Canadian Railroads > Montague, Prince Edward Island

Long gone are the days when a GE 70 Ton would head out of Charlottetown with a Mixed Train for the light railed branch line of eastern Prince Edward Island. Today....you can get a sense of what the trip was like by hiking or biking along 450kms of the ‘Confederation Trail’ that has preserved nearly the entire CN rail network on PEI.

https://www.tourismpei.com/pei-confederation-trail

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I spent some time last weekend in the Montague area and covered a bit of the trail.

The former Station and Freight Shed are now the Town’s Tourist Centre and Marina Office.

The Trail starts just east of the station where the remains of the old turntable pit are preserved in the old yard area.

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I continued onto Montague Jct. where the old wye can still be followed where it joined the Georgetown Subdivision. (Georgetown (left) and Montague (right)

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Here's a replica of a typical PEI Station now a restaurant along the trail.....and the original Cardigan Station.....now a Farmers Market.

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And here’s my ride to PEI: the ‘Holiday Island’.....a highly functional double-decker holding 150 cars but with all the esthetics of a parking lot that floated out to sea!

It’s a former CN Ferry originally used between Borden, PEI and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick (2 nd photo below) but was transferred to NFL (Northumberland Ferries) after the Confederation Bridge opened in 1997.

The other ferry on the run is the ‘Confederation’ with much more appealing lines. It holds 220 cars.

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I note many of the passenger schedules are "bus services until December 14th", by SMT (Smith Motor Transport?).

 

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> I note many of the passenger schedules are "bus
> services until December 14th", by SMT (Smith Motor
> Transport?).
>
>  

SMT = Saint John - Moncton Transport

Owned by the Irvings (at least in the later years). They later bought Acadian Lines (NS bus company which started in the 1930s).

At various points since then, the whole operation was sold to DRL and then Orleans, went out of business for a while and has now been revived by Maritime Bus, originally a PEI company.

GTD

Nice series! Not being familiar with the area and not seeing any freight cars in the pics makes me have to ask...was this line narrow or standard gauge?

Dick Samuels

Standard gauge. Look at the first picture of the thread.

Originally built as narrow gauge and standard gauged in the 1920...then abandoned in 1989.

Posted from Android

Thanks for posting the photos and timetable images.  Couldn't help but smile when reading "Tignish" on the timetable.

Had a pleasant visit to PEI a few years ago (part of a land tour).  Trip across the Confederation Bridge was memorable and learning how it was constructed was most educational.  We stopped briefly at Borden-Carlton and that's when I saw the former CN wooden caboose (van?) and sorrowfully learned no more active rails on PEI.  Great photos.  Thanks.

Looks like a great cycling opportunity. 275 miles of zero traffic, seafood, and pleasant surroundings.

Thanks for the photos, I'd never heard of this trail.