+Steve Boyko Thanks Steve. It was quite a job to find the locomotives after they left Sydney earlier than had been expected. I had hoped to get footage in the Sydney Mines and North Sydney area but this section of the line was obviously traversed in the dark.
saltleywsc Absolutely although they perhaps made it look busier than it actually was. See my videos ua-cam.com/video/-4uExB1bA8g/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/mQOzF5_jemE/v-deo.html
In response to Robert Skinner's inquiry that I accidentally deleted: The line from Port Hawkesbury to Truro is still in operation by CBNS and the locomotives will be used there.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful video. It saddens me to watch this, especially growing up spending my summers in Neilban Cove waiting in excitement daily as the then CN and Via trains would be either picking up speed or slowing down for the bridge. I accept the inevitable end of this rail line but as many Cape Bretoners I'm sure feel its just another blow to the clinging hope that something good economically will return to the island so many of us call home. Hopefully something good will come from the rail abandonment that will work for Cape Bretoners and guests of our island for years to come. Thanks to the work of people like yourself we will always have the videos and memories associated with our proud past. Again thank you.
Gamma Boxer Thank you for your kind words. I do try and document the changing times. Unfortunately society's expectations have changed and this has lead to more and more centralization of both industrial and residential activities. So the rural store, the gas station together with the small industrial facility and the associated communities cannot survive and so transportation is cut back - both train and bus.
Gamma Boxer I'm it's sad to see a Railroad destroyed and if they just left it, then they could repair it and give it new life, maybe all of you on the beautiful island that these rails once traversed could band together and stop them from destroying the track, if someone who has the time, experience, and money were to step fourth I bet you the Railroad might have a chance to be saved
Me again mate. I've just watched the consist past Jamesville. Surely, if there's any market for tourist or preservation trains, this has got to be a very marketable possibility if it is otherwise to be closed...just the views around the water and the experience of the Narrows crossing would bring them flocking in most places.
+Geoff Barry Certainly the views are spectacular but there is a small population in Cape Breton and lots of other things for tourists to do. It is not like the UK - remember we have vast distances to cover and less than half of the population. My experience with tourist railroads indicates a) It is a very price sensitive market b) children get bored very quickly 30 to 40 minutes maximum and at 10 mph you don't get very far. In the 1980 there was a tourist steam train from Sydney to Iona and back in the peak of the fall colours and that took all day. The costs of maintaining the infrastructure for a tourist train are enormous and unlike the UK we have very few volunteers - again because of low population density.
So David, what's actually happening. Is the line from Grand Narrows being closed/mothballed/abandoned? Understandable if it is, from a bureaucratic viewpoint (are't thou there Dr Beeching), as it'll save the upkeep and operating costs on the rail bridge...but I don't know enough about Canada's railways to assess the significance of this particular event.
+Geoff Barry As soon as the Nova Scotia Utilities & Review Board approves the line from Sydney to Tupper will be abandoned and probably lifted for scrap. The bridge is a designated Industrial Heritage Site so may be protected but by whom I am not sure - left to disintegrate as an old relic probably. This a provincially regulated short-line within the province of Nova Scotia but owned by an American Railroad - federal government approval for abandonment is not required. The effect is more trucks on the highways and more accidents.
Trains Big and Small I assume that they made it to St Peters Junction and Tupper and AFAIK to Port Hawkesbury but I did not wait for them but started the drive home. I suspect that they decided to drive up the night before from Sydney so they came on duty at Sydney not at Port Hawkesbury but I do not know for sure.
PRR5406 There will be rail operation between Port Hawkesbury on the Strait of Canso and the CN main line at Truro. There almost certainly be no operation over the 120 miles of track between Sydney and St Peters Junction just outside Port Hawkesbury. Genessee & Wyoming, the owners of the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway, want to officially abandon this line but the Nova Scotia Utilities Review Board will have to give them permission to do so.
chris carlson Not enough traffic to pay the costs of maintaining a 120 mile line with one enormous bridge at Grand Narrows and two large trestles. After the steel works in Sydney and the coal mines closed traffic was soon down to about 500 carloads per year. See some of my other videos in the playlist on the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway ua-cam.com/play/PL6Klh4JxvvvUEOSkqzG8JD2JfzQnum8cO.html
It has to be said. RAIL IS DEAD. Freight is confined only to container trains between major cities. The branch lines are being torn up and sold for scrap. Occassionly one will be saved for tourism and it will struggle on but in general rail traffic will continue to decline. Just look at all the empty sidings today compare to 15-20 yrs ago when they were busy. Governments in the developed world seem to be of the same mind Railways are too expensive to maintain and the only remedy is to reduce the size of networks
Everything goes by truck and its only going to be worse as companies buy bigger more powerful trucks and states and provinces up the tonnage and speed limits on the highways.
The last time that the Orangedale whistle will ever blow !!! But thanks to the Rankins and Mr Othen we will always be able to remember it . Nice video
Great video, David (and Pat!) I'm glad you were able to document the last train.
+Steve Boyko Thanks Steve. It was quite a job to find the locomotives after they left Sydney earlier than had been expected. I had hoped to get footage in the Sydney Mines and North Sydney area but this section of the line was obviously traversed in the dark.
I remember chasing these last two down the yard when they came through florence nova scotia
Hi Bernard;
You are most welcome - good to hear from you again. I enjoyed your recent videos too.
Superb video David bit of a historical moment ! what a contrast to the video Alco,s in the highlands!
saltleywsc Absolutely although they perhaps made it look busier than it actually was.
See my videos
ua-cam.com/video/-4uExB1bA8g/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/mQOzF5_jemE/v-deo.html
Very interessting David. Thank you for your nice video.
