Canadian Railroads > Barra Strait Crossing - Cape Breton

In 1890 the Intercolonial Railway built a bridge across the Barra Strait between Grand Narrows and Iona on Cape Breton Island.

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In January of this year, the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway (Genesee & Wyoming) ended service east of Port Hawkesbury toward Sydney and the line will probably be abandoned this fall. One of the items cited in the application is the huge cost to maintain the infrastructure such as this. Since January there have been a couple of movements on the line but the swing span is now usually left open.

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Here’s CN Train #18 eastbound in June 1976.....carrying through cars between Montreal and Sydney. The Dept of Highways Ferry (photo from the train) was replaced by a lift-bridge parallel to the railway bridge in the 1993.

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Thanks for that study of a once vital transportation link.  The wood truck in the last photo was certainly hauling a full load

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Thanks for that study of a once vital
> transportation link.  The wood truck in the last
> photo was certainly hauling a full load

Nothing like driving the curvy 2-lane highways of Cape Breton with one of those things 5' behind your rear bumper and impatient that you are not driving twice the speed limit.

Ray 

I like the note above 'Steamers and Sailing Vessels....' a holdover from days gone by. Today its pleasure craft and they still have the right-of-way. I grabbed that shot above of the sailboat approaching while I was waiting with the lift-span open on the highway bridge.

And this is on a secondary road. The swing-bridge on the Trans Canada Highway (which also carries the railway) at the Canso Causeway near Port Hawkesbury will also open for a sailboat.....and backing up traffic for miles!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/15 12:05 by ghCBNS.

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Geoff: offhand what is the depth of the water in the channel and especially through the lift bridge and swing bridge?
Suspect removal of the swing bridge and related will forever remove rail service to the island.
Sad however not an uncommon happening as economic changes the
world over move people and production of goods elsewhere.
Canada has become very much a consuming nation as opposed to a production of hard goods nation.

Bryce Lee

Thumper Wrote:
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> Geoff: offhand what is the depth of the water in
> the channel and especially through the lift bridge
> and swing bridge?

Gary here (ghCBNS)......

Wiki says Barra Strait is over 50 metres (160 ft) deep but the bottom rises to 22.8 metres (75 ft) and is 8 metres (26 ft) through the bridge openings.

Thumper Wrote:
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> Canada has become very much a consuming nation as
> opposed to a production of hard goods nation.
>
> Bryce Lee

Yes....up until the ‘90s there would have been several trains a day through here heavy with steel and coal heading to markets from 'Industrial Cape Breton' as it was known. Now the area is more service and tourism dependant.

There is a possibility of a coal mine reopening....but the owners have said shipments will probably be by sea on bulk carriers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/25/15 11:30 by ghCBNS.

ghCBNS Wrote:
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> -----
> > Geoff: offhand what is the depth of the water
> in
> > the channel and especially through the lift
> bridge
> > and swing bridge?
>
> Gary here (ghCBNS)......
>
> Wiki says Barra Strait is over 50 metres (160 ft)
> deep but the bottom rises to 22.8 metres (75 ft)
> and is 8 metres (26 ft) through the bridge
> openings.

Gary already looked up the answer, but I remember being told by the owner of McKeil Marine (a tug and barge company from Hamilton), who was working in 1992 driving piles for the new highway bridge, that they were working in about 100 feet of water (obviously, it varies).  One of the piles was driven right  through a wrecked ship that had been carrying a load of manganese or something similar for the steel mill in Sydney.

Geoff

I rode the line to Sydney in 78 and there RDC's on the schedule;was 76-77 the last year for locomotive hauled equipment?  What was  the speed on the curve at Barra? Seems like the Budd Cars went around the curve at 10-15 mph or so. 

mopacrr Wrote:
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> I rode the line to Sydney in 78 and there RDC's on
> the schedule;was 76-77 the last year for
> locomotive hauled equipment?  What was 
> the speed on the curve at Barra? Seems like the
> Budd Cars went around the curve at 10-15 mph or
> so. 

