Canadian Railroads > The Sydney Subdivision

The Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway runs from Truro (interchange with CN) 130 miles to Port Hawkesbury.....just across the Canso Causeway on Cape Breton Island.

Beyond there......the Sydney Subdivision is now all but abandoned and hasn’t seen a train in about 4 years.

The Province pays Genesee and Wyoming a monthly subsidy not to file for abandonment with hopes of a future port development in Sydney.

https://www.capebretonpost.com/news/local/significant-progress-on-port-development-needed-this-year-to-maintain-cape-breton-rail-subsidy-maclellan-311664/

-Laying over in front of the old CN Port Hawkesbury Station on July 27/19
-McIntyres Lake (Mile 19.4)
-River Denys (Mile 33.2) and the remains of the old passing track.

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-Crossing the Canso Causeway between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island

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Long gone are the days of 3 passenger trains a day each way and the ‘Fast Freights’ heavy with steel and coal from Sydney as well as containers to and from Newfoundland.

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VIA ran to Sydney until January 1990 and returned in the early 2000’s with the Bras d’Or (Bra Door) at Port Hawkesbury in 2002.

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I visited as a tourist a few years ago.  These photos bring back memories (I saw no rail activity) but thanks to your pics I can imagine what was.  I had beautiful weather and a fine time.

Fascinating. There are some really scenic views presented here.
Bob

Obviously the train used to operate Tuesday (to Sydney) and Wednesday (back to Halifax). Used cars from the Ocean's consist. VIA had announced that it was ging to operate the Bras'd'Or twice a week on I think a Friday/Saturday schedule, but then the announcement came that it was being pulled altogether! Not sure if it was patronage or track deterioration that caused the cancellation, but many beleived the Friday/Saturday schedule would work so much better. Course the Tuesday/Wednesday schedule was done because the Ocean didn't operate on Tuesdays and had equipment to spare. It was operated though purely as a tourist train. VIA staff did say it was descently patronized, but then I also heard reports to the contrary. So not sure. A train I wanted to take and didn't.......must have been a VERY sceneic route. At least I got the Chaleur in a few times before it was discontinued. 

To think this route used to have three trains a day on it! The decline of passenger rail to Sydney mirrored the decline in general of Cape Breton's industrial businesses. 

Interesting...those tracks in the weeds reminds me of the situation on Vancouver Island
upbuddyboy

Always wished I had taken the Bras D'oR, must've been a great journey

Great post!

Does coal still move to Point Tupper? I remember watching the Rail Innovations program on the CBNS from the early 1990's seemed like a lot of traffic back them. 

-Trevor

The shot with three CN units on the freight is a wonderful composition; straining the limits of K64 grain coupled with a long lens and scanning the slide, but really nice to see.
Fred

Hate to see this post disappear so quickly......

Cape Breton was truly the best scenic coast line on the eastern seabord. Absolutely stunning. Too bad this line had not been kept in some sort of service and then to get a tourist operator to come in and operate over it, especially north of Port Hawksbury and out to Cape Breton (Rocky Moutaineer of the East).

Is there any main in industry left in Cape Breton? There were even reports that the fishing industry had been cut/reduced so bad that it had fallen on hard times. But then the tourist season is what May to October at best? I stayed at a really interesting B&B outside of  Baddeck and the innkeeper - back then (it's been 15 years) - only kept things open from May to mid-October and then went to Flordai for the rest of the year!