Caption:

Narrow Gauge Time.

The Rock style.

Terra Transport mixed trains #207 and #208 operated St.John's - Argentia every Monday, Wednesday, Friday

And your subsidy operated 207 and 208 while the CNR Marine ferry M V Ambrose Shea (1967 to 1989) arrived / departed Argentia on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – no surprise the passenger counts on 207 & 208 were light.

Completing its turn on the wye, TT #805 & 800 positions #208 (in all CN livery) for departure from Argentia August 8, 1982 Kodachrome by S.Danko

Noteworthy: The importance of Argentia and the railway – to the security of North America is overlooked / forgotten (per Wikipedia):

December 28, 1940: the Newfoundland Commissioner of Public Works conveys Argentia lands to the USA for military purposes.

February 13, 1941: the US flag raised when US Marines occupy Argentia, Newfoundland

July 15, 1941: the new US Naval Operating Base commissioned ( the US Navy extends the CNR Placentia branch to service the base)

August 7, 1941, the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) carrying U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt arrived at an anchorage outside Argentia near Ship Harbour. Roosevelt inspected the base construction progress and did some fishing from Augusta (the largest fishing boat ever?) over the next two days.

August 9, 1941: Augusta was joined by the British warship HMS Prince of Wales carrying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill . While in the Ship Harbour anchorage from August 9–12, the chiefs of staff of Britain and the US met to discuss the war strategies and logistics once the US joined the war.

1942: US Army base and US Air Force base, open and by 1943 up to 10,000 military personal assigned to the bases.

1944: the captured German weather ship, the Externstein, was brought into Argentia by Commodore Rose

1945: Two German submarines ( real U – boats ) captured in Europe stop at Argentia en route to the United States. The U-Boats, sailed on the surface by prize crews, put in for fuel, repairs, provisions, and stores.

1949: Newfoundland (and Labrador ) join the Canadian Confederation

1967: the new Argentia ferry terminal opens, built and operated by the Canadian National Railways and seasonally served by the CN Marine ferry M V Ambrose Shea.

1994: the US Naval Operating Base officially closes (yes, in 1994) – at the time of this 1982 Kodachrome exposure there was no noticeable naval activity – and the lands formally conveyed to the Government of Canada.

More #208

flag stop

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