Newfoundland Steam

On a part business and part pleasure road trip to St. John’s Newfoundland in 2002 (4,500 miles round trip) we found a steam engine and a collection of rolling stock, including a snowplow on a 1950s diesel engine, parked adjacent to the highway near Corner Brook. These were remnants of the Newfoundland Railroad that operated passenger and freight service on a northern looped, narrow gauge railbed around the island between 1881 and 1969, and freight service through 1988. Engine #553, the passenger and freight cars, and the additional equipment near Corner Brook are maintained and preserved by the Railroad Society of Newfoundland. #553 is likely a Baldwin engine built in Philadelphia. Given Newfoundland is an island, the railroad was closely associated with the freight boats and St. John’s Harbour. The center of historic railroad activity on the island appears to be the Railway Coastal Museum - a former train and boat station in the harbour.