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Caption: REACHING THE SUMMIT - Terra Transport Mixed Extra 945 West reaches Summit on April 20, 1987. At 1550 feet above sea level, it is the highest point of the 547 mile narrow gauge Newfoundland Railway on the entire mainline. With the roof of a cabin barely visible, the heavy snowfall from the winter is still piled several feet high, belying the fact that spring is well underway elsewhere on the Island. The only passengers to travel there that day were the photographer and his then girlfriend (now wife) on their very first trip on a Newfoundland train.This image and it's modern day counterpart can be seen in my first book, RAILS ACROSS THE ROCK - A Then & Now Celebration of The Newfoundland Railway (2013) published by Creative Book Publishing.
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A nice historic image. Thanks for sharing.
You are most welcome Steve! Getting to ride that train was truly in my top ten life experiences. Having missed the opportunity to ride the Bonavista, Argentia and Carbonear branchline mixed trains, I believed that a train ride in Newfoundland was lost forever. Rumours persisted that a mixed train still existed in Central NL but despite several calls to Terra Transport HQ to confirm, they continued to deny its existence. It was not until a friend of mine was assigned a MUN engineering work term that the service was confirmed. With that I eagerly boarded a Roadcruiser (the bus that replaced our ‘Caribou’ in 1969) 300kms to Gambo where my girlfriend and I drove her Pontiac Grand Am a further 200 to Bishops Falls. After boarding the train, I pretty much spent the entire 138 miles leaning out the vestibule, with the blessing of the crew, all the way to Corner Brook! I was so enthralled that I took the time to ride the train a further 4 times before the service ended in September 1988.
Not much tops an open vestibule or open platform. I had a ride on an open platform behind narrow gauge steam in Germany a few years ago on a beautiful summer day. It was the best ride of my life.