Canadian Railroads > The route of the "Chaleur", a brief history

With the future of Via passenger train service to the Gaspe in question, I did a little research on the history of the line.

The first portion was built from Matapedia to Caplan QC in 1894 as the Atlantic & Lake Superior. Originally planned as a "colonization railway" (which implies some funding to build the line by an outside organisation like the Church), by the time construction was underway, the A&LS had plans to build a grain port on the Gaspe Peninsular, and their own route to the Great Lakes. Those plans never materialised, and construction ceased at Caplan, near New Richmond.

By 1898, two new railways were chartered to complete the line. The Quebec Oriental Railway extended the line to New Carlisle, and the Atlantic, Quebec & Western completed the line to Gaspe between 1907 and 1910.

It appears that the Intercolonial Railway with which the Gaspe line connected with at Matapedia did not have a through traffic agreement. A 1918 public Canadian Government Railway timetable merely mentions a connection at Matapedia, and that the connection train was operated by the Q&O and AQ&W.

The Gaspe line is noted as the first railway purchased by the Canadian National in 1923. I'm thinking that like some other lines which came under control of the Canadian Government Railways during the WW1 era, full integration into the CGR was not possible due to outstanding partial ownership by the original "colonialisation" interests. When the CNR was created, the original owners were compensated and bought out.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/11 11:02 by eminence_grise.

And a little Chaleur History too.......
The Chaleur name first appears in CN’s summer 1964 timetable as a Montreal <> Campbellton train replacing the Advance Ocean Limited. It appeared again in the winter 1964/65 timetable for the Christmas holidays and by the summer 1965 timetable, it was now a permanent year-round train.

In June 1967, Canada’s Centennial Year, the Chaleur gained a Gaspe section with through coaches, sleepers, meal & lounge cars between Matapedia and Gaspe. Prior to that, Gaspe passengers changed at Matapedia to an RDC Railiner or conventional trains running between Campbellton and Gaspe.

The Chaleur was extended to Moncton in October 1967 and lasted until January 1970 *** when it was discontinued and the through cars to Gaspe were now included in the Scotian eastbound from Montreal to Matapedia and in the Ocean westbound. The through cars lasted until the fall of 1979. During this period the service transitioned from CN to VIA.

(***except in summer 1968 when the Chaleur went direct to Gaspe and the Matapedia-Campbellton-Moncton section was replaced by the Cabot)

The Chaleur did return as a separate Montreal - Gaspe train for the Summers of 1970 ‘71 ‘72 ‘73 & ‘74 and even carried a Skyview (x Milwaukee Skytop) sleeper observation for a couple of seasons.

On October 28, 1979 VIA restructured the Montreal <> Maritime services and the through cars to Gaspe were gone and replaced by a connecting service again at Matapedia with either an RDC or conventional train depending on the season. VIA did offer a through Montreal-Gaspe full service coach & sleeping car train during Christmas 1979 ‘80 ‘81 & ‘82.

Then in May 1983 the Chaleur was back once again as a full service train between Montreal & Gaspe. This continued until another restructuring of the Maritime service in June 1985 (& the return of the Atlantic) The Ocean became a Montreal-Moncton train (not Halifax) and was combined with the Chaleur between Montreal and Matapedia.

The next big change came with the massive cuts in January 1990. The Ocean was extended back to Halifax but cut to triweekly and began alternating with the Atlantic to provide a six day a week service between Montreal and Halifax. The Chaleur was once again a separate through train to Gaspe but also cut-back to tri-weekly and alternated with the Ocean between Montreal and Matapedia.

By the early ‘90s enough of the former CP Budd fleet had been rebuilt and the Chaleur was re-equipped including a Skyline Dome car. Occasionally Park Dome Observations even ran through to Gaspe.

The last major change came in December 1994 with the discontinuance of the Atlantic. The Ocean began operating six days a week between Montreal and Halifax and on three of those days it was combined with the Chaleur. The Chaleur did operate as a separate train in summer 2008 and during most Christmas Holiday periods. A year or so ago, the Chaleur lost its name and is simply the “Montreal-Gaspe” now.