In response to Robert Skinner's inquiry that I accidentally deleted: The line from Port Hawkesbury to Truro is still in operation by CBNS and the locomotives will be used there.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful video. It saddens me to watch this, especially growing up spending my summers in Neilban Cove waiting in excitement daily as the then CN and Via trains would be either picking up speed or slowing down for the bridge. I accept the inevitable end of this rail line but as many Cape Bretoners I'm sure feel its just another blow to the clinging hope that something good economically will return to the island so many of us call home. Hopefully something good will come from the rail abandonment that will work for Cape Bretoners and guests of our island for years to come. Thanks to the work of people like yourself we will always have the videos and memories associated with our proud past.
Again thank you.
Gamma Boxer Thank you for your kind words. I do try and document the changing times. Unfortunately society's expectations have changed and this has lead to more and more centralization of both industrial and residential activities. So the rural store, the gas station together with the small industrial facility and the associated communities cannot survive and so transportation is cut back - both train and bus.
Gamma Boxer they could make it into a scenic railroad and steam is popular with railfans as well as vintage diesels
Railroad,Preserver,2000 that would be wonderful, I'd love to see that. Once they get ripped up, that's generally it.
Gamma Boxer I'm it's sad to see a Railroad destroyed and if they just left it, then they could repair it and give it new life, maybe all of you on the beautiful island that these rails once traversed could band together and stop them from destroying the track, if someone who has the time, experience, and money were to step fourth I bet you the Railroad might have a chance to be saved
Railroad,Preserver,2000 the general sentiment is to find any reason to keep them, however it's not good looking for their survival.
Me again mate. I've just watched the consist past Jamesville. Surely, if there's any market for tourist or preservation trains, this has got to be a very marketable possibility if it is otherwise to be closed...just the views around the water and the experience of the Narrows crossing would bring them flocking in most places.
+Geoff Barry Certainly the views are spectacular but there is a small population in Cape Breton and lots of other things for tourists to do. It is not like the UK - remember we have vast distances to cover and less than half of the population.
My experience with tourist railroads indicates
a) It is a very price sensitive market
b) children get bored very quickly 30 to 40 minutes maximum and at 10 mph you don't get very far.
In the 1980 there was a tourist steam train from Sydney to Iona and back in the peak of the fall colours and that took all day.
The costs of maintaining the infrastructure for a tourist train are enormous and unlike the UK we have very few volunteers - again because of low population density.
So David, what's actually happening. Is the line from Grand Narrows being closed/mothballed/abandoned? Understandable if it is, from a bureaucratic viewpoint (are't thou there Dr Beeching), as it'll save the upkeep and operating costs on the rail bridge...but I don't know enough about Canada's railways to assess the significance of this particular event.
+Geoff Barry As soon as the Nova Scotia Utilities & Review Board approves the line from Sydney to Tupper will be abandoned and probably lifted for scrap. The bridge is a designated Industrial Heritage Site so may be protected but by whom I am not sure - left to disintegrate as an old relic probably. This a provincially regulated short-line within the province of Nova Scotia but owned by an American Railroad - federal government approval for abandonment is not required. The effect is more trucks on the highways and more accidents.
Did the crew run out of time before they got the units to Port Hawkesbury?
Trains Big and Small I assume that they made it to St Peters Junction and Tupper and AFAIK to Port Hawkesbury but I did not wait for them but started the drive home.
I suspect that they decided to drive up the night before from Sydney so they came on duty at Sydney not at Port Hawkesbury but I do not know for sure.
very nice job!
+mainelinerailvideos© didnt they abandond that?
+mainelinerailvideos© The line is now out of use because GWI has not had it safety inspected. However it cannot be abandoned until GWI receives permission to do so from The Nova Scotia Utilities & Review Board.
David Othen STOP THEM
So there will still be rail operations at this site?
PRR5406 There will be rail operation between Port Hawkesbury on the Strait of Canso and the CN main line at Truro. There almost certainly be no operation over the 120 miles of track between Sydney and St Peters Junction just outside Port Hawkesbury. Genessee & Wyoming, the owners of the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway, want to officially abandon this line but the Nova Scotia Utilities Review Board will have to give them permission to do so.
Is the whole line from port hawkesbury to sydney abandoned?
sinatra lerby Yes but trains still do operate between Truro and St. Peter’s junction.
Halo le Train 🚂 pass à Sherbrooke.
Dragan Asselin oui le train pass à Sherbrooke. C’est les même propriétaires
such a sad video
+chris carlson Unfortunately yes. The end of yet another branch line.
exactly what happened mind i ask
chris carlson
Not enough traffic to pay the costs of maintaining a 120 mile line with one enormous bridge at Grand Narrows and two large trestles.
After the steel works in Sydney and the coal mines closed traffic was soon down to about 500 carloads per year. See some of my other videos in the playlist on the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway ua-cam.com/play/PL6Klh4JxvvvUEOSkqzG8JD2JfzQnum8cO.html
aw thats sucks thats the same with the old ottawa central railway here in ottawa
+chris carlson Same as Gaspé and Vancouver Island
It has to be said. RAIL IS DEAD. Freight is confined only to container trains between major cities. The branch lines are being torn up and sold for scrap. Occassionly one will be saved for tourism and it will struggle on but in general rail traffic will continue to decline. Just look at all the empty sidings today compare to 15-20 yrs ago when they were busy. Governments in the developed world seem to be of the same mind Railways are too expensive to maintain and the only remedy is to reduce the size of networks
Everything goes by truck and its only going to be worse as companies buy bigger more powerful trucks and states and provinces up the tonnage and speed limits on the highways.