of 5 |
 |
 UP |
 NEXT DAY |
The day before the trip.
On Tuesday morning September 4, 2001 our group of motorcar owners
gathered at the headquarters of the Quebec, North Shore &
Labrador Railway (QNS&L), which is on the eastern outskirts of
Sept-Iles, Quebec, Canada. We were there for a trip on the railway to
Labrador City, some 261 miles north. (see
map.) It was expected to be quite an adventure. We had been told
the area is isolated, but we really didn't understand how isolated
until we received some history of the railway and the towns it
serves.
The early white prospectors, searching for gold, found high-quality iron ore in the wilderness along the Quebec-Labrador border, 358 miles north of Sept-Iles. It wasn't until 1950 that the demand (and price) for the ore made it practical to mine. But the isolation was a problem. You see, there were no roads in the area. None. Not even along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Sept-Iles had no roads to the outside; all traffic came by boat. To get the mines going, a town called Shefferville was built by The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). It held 7,000 laborers (families came later). To connect it to civilization, a railroad, the QNS&L, was built. It was no small task. Because of the isolation, airplanes were the transportation mode of choice. Fourteen airstrips had to be built and the ensuing airlift handled 138,700 passengers and 85,000 tons of materials. Goods were also transported by barge, tractor, and, in the -50 degree C winters, by dog-sled. The line was completed in February 1954. The first ore moved five months later. In 1956 more ore was discovered west of the railroad 224 miles north of Sept-Iles. The mining town of Wabush was built to exploit it. This town was gated and guarded. Outside Wabush a community started that became Labrador City, incorporated in 1961, and recently connected to the world by a road. In 1982 the Shefferville mine was exhausted and the town was abandoned. Mining continues at Wabush and a nearby mine called Fremont. Wabush is no longer gated and welcomes it's neighbors in Labrador City. The two towns are collectively known as Labrador West.
The excursion to Labrador City would take two days. The first day would be 129 miles, to a camp called Mai. Day two would be 132 miles and put us in Labrador City. We'd spend a day there playing tourist, then take another two days returning to Sept-Iles, staying overnight at Mai.
Tuesday's agenda was to get the cars loaded, meet some railway folks, get the latest trip info, and tour the railway facilities and the ore car unloaders.
It took some time to get all the motorcars loaded on the station track, which was fine as it took even more time to get the cars loaded with all our gear. We had to be prepared for rain and cold. Many people carried spare parts for the cars. And of course we had to have enough gasoline to last the day.
After loading, we drove our cars down to the station. The Public Relations people and the media wanted some photos. Seems like we were big news in Sept-Iles, a town of 25,000, and our 25 cars were causing a stir. After the photos we went inside the station for a meeting where we were given official QNS&L hats and pins and met the folks from the railway we'd be traveling with. We were been told to bring lunch for two days and that we should resupply with food at Labrador City.
After the meeting we had to get our cars off the station track. We drove them forward a mile or so and then backed them into a storage track in the yard. During the shuffling three or four cars had problems, including mine. My brand new, 6-hr old alternator was not working. Fortunately Bobby (a pal from Atlanta) had a spare. Unfortunately, putting it on meant missing the tour of the railway facilities and the ore-car unloading process. I missed the bus by 10 minutes. Oh well... Having plenty of time to wait for the tour to come back gave me some time to look around. On the track on the other side of the depot the was a train being loaded to go north. Two refrigerated cars were being loaded with meat and vegetables. A motorboat and a couple of automobiles were being readied for loading. Some hopper cars were being filled with sand. A mixed freight for sure.
Day 1.
Wednesday, September 5, we were ready to leave Sept-Iles for the trip
north. But first, the railway had some concerns. The were not too
sure about us, never having hosted a bunch of railcar enthusiasts,
and most of us Yanks to boot. Mr. Clavette, the railway's safety
director, had us attend a training session where we watched a safety
video and had to review the railway's rules for motorcar operation.
He also handed out timetables (showing stations, sidings and
mileages) and a track profile. We would be treated as a train by the
dispatchers and to insure we stayed together we had a railway escort
front and rear - all sound precautions when running on a busy line.
For meets with trains, we were to be out of the cars and had to keep
the cars between us and the train. Fine with us, better photo that
way! Then it was back to the motorcars. Finally, at 09:40, we were
off. We crept forward through the yard and had to
stop for clearance for the main. Another
mile or two later we were sidetracked for a
southbound ore train.
