The Newfoundland T'Railway Provincial Park is a

rail trail A rail trail or railway walk is a shared-use path on a Right of way#Rail right of way, 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 rail corr ...

located in the

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

province of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

. 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 was a narrow-gauge railway that operated on the island of Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland from 1898 to 1988. With a total track length of , it was the longest narrow-gauge system in North America. History Early con ...

, later renamed Terra Transport as transferred from its most recent owner,

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

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

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

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 Newf ...

in the west to St. John's in the east with branches to Stephenville, Lewisporte, Bonavista, Placentia and Carbonear. The Newfoundland T'Railway forms part of the

Trans Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the Arctic Ocean, Arctic oceans. The trail extends over ; it is now the longe ...

system and covers a distance of , making it the longest rail trail in Canada.

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 () is the Ministry (government department), department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, Policy, policies and Public services, services of road, rail, marine and air Transport in Canada, tra ...

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 re ...

, the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is 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. Role of ...

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 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 is the material which forms the trackbed upon which railroad ties (UK: sleepers) are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to bear the compression load of the railroad ties, rails, and rolling stock; ...

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: 19,316 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 Labrado ...

. A gap exists in the

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

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 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, which carries the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, 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 A ...

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 neighbourhood of Corner Brook to

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 d ...

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 neighbourhood of the town of

Clarenville Clarenville is a town on the east coast of Newfoundland (island), 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 Atlant ...

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 in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The town is commonly called CBS. The town is located on the Avalon Peninsula which forms part of the southern shore of Conception Bay which is in turn part of ...

as well as on the Carbonear branch.

References

External links

The Newfoundland T'Railway CouncilMap

History

Missing sections

See also

References

External links

Further reading