Review: Branchlines of Newfoundland

I had high expectations for BRANCHLINES OF NEWFOUNDLAND, Kenneth Pieroway’s fifth book about trains on Newfoundland. I was not disappointed. Joe McMillan’s gorgeous cover photo of #805 at Spaniards Bay set the scene.

The trains of Newfoundland have fascinated people for a long time. Rails spanned the rocky island from St. John’s to Port-aux-Basques, built in defiance of the rugged terrain, harsh winds and relative desolation of much of Newfoundland. For many years, trains made their way back and forth, bringing people and freight where they needed to go.

The main line was the star, as always, with the Overland Limited passenger train, later known as the Caribou, but fondly known as the Newfie Bullet. But Newfoundland had more than five hundred miles of branch lines, connecting to towns like Carbonear and Stephenville and Bonavista and Lewisporte, and the sprawling American base at Argentia. BRANCHLINES shows these very well.

Railfans may know about the industrial railways of Newfoundland, but BRANCHLINES reveals the Botwood / Grand Falls Central Railway and Buchans Railway / ASARCO with their collections of 70-ton diesels and their dedicated, eclectic fleets of freight cars moving ore and paper to shippers.

After the dedication, foreword, preface, and a system map, two pages give the timeline of Newfoundland’s rail lines from the incorporation of the Newfoundland Railway Company in 1881 to the removal of the last rail in late 1990. This is a great reference all by itself.

The majority of this 140 page book is organized by subdivision or railway, with a lead page showing the timetable for the subdivision, followed by pages of photographs with rich captions. Ken did a great job of finding photographs that illustrate the nature of branch lines – a little overgrown, a quieter pace, a little more personal. I spotted a couple of photos from his other books, but these are largely newly published photographs.

Many, many photographers are represented in these pages: Ted Bartlett, John C. Benson, Steve Danko, John Freyseng, Adolph Hungrywolf, Bill Linley, Richard Manicom, Ken McCutcheon, Joe McMillan, David Morris, Steve Patterson, James F. Primm II, Rich Taylor, Alan Thomas, Ted Wickson, and several others. I noted Phil Mason’s work especially on the industrial railways.

I really appreciated the large type of the photo captions. At 58 I get tired of squinting at tiny type under photographs. Captions are so important in books like these and it’s appreciated. Kudos to Stacey Young for the clear, readable layout.

If I had one tiny complaint about this book, it would be about the system map. It is a reproduction of a CNR system map, which is great, but it’s not very clear where the branch lines are. For example, you really have to squint to find the Buchans Railway. I would have liked to see line drawings of the railways, perhaps as insets for each subdivision. This might not be an issue in the electronic version, where you can pinch and zoom.

BRANCHLINES OF NEWFOUNDLAND is a book that I will be reading several times. Highly recommended for any railfan, anyone interested in the history of Newfoundland, and required reading for any fan of the Newfoundland railway system. You did it again, Ken.

You can buy the book direct from the publisher, Seaweed Press, from your local book store, or from Indigo.