A word about the trains. First, they're huge: up to 2.4 miles long. (Most trains you see in the states are about a mile long, some occasionally longer.) Secondly, unlike the trains around here, they don't take them apart to sort the cars. There's no need - the railway just runs between the mines and the unloader at Sept-Iles; it does not connect to any other railways. If a car needs servicing, they service the whole train. In fact, they don't even bother with couplers except between every third car. The trains have three huge engines, all the latest model. Two are on the front, one is located two-thirds back and is controlled by radio from the lead engine. They have one person driving this beast. To combat boredom the engineer can listen to his favorite tunes through his headset. (The music cuts out if there's any radio traffic.) Should he get tired, he's allowed to go into a siding and nap for an hour. The two-way radio is tuned to a special channel (to cut out the usual chatter) and the dispatcher calls when it's wake-up time. They also run a passenger train a few days a week.
So, we're in the hole three miles from town, two hours down on the schedule, waiting for a train. After a long wait it came by at 5 MPH. These babies take a long time to pass at that speed. At 12:15 we were on the move again.
At milepost 9 we crossed a road - the 5th crossing since Sept-Iles, counting the three private crossings in the rail yard. We would not see another crossing for over 200 miles. There are simply no roads through this area.
At milepost 11 we entered the longest tunnel - 2200 feet - and immediately upon exiting we're on a 700 foot-long trestle 200 feet above the Moisie River. Here we did a photo run-by, which means we got to back up through the tunnel and come north again while our passengers took photos from the side of the tracks. A most unusual feature of the tunnel: it has lights!
Now we would follow the Moisie River (and a couple of other rivers) up a canyon. Sept-Iles is 20 feet above sea level. At milepost 58 we had climbed to 350 feet - an easy grade. Now the grade gets steeper - 1.5%, meaning we climb 80' feet per mile. And this would go on for the next 30 miles. By milepost 95 the elevation is 1900 feet. These are mild elevation gains for automobiles but for our track cars (and the trains) is quite an uphill: a grade of 0.3% is twice as hard to pull as flat track. All of us were having to open the throttle more and more and the engines were really having to strain. We also were fighting a head wind which gusted to 30 MPH. Sometimes we'd come around a curve and catch the wind, and it'd feel like somebody put the brakes on. By the time we crested the hill my motor was quite hot.
We passed a work crew who were working on a defect detector. Since there are no roads these crews are flown in by helicopter. At every switch, signal, defect detector, etc there's a clearing where the helicopter can land.
The day's trip is kind of a blur. We met several trains, including the passenger train. One of our stops was at a camp called Tika. These camps are not what you'd think. They are buildings, mostly trailers, that have been flown in and hooked together to make a large compound. They have a 24-hr staffed kitchen, dorm rooms, lounges, showers, telephones, etc. Pretty nice. The chef at Tika was somewhat upset that he wasn't given proper notice we were coming. He had just enough time to make a fresh batch of cookies for us. North of Tika is Tonka Siding, with a great view of Tonka Falls.
At milepost 65 we had our second tunnel. There are actually two tunnels, the first abandoned after a rock slide. The slide took off much of the rock above the tunnel, so the railway drilled a new one. The new tunnel is 40 feet further into the cliff. At milepost 69 we went into the siding for yet another train. This siding overlooked a river and a huge cascade called Tonka Falls.
We saw our first snow shed, really just a huge corrugated pipe, placed to protect a switch from the swirling snow. There use to be several of these but they didn't work as well as hoped and are being removed.
Things were going well until milepost 84, when Jim's car suffered a catastrophic failure - the rear axle broke. This is bad news. A broken axle means the car has is not usable. Usually the car is set off and left until the trip back. Luckily, our rear escort was a large flatbed truck with a crane. The car was loaded on the flatbed and Jim and Lola begged rides with those with spare seats. At the time I didn't know any of this. Jim was two cars back. With the track twisting around the canyon and with the cars spread out, you were doing good to keep the car ahead and behind you in sight. We got news of his troubles when the railway switched us into a siding so the folks behind Jim could catch up.
By now it was dark and getting cold fast. That north wind was really cold! I was wearing all of my cold-weather gear I had along. The back curtain was down (had been all day) and the side curtain on my side was closed. The curtain on the passenger side was open and I had no way to close it while underway. I kept my hands on the controls as they were warm from the engine heat. Despite the chill we had a nice run in the dark to Mai at milepost 129, our overnight spot.
Mai is a large camp, but still not big enough for all of us, so the railroad moved a work train in. It had two dormitory cars, each with 10 rooms. In the camp the ladies got one wing, the men the other, and the railway crews got the third. Overflow was in the dorm cars, and that's were I spent the night. The cars were on the second siding from the main. The room was way too hot (or maybe it was just me) so I turned off the heat and threw the window open. Sleep came easily. That night at least 4 trains rumbled by, causing the car to rock. But that was fine. You don't get into this hobby if you hate trains.
of 5 |
|
UP |
NEXT DAY |