I heard that one reason that Canadian National pulled out of Newfoundland was that it was the cost effectiveness and time consuming to switch the rail cars from standard guage to narrow. How true is this?
Probably very true. CN used a ferry to get the cars to Nfld where they were retrucked and then sent out. Recent discussions said that it could take at least 30 minutes depending on weather and type of car. I have heard that some were easy to change, some were not. Also led to a pile of excess capital (trucks without cars) hanging around
Wouldn’t it be easier to just change out the wheelsets (journals, axles and wheels) than to remove the entire truck? I believe that at one time I saw a stockpile of narrow gauge wheelsets whose axles were standard but the wheels were offset inward by 1’-2 1/4". Gravity is the only thing that keeps trucks attached to their wheelsets. Simply use a crane to lift the car and set the trucks onto the new wheelsets.
Gauge changing is going to be expensive no matter how it’s done. At any rate, changing the entire truck is probably easier than changing wheelsets only.
Another problem that CN had was that some of the cars that came over on the carferry were not suitable for operation on the narrow gauge due to problems with center of gravity and other issues.
Brakes also factor into it as well so changing axles from standard to narrow while retaining the standard truck would not be an easy thing I would think
Oh yeah…brakes.[X-)]
That is true with standard gage trucks, but gravity is also the only thing that keeps those trucks attached to the car. If you could secure those trucks to the car, lift the car and trucks off of the wheelsets, and drop it onto the narrow gage wheelsets, I guess you would be good to go.
The economics of the labor involved to change gauges or trans-ship cargo from one gauge to another must have rendered those options un-competetive.
The D&RGW line from Durango, CO to Farmington, NM, was orginally constructed standard gauge in 1905. The rest of the line Durango to Antonito, etc) has always been narrow gauge. (New Mexico’s railroads by David F Myrick, pps 130-131).
WHen I lived in Farmington, I talked with some folks familiar with that branch line. I discovered that fruit from the Farmington valley was shipped to Durango via standard gauge, repacked to narrow gauge cars, shipped to Antonito, and repacked back into standard gauge cars. inbound Cargo, primarily drilling equipment for the oilfields, went through the reverse process. According to my uncle, there was not a paved road all the way from Albuquerque to that area even as late as the late 1950’s.
In 1923, the 47 miles from Carbon Junction to Farmington was regauged (in one day, according to my source…) to narrow gauge, so repacking was only required in Antonito.
No wonder the DRGW wanted to abandon it in 1967… by then, the minerals being mined in that area were probably not sufficiently profitable to justify rebuilding it to standard gauge, and labor costs for repacking everything made trucking everything in cheaper, once paved roads became commonplace in that area.
After the RR pulled out of Farmington, there was not much of a market for the local fruit growers, and most of the fruit farms went out of business.
I apologize for drifting off of the subject of swapping wheelsets , but did the Farmington / Durango route follow the path of #170 or #550 ? Or was the ROW paved over to become one of those two highways ? thanks
You can still see some of the old ROW from hiway 550, and at twin crossing (about 2 miles north of hte NM/CO border there is still a water tower along the river. It is called twin crossings because of two bridges that used to be across the Animas River at that point…
Be sure and select satellite view…
You can still see the roadbed in place. South from there, the old ROW follows the highway alignment pretty closely…from there north, I believe it begins to go east to by pass the grade at Bondad hill…
Thank you, sir, for putting me on the right track. I enjoy seeking out ghost railroads via satelite photos and this saves me time wasted on the west route.
re: the water tower ---- really built things to last back then, huh ?
yes…and it doesnt hurt that it is across the river with no real access for vandels. I believe it is owned now by the folks who have the property across the river, they have restored it…not positive about that, however. It has been 4 years since we left there…
I thought they had pretty much gone over to containerization near the end of railroading on Newfoundland. Am I worng? They just stuffed everything into a container and transferred it to a narrow guage flat.
The pictures of narrow guage GM’s pulling solid container trains were always interesting.
I only have vague info but if you want more detailed info, you can try this group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nfld_Rwy
The changing of the trucks or transloading into already equipped NG cars happened until the advent and popularity of the sea container.
The East Broad Top in PA has a truck changing facility at Mt Union for primarily box cars. There was also the equivalent of an ore bridge for transfer of coal from the EBT cars to PRR hoppers. the crane was unique in that the top was enclosed in a building that had no floor so the crane could lift one end of the car. Workers would then walk the proper truck into place for its journey on the EBT or PRR as the case called for.