Here’s a couple of shots at Matapedia in June 1975 switching out the through cars to Gaspe from the e/b Scotian.

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.......and September 1981 when an RDC Railiner provided the connection with the Ocean at Matapedia for the run to Gaspe.

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Here's the switching at Matapedia two years ago.......Hopefully it will continue for years to come!

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Looking at public timetables from 1918 and 1938, for many years there appears to have been a daily except Sunday passenger train from Matapedia to Gaspe with no close connection to other passenger trains at Matapedia.

In 1918, the train took 11 hours to make the journey, with a twenty minute lunch stop at New Carlisle.

Twenty years later, CN trains 35 and 36 terminated at Campbellton, involving in seventeen mile run on the former Intercolonial main line. The lunch stop at New Carlisle was stretched out to thirty minutes, and the run was forty minutes faster.

Campbellton is the largest town in the area, and there is a narrowing of the Baie des Chaleurs at that point where for many years a ferry operated between Quebec and New Brunswick. In 1961, a bridge was built between the two Provinces.

A local web site illustrates how the bridge has changed passenger train travel. Although it notes Via Rail passenger service, it emphasizes bus service to the Gaspe peninsula, and the rest of the Maritimes, operated by Gaspesien, Orleans Transport or Acadian Lines buses. The Via service is mentioned for those going to Montreal and points west.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/11 09:08 by eminence_grise.

The Gaspe service likely could be provided by a dedicated bus service. That's likely all that's warranted here. Meanwhile, it has been nice to hold on the train service as long as possible.

Thanks for the historical information and the photos. I rode the Chaleur to Gaspe in 1988 - a pleasantly scenic journey. Unlike in Montreal and Quebec City, most the people I encountered on the train and in Gaspe did not speak English, so I relied on my limited French for conversation.

RuleG Wrote:
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> Thanks for the historical information and the
> photos. I rode the Chaleur to Gaspe in 1988 - a
> pleasantly scenic journey. Unlike in Montreal and
> Quebec City, most the people I encountered on the
> train and in Gaspe did not speak English, so I
> relied on my limited French for conversation.

The Gaspe is unique in terms of settlement. Although most communities are French speaking, New Carlisle and New Richmond were for many years English speaking settlements.

When the "colonization" railway and land company was set up in 1890, the intent was to colonize the south shore of the Gaspe Peninsula with French settlements. However, the colonization concept was discarded when the original railway went bankrupt in 1894. I'm sure the newly organised railway companies inherited the land grants from the colonization company, but with the "colonizers" (probably the local Arch diocese) out of power, the new owners disbursed the land to anyone who would take it up.

Curiously, the two populations live in harmony these days, but there was resentment last century when Protestant Churches and Orange Lodges were set up on land originally granted to the Catholic Church.

There are other unique "colonizations" throughout areas of Canada where the "Homestead Act" was in effect. This Act granted settlers a certain amount of agricultural land for free, and additional land for a low price. Groups of individuals or institutions were encouraged to invest in whole "townships" (large acreages complete with water rights etcetera) on very generous terms.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier was Prime Minister at the time, and as Canada's first French Prime Minister, he was anxious to encourage colonization both of Quebec and the Western Provinces.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/11 13:05 by eminence_grise.

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the historical information and the
> photos. I rode the Chaleur to Gaspe in 1988 - a
> pleasantly scenic journey. Unlike in Montreal and
> Quebec City, most the people I encountered on the
> train and in Gaspe did not speak English, so I
> relied on my limited French for conversation.

Interestingly, several of the towns served by the Chaleur have relatively significant English-speaking populations - New Carlisle and New Richmond to name a couple.

Here's a picture I took of the Chaleur at Gaspe in happier times for the railroad - January 2007.

