I recently acquired a few Newfoundland-related items from the Real Rails 2025 conference, including this lineup of trains in Newfoundland in January 1986.
A “lineup” is a report on trains currently operating on a subdivision (section of track) or expected to run on the subdivision. This was generally broadcast over the radio for the information of maintenance crews, so they knew when to expect a train.
I believe this book was maintained by the dispatcher in St. John’s, and records the confirmations from each local operator that they received the lineups correctly. Each page is dated and has a subdivision name, with eastward, westward and work extra sections. At the bottom, there is a line “Lineup void ______ correct time ___ ____ ___ dispatcher ____” followed by a note “Copied at [subdivision] by Operator _______”.
The dispatcher would read the lineup, the local operator would read it back while the dispatcher checked the wording, then both would sign it off once it was confirmed. On a couple of pages I can see where the dispatcher underlined every word as the local operator read them back – see below.
There are 97 filled pages in this legal-sized book, covering January 23 to 30, 1986, and I’ve transcribed them into a Google Sheets spreadsheet here.
A few observations:
- There were no trains operating on the Argentia subdivision.
- One train led by CN 805 went to Carbonear on that subdivision, on January 30.
- Every day, a “mixed extra west” would leave Bishops Falls at 11:00.
- On the 23rd and the 29th, a train went to Stephenville on that subdivision.
As a reminder, by this time the rail network in Newfoundland was basically a single line between Port aux Basques and St. John’s, over 4 subdivisions (east to west: St. John’s, Clarenville, Bishop’s Falls, Port aux Basques), with two branch lines for Stephenville and Carbonear.
I’m not sure why the Argentia subdivision is still listed in these lineups. I guess the operator was still on duty in early 1986, watching an empty subdivision.
Thanks to Steve Bradley for making this and other items available for purchase at Real Rails! I really enjoyed his presentation on his 25 years with CANDO.
Interesting how a work train pulled by 805 was ran between Brigus Jct and Carbonear inb early 1986. Im wondering if it was being used on track removal trains. Officially rail service ended on the Carbonear branch in 1984. I also noted on the back of the 1987 employee timetable the Carbonear branch is still shown.
I was wondering that myself. I didn’t think track removal started until the official abandonment of the entire network.