Prince Edward Island, Lethbridge, Alberta, and ...
, which runs two dozen factories in this area. The line runs through Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
and then turns south to Emerald Junction, where a wye junction splits off a spur leading southwest to Borden-Carleton, serving the former ferry docks. The line continues east from the junction, running east and south to Royalty Junction, just north of Charlottetown. Here a wye formed a spur serving the downtown area.
The line continues away from Charlottetown running east-northeast to Mount Stewart
Mount Stewart is a 19th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the Iris ...
, where it splits in a wye just west of town. The mainline continues northeast, while a major spur bends south and then southwest for the run to Montague Junction. Here a wye forms a spur running southwest to Montague and southeast and Georgetown. The mainline continues out of Mount Stewart and passes through Morell, and, on the eastern side of town, begins to parallel the northern coast of the island as far as Saint Peter's Bay. Here it leaves the coast and continues eastward to a wye at Harmony Junction, where it originally looped back westward and then south for the short run to Souris. The Harmony wye made the Souris line a spur, with the mainline continuing east to its ultimate end in Elmira. Like the western end, a wye junction and spur just west of Elmira allowed the trains to turn around.
The Murray Harbour Line started at the end of the mainline spur in Charlottetown, crossing the Hillsborough River Bridge
The Hillsborough River Bridge is a bridge crossing the Hillsborough River (Prince Edward Island), Hillsborough River estuary between Charlottetown and Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Stratford in Queens County, Prince Edward Island. The current ro ...
(the original pilings can still be seen) before bending sharply to the northeast through Bunbury. From here it runs roughly eastward to Lake Verde, where a wye provides a spur running south a short distance to a large turning loop at Vernon Bridge. With the closing of the Hillsborough bridge, a second wye was added just to the east of the first, spurring off the Short Line that runs northward to meet the Montague/Georgetown spur just south of Mount Stewart, near Maple Hill. The mainline of the Murray Harbour Line continues eastward a short distance before turning south at Hermitage, and then eastward again when it meets the Belle River on the south coast, running the remaining distance to Murray Harbour. A spur was later added in the Belle River area to Wood Islands. This collection of spurs on the PEIR is the only area that has not been fully converted to rail trail use, with several sections currently undeveloped.
Like many lines of the era, small whistle-stop towns sprang up all along the line, typically where the railway crossed an existing road. These often bear the terms "Junction", "Crossing" or "Station" as part of their names. Many of these exist only as names on a map today, the dwellings long since gone.
Due to its relatively recent abandonment, and especially due to maintenance as part of the rail trail conversion, the route of PEIR remains easily visible in aerial and satellite photos.
Rolling stock
Narrow-Gauge Locomotives
Diesel Locomotives
Railcars
Steven Boyko notes on hi
blog
ref name="boyko
/ref>Side note: RDC D302 was tested on PEI in March 1958 but "it proved unsuitable because of difficulties it encountered crossing the ferry ramp, and negotiating the sharp turns between Borden and Charlottetown".
Ferry service
The following vessels were owned and operated by CNR/CN (1918–1977), CN Marine
CN Marine was a Canadian ferry company headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick.
History
CN Marine was created by parent Canadian National Railway (CN) in 1977 as a means to group the company's ferry operations in eastern Canada into a separate ...
(CN subsidiary, 1977–1986) or by successor Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic Inc. (french: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Marine Atlantic's corporate hea ...
(post-1986) on the Northumberland Strait ferry service:
* ''Prince Edward Island'' (1915–1968)*
* ''Scotia I'' (various times 1901-1955)*
* ''Charlottetown'' (1931–1941)*
* '' Abegweit'' (1947–1982)*
* ''Scotia II'' (various times 1915-1968)*
* ''Confederation'' (1962–1975)
* ''John Hamilton Gray John Hamilton Gray may refer to two 19th-century Canadian politicians:
*John Hamilton Gray (Prince Edward Island politician) (1811–1887), Premier of Prince Edward Island
*John Hamilton Gray (New Brunswick politician)
John Hamilton Gray, (1 ...
'' (1968–1997)*
* ''Lucy Maude Montgomery'' (1969–1973)
* ''Holiday Island
''Holiday Island'' is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for Network Ten. The show aired twice weekly from 1981 to 1982, with the first episode going to air on 17 June 1981.
Series synopsis
Like preceding Crawford ...
'' (1971–1997)
* '' Vacationland'' (1971–1997)
* '' Abegweit'' (1982–1997)*
* denotes combination train ferry
A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...
/ferry
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...
See also
*Canadian Government Railways
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 ...
*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 ...
*Confederation Trail
Confederation Trail is the name for a 470 kilometre recreational rail trail system in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.
It was developed in the 1990s, following the December 31, 1989, abandonment of all railway lines in the province b ...
*Marine Atlantic
Marine Atlantic Inc. (french: Marine Atlantique) is an independent Canadian federal Crown corporation which is mandated to operate ferry services between the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia.
Marine Atlantic's corporate hea ...
References
External links
Elmira Railway Museum
Elmira Museum, Prince Edward Island Museum & Heritage Foundation
Note that NTA was succeeded by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) in 1995.
Confessions of a Train Geek
Steve Boyko's railfanning in Atlantic Canada blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince Edward Island Railway
Defunct Prince Edward Island railways
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Canada
Narrow gauge railways in Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island Railway
The Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR) was a historic Canadian railway in Prince Edward Island (PEI). The railway ran tip-to-tip on the island, from Tignish in the west to Elmira in the east, with major spurs serving Borden-Carleton's train fer ...
Prince Edward Island Railway
The Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR) was a historic Canadian railway in Prince Edward Island (PEI). The railway ran tip-to-tip on the island, from Tignish in the west to Elmira in the east, with major spurs serving Borden-Carleton's train fer ...
Predecessors of the Canadian Government Railways
1871 establishments in Prince Edward Island
1918 disestablishments in Prince Edward Island
Canadian companies established in 1871
Railway companies established in 1871
Railway companies disestablished in 1918
Standard gauge railways in Canada