Virtual Railfan Tour - Thurso and Nation Valley Railway - History
The newly constructed mill at Thurso 1925-26
The mill at Thurso was constructed by the Singer Sewing Machine Company to provide lumber for their sewing machine cabinets. The area to the north had already been logged for softwood which had been floated down the North Nation River. However, Singer required birch which is a hardwood which will not float so a railway had to be built into the Quebec woods to bring out the lumber.
The first locomotive on the TNVR was #1 (a Baldwin 0-6-2T from Standard Oil, New Jersey). It is shown here with a short train consisting of a former Canadian Pacific Railway snowplough and a flat car loaded with boats for the logging operation. A TNVR caboose no. 1 brings up the rear. This was likely taken before 1930.
A posed picture of a well kept #2 (built new for Singer by Montreal Locomotive Works in 1927) and loaded train on the Jasmin Trestle. The engineer, in the gangway is Park Smith while the fireman is Euclid Neveu. Park Smith would later play a large part in the work to fill in this impressive structure.
#3 was a Heisler geared locomotive. It was built new for Singer in 1929 but because of its slow speed it was mainly restricted to the woods, particularly the Laroche branch which had severe gradients. This is the only picture of #3 I have been able to find. It was scrapped in 1947.
This map shows the TNVR at its full extent
In the early days men, mainly local farmers, would be taken up into the bush to cut the lumber. They would stay in the bush until brought back down around April. The return train would be met by a large crowd of locals but this could be a bittersweet occasion. A returnee might see a newborn child for the first time or find that his wife was pregnant when she hadn't been when he had left. In later years the company made a concession and brought the workers back to Thurso for Christmas but there were always problems in finding men to go back again in January.
On June 5, 1936 the then Governor General, Lord Tweedsmuir, and his son visited the line. They are sitting on a flatcar behind car 27. This would provide an even better view of the scenery than would car 27 but was not in the original plan. Maybe this was a last-minute addition for the vice-regal guests.
During the second world war a group of German internees were sent to the end of the line. There were only two attempts at escape in the impenetrable bush and both were quickly recaptured.
A camp used by the internees
An embarrassing occasion in which locomotive #2 has come off all wheels. To make matters worse, a commercial photographer was on hand to record the scene for posterity. This was used for a post card which was available in the Thurso area. In the cab, with the embarrassed grin, is Park Smith while the first four from the left are Damien Lafleur, Len Purdy, Pierre Blais and Sam Smith (with the handlebar moustache.) Neither the other two members of the group nor the owner of the legs dangling from the tender have been identified.
The TNVR was quick to dieselize. #4 was a GE 44 ton locomotive shipped in January 1946. It spend much of its life in the woods being kept in a two stall engine house at Duhamel.
A brand new #5 posing with #4 at the back of the lumber mill complex on 13 October 1946, the day on which #5 was delivered to Thurso. #5 was the first 70 ton locomotive built by GE.
This was also called a Kalamazoo. It may be a rebuild of the original.
This Buick sedan was used for inspection trips. The brass locomotive bell must have added a great deal to the weight on the front end.
The sedan would occasionally derail - but nothing a piece of rail and a gang of men could not put right.
The Thurso mill in the 1980s
Next time I will tell how I came to know the TNVR intimately in its later years.
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