41 years ago today (February 11, 1985), CN / Terra Transport ran a plow train from Corner Brook, Newfoundland to Badger and back.
How do I know this? It’s on the CN train sheet from that day, one of several in my possession.
The train had two locomotives, CN 944 and CN 945, and pushed a plow and a caboose.
It was ordered to leave Corner Brook at 08:00 (8 AM), and the crew went off duty at 17:55.
A portion of the train sheet is shown below. I put a red box around the plow extra columns.
The train sheet shows the plow extra’s progress across the Bishop’s Falls subdivision. There was a track unit work extra (#3356) between miles 330 and 341, which is why those are specifically called out in the train sheet. The train would have had to call the foreman for permission to pass through the work zone.
| Station | Miles from St. John’s | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Corner Brook | 405.3 | 08:15 |
| near Northern | 368 | 10:00 |
| near Gaff Topsail | 330 | 11:05 |
| Badger | 294.2 | 12:20 |
| turned on the wye | 294.2 | — |
| Badger | 294.2 | 12:32 |
| near Gaff Topsail | 330 | does not say |
| near Kittys Brook | 341 | 14:30 |
| near Pynns | 383 | 16:30 |
| Corner Brook | 405.3 | 17:15 |
The train sheet doesn’t say it, but the crew must have turned the train at Badger, because the same locomotive is leading in both directions. In order to turn the train, they need a wye.
The CN / Terra Transport timetable doesn’t show a wye at Badger, but the Newfoundland West car control manual does!
The tail track BW 45 is listed as 365 feet long / 7 car capacity, so it was (barely) long enough to fit two locomotives, a plow and a caboose.
I’m not good at decoding written names, but the engineer and conductor are listed on the train sheet.
Unfortunately I don’t know which plow it was or what caboose was used. According to my 1989 Trackside Guide, CN had 14 snowplows on Newfoundland (in the number range 3451 to 3468), along with three spreaders and two flangers.
However! The train sheet from two days later – February 13, 1985 – shows a plow extra on the Port-aux-Basques subdivision, with 945, 944 and plow 3463… so perhaps 3463 was used on the 11th as well.
Preserved Newfoundland Snowplows
Six snowplows have been preserved on the island:
- CN 3454, Bishop’s Falls
- CN 3459, Whitbourne
- CN 3460, Corner Brook Railway Museum
- CN 3462, Lewisporte Train Park
- CN 3465, Avondale Railway Museum
- CN 3467, Port-aux-Basques
I really enjoyed this historical look at the Newfoundland plow train — it’s amazing to see the detail from the original CN train sheets and how dedicated crews were to keeping the line open in extreme winter conditions. As someone who loves both functional equipment and the history behind how things get done, this post gave me a fascinating glimpse into real-world logistics and engineering challenges. Thanks for sharing such a well-researched story!