Dave

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What has surprised me about this train - the Chaleur as I call it - is that although it operates tri-weekly, nearly all station stops are staffed. This is in contrast to even the Ocean's station stops. I know that others have reported "light loads" for this train." Well of the five times (at least) that I rode this train in the late 2000's, it either had an extra coach to accommodate group travelers on a tour, school children on a class trip (yes it was that reliable at the time), and plain old passenger demand. Likewise, I rode the train in 2008 just before it was to be operated as a separate train from the Ocean. During this trip, and on three of my other five trips total, the train operated with three Chateau sleepers and a full service Diner. It was during this 2008 trip that I happened to be sitting with largely French speaking people who commented that they had a house on the "peninsula" and commuted via the Chaleur into Montreal where they would work three to four days a week and then return back "home" to the Gaspe peninsula using this train. Although they commented it had become less reliable pass New Carlisle and Matapedia, that didn't stop them. And for all five trips, the sleepers at Matapedia on the Gaspe section were FULL, leading to a very busy breakfast period. Grant it, by the time we reached Gaspe (the end of the line) there were substantially less people onboard, but this was because so many people had de-boarded between Matapedia and Gaspe. And it was remarkable to see this train come into Gaspe a half hour or hour late, but depart back to Montreal out of Gaspe on-time. The VIA crew cleaned, serviced, and stocked this train from the time it was approaching Gaspe, while it was being wyed, and then while it was being fueled and readied to depart out of Gaspe. Heading back to Montreal, all the beds were occupied or "down" for those getting on shortly after we were to leave Matapedia. I can remember waiting up to an hour or two hours at Matapedia for the eastbound Ocean to arrive from Halifax. But by the next day, we were only about a half hour late leaving Charny and then on-time or early coming into Montreal.

So my experiences on the Chaleur were always with a nearly sold out train, especially in sleeper class. And it was not uncommon for VIA to add a Chateau sleeper last minute, as I would watch the train be sold out and then a bunch of rooms would "open up." Often I thought I was positioned to have a sleeper in the "last Chateau car" only to be surprised that a third had been added on. Course there were other times when we left with just one coach and two Chateau sleepers. In this case, there were more people in the sleepers than in coach.

The Chaleur seemed to carry a lot of "local clientele" as opposed to the Ocean or Canadian that was turning more and more into a tourist train (the Canadian especially). The Ocean still had a handful of business folks and local clientele when I last rode it, but you could see that VIA was going after the tourists with its "Touring Class" and addition of the Park Car during peak season.

So hopefully, this train will return because it is needed by the locals and those who live on the Gaspe Peninsula. It seems that VIA has suspended two trains recently that served more of the local patronage of Canada than the tourist market - the Vancouver Island service (Malahat) and Chaleur.

The sad part of the reality is - I am glad I rode it while it lasted? Hopefully my last ride wasn't my "last!"

Those open stations are staffed by caretakers, quite often volunteers who open them for an hour or two around train time.

Also, local organisations provide the upkeep of these stations, including painting. This has resulted in some odd colour schemes.

By and large, the caretaker experience has been very good. Sometimes waiting passengers get coffee and cake.

Several of the train stations also serve as waiting areas for the bus services too.

The Gaspe train does have a substantial local patronage, and the demographic of the sleeping car passengers includes people of political influence. You described wealthy French business people commuting to Montreal from their country homes. Quebec is a province of distinct regions. Ask someone where they are from, and they will answer with the name of their county. I could easily see a Gaspe businessman delivering a number of votes in a Federal election in exchange for keeping the passenger train.

Celine Dionne is from a large Gaspesian family, and has a whole separate music career as a regional "chanteuse" in Quebec.

The Gaspe region, notably Roche Perce, and Bonaventure bird sanctuary has substantial and long established tourist facilities.
I know that in the 1990's, some very large passenger trains operated to the area with many extra sleepers for tour groups.

One of the nice features of the Via train is that a visit can be made to Perce Rock and the nearby village in the time it takes for the train to go to the end of the line and return.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/11 13:35 by eminence_grise.