October 1979 was the last run for locomotive hauled passenger trains #18 and #19 between Truro and Sydney. There were also RDC trains #603 and #604 operating but after October 1979.....it was all RDC 'Railiners'.

My Oct 79 Employees Timetable shows 10mph for all trains from Mile 57.4 to 58.1 (Bridge is at 57.5 to 58.1) so it looks like they slowed to 10 for the curve and crossing at the ferry dock just before the bridge.

Here’s the VIA Timetable from 1978 and probably the one in effect when you rode:

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ghCBNS Wrote:Thanks, I hadn't checked the VIA TT of the time,and I had forgoten that 18-19 were still running .When I rode the RDC.s , Most of the line pictured was after dark and in the winter as I rode it in February of 78.  -------------------------------------------------------
> mopacrr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> ----
> > I rode the line to Sydney in 78 and there RDC's
> on
> > the schedule;was 76-77 the last year for
> > locomotive hauled equipment?  What was 
> > the speed on the curve at Barra? Seems like
> the
> > Budd Cars went around the curve at 10-15 mph
> or
> > so. 
>
> October 1979 was the last run for locomotive
> hauled passenger trains #18 and #19 between Truro
> and Sydney. There were also RDC trains #603 and
> #604 operating but after October 1979.....it was
> all RDC 'Railiners'.
>
> My Oct 79 Employees Timetable shows 10mph for all
> trains from Mile 57.4 to 58.1 (Bridge is at 57.5
> to 58.1) so it looks like they slowed to 10 for
> the curve and crossing at the ferry dock just
> before the bridge.
>
> Here’s the VIA Timetable from 1978 and probably
> the one in effect when you rode:

ghCBNS Wrote:
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>  October 1979 was the last run for locomotive
> hauled passenger trains #18 and #19 between Truro
> and Sydney. There were also RDC trains #603 and
> #604 operating but after October 1979.....it was
> all RDC 'Railiners'.
>

With the exception of the Bras d'Or from 2000-2004.  It was only in the summer, and only once a week, but it was scheduled.  At times it was even numbered 18 and 19, although they flipped back and forth with 618 and 619 too.  The train would switch numbers for the leg between Truro and Halifax, since that leg was technically eastbound (Sydney to Truro was westbound).

Here is Cripple Creek entering the Barra Strait Bridge on the Bras d'Or, July 3, 2001.  (It took me about 2 hours to get an acceptable scan from this Kodachrome slide, and several others, this afternoon.  I've been putting off the Kodachromes because automatic dust removal doesn't work on my scanner, and it all has to be done manually in Photoshop.)

GTD

 

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In the 1978 VIA timetable, what was the reason for the very long station stop times at Truro for trains 19-12 and 15-18?

railfan400 Wrote:
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> In the 1978 VIA timetable, what was the reason for
> the very long station stop times at Truro for
> trains 19-12 and 15-18?

They were connections....not through trains between Sydney and Halifax like #603-602 and #601-604 which only changed numbers at Truro as Sydney to Truro is westbound and Truro to Halifax is eastbound. (Truro is on the CN mainline between Halifax and Montreal)

Train #19 arrived in Truro at 1830 and its through coaches, café–lounge and dayniter were added to #11 ‘Scotian’ going TO Montreal. But anyone wanting to go to Halifax had to wait until 2110 when e/b #12 FROM Montreal arrived.

Same in the opposite direction....Passenger from Halifax took w/b #15 ‘Ocean’ to Truro but had to change and wait until e/b #14 Ocean arrived from Montreal with the through cars to continue to Sydney at 1445.

Thanks! Should have dug into my timetable collection.

The abandonment of the narrow gauge operation in Newfoundland also helped to drive a few nails in the coffin of the rail line to Sydney.  This line that you've photographed so well was the lifeline that fed the Newfie operation.  

One abandonment leads to more abandonments.

I'm certainly glad I rode the Bras D'or during the short time frame that it operated.

Interesting stuff....!! Thanks.....