New Rockland Slate Narrow Gauge

Came across this photo in the Andrew Merrilees Collection, National Archives of Canada. This one was taken at Kingsbury, Quebec showing a train of the New Rockland Slate Company. It was a 30" gauge line, and the locomotive is their #1, named New Rockland. It was an 1886 Porter 0-4-2T, with an enclosed cab no less (possibly home made?), and the tiny four-wheeled slate wagons are very much like their Welsh cousins. In fact many of the quarry workers apparently came from Wales.

The quarry opened around 1868 and the railway opened about the time that the photo was made, as the locomotive and cars look brand new. The railway operation was abandoned in 1901, although the quarry continued in production until the mid-1920s. The main product was roofing slates, which by that time had fallen out of favor due to cheaper modern materials.

And here's another photo, [collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca] Judging by the people posing for their portrait, it was taken by the same photographer, on the same day, as the Merrilees Collection shot.

Enjoy,