Does anyone have any information on the Dunsmir Lmtd. Railway. This company served coal mines on Vancouver Island (Canada) and crossed the main lines of Comox Logging Railway and the Esquimault & Namino Railway (also logging company). This is the extent of my knowledge. I am starting my first layout and would like to model this Railroad
I picked up a book off eBay called “Vancouver Island Railroads” by Robert D. Turner and published by Sono Nis Press, just because it looked interesting. It’s a very nice book with over 180 pages and a good mix of text and photographs. It has a chapter on the mining railroads on the island. I haven’t read the book yet but it seems to have quite a bit about the Dunsmuir family’s involvement with the mining railroads there, plus several line maps. You might want to see if you can find a copy.
I just picked up a book called “logging by rail: the BC story” its all about the logging industry on Victoria island. I dont know if this is quite what you are looking for. It is very informative but not sure if that is what you are looking for.
I just picked up a book called “logging by rail: the BC story” its all about the logging industry on Victoria island. I dont know if this is quite what you are looking for. It is very informative but not sure if that is what you are looking for. Renagade1c I have this book too. It is about logging railroads, not coal haulers, they only mention the Dunsmir Lmtd. on the map of the Comox Logging Co. on Pg. 31
Do you have some specific questions? I’ll try to help.
My biggest question is, What kind of locomotives were used by the Dunsmir Lmtd? Also I would like to know wether there were other buisinesses served by it, and wether they had interchanges with other railroads?
When horse-drawn carriages became too costly and slow, the company switched to a 2’6" gauge tramway between the mines and Departure Bay in Nanaimo. Timbers capped with ribbon steel were used as rails. It used gravity to hoist the “empties” up the 5.5% grade from the dockyard, with the cable controlling the descent of the heavier filled trams.
Dunsmuir’s partner, Lt(N). Diggle of the RN, ordered the first locomotives in 1874. They had been used as traction engines for the Admiralty, so Diggle had an “in” to get decent engines. Later, when capacity demanded, the mines looked to Baldwin and purchased two saddle-tanker 0-6-0’s. They were named “Duke” and “Duchess”. Each engine had 42’ drivers. In 1879, they decided to keep the narrow gauge, but to interchange it with a newer 3’ gauge, and they acquired new locomotives. Dunsmuir bought out his two naval partners at that time, and incorporated the railway operations separately as the Wellington Colliery Railway. The same 0-6-0 locomotives were used, but new ones to match the gauge.
Later, in 1883, Dunsmuir acquired all the holdings for the Equimalt & Nanaimo, and bought a 4-4-2 used from the Cental Pacific Railroad in CA. It was standard gauge, and was used between his new holdings at the Cumberland coal mines, near where I live, to the coast at Union Bay. There were 11 miles of that standard gauge to cover the distance. It turned out that the engine could not deal with the grades and the loads, so they had to get others. Eventually they had high-wheeled ten-wheelers, one of which fell through a trestle on a heavily subscribed excursion run. They salvaged the locomotive and rebuilt it.
Dunsmuir (now his son James) sold his E&N Ry holdings to the CPR in 1905, but retained the coal rights. New lines were being built, and the grades reduced to a max of 2%, so they acquired a Baldwin Mike (2-8-2), a low-drivered
Ten wheelers? Do you mean 4-6-0s or 0-10-0 or 2-8-0
4-6-0’s with the funnel-type stack.
Does anyone know where to get an accurate map of the Dunsmir (main lines, yards, ect.) and the surrounding geography+coal fields.
Hi. It’s Dunsmuir. You should order the book described above because it has numerous diagrams and maps. Too many to scan and post here.