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Caption: The engineer of NF210 # 919 opens the throttle of Terra Transport Extra 919 West at the Symes Bridge grade crossing in St. John's just before sunset on the evening of July 7, 1988. Built in 1956 by GMD of London, ON, this unit was one of an order of 26 diesels delivered from Montreal to St. John's on the MV Christian Smith to forever banish the Mikado and Pacific steam engines still operating on the narrow gauge line. With less than three full months of operation remaining, the sights and sounds of trains running through the scenic Waterford Valley would end for good on September 30 and the former Newfoundland Railway would be nothing more than a memory.
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Sept. 30th. What a dark, dark day that would have been.
Excellent work Kenneth. I wish this line still operated.
Thank you Gentlemen! We here in Newfoundland still wish the same thing, especilly with so much truck traffic on our highways. At the very least, a tourist operation from St. John’s that would follow the shoreline to Holyrood or Avondale. What an attraction it would be to ride on a narrow gauge line with 1940′s era passsenger equipment on the most easterly railway in all of North America!
The Waterford Valley in St. John’s, one of my favorite locations on CN’s Newfoundland railway. Saw a few trains go through here in the 80′s.