Our first adventure in search of Newfoundland railway history found us in Carbonnear, an outport on the north central coast of Newfoundland.   The railway did not reach this outport until 1898.

I rushed into the railway station without reading the sign out front, bought my way in and then discovered it was really a community history museum and not a railway museum.  The Carbonnear Railway Station is a one story rectangular wooden building with a cottage roof. It exemplifies the kind of railway station used through Newfoundland during the 100 years the railway operated in Newfoundland.  I quickly toured the museum (which was quite interesting) and then explored the park outside.

In the park, the tracks of a small yard remained and one lonely forlorn diesel sat outside, number 803.  It is a G8 built by General Motors Deiesel (GMD), one of 6 acquired in 1956. It is painted in CN colours as CN owned and operated the Newfoundland railway from Confederation in 1949 to 1988.

Unfortunately no one seems to be devoted to maintaining the engine and it was in sad shape as you can see below. Much of what could be removed had been and it was rusting badly, likely because it can’t be more than 100 feet from the sea.

For more information about the railway station and the railway in the Carbonnear area, click here.

Click here to read Part 3 of this News posting.

Posting and photos by Russ Milland

Click on each image for a closer look!