Re: USA in Newfoundland in WWII

There’s an article on this in the most recent issue of Canadian Rail, the magazine of the Cdn RR Hist Assoc. Destroyers for Bases deal where Britain let the USA build bases in Nfld and the Caribbean. In Nfld proper, the major USA bases included Argentia, Stephenville (Harmon Field) and Fort Pepperrell (near St. John’s). The Nfld Railway was a key link in all this, in large part because inland transport between bases was a lot better than sea-going in U-Boat infested waters.

The Railway was in shabby shape after the Depression however, so a study was done by the military that itemized the current state of the railway, with recommendations on what improvements were needed to meet the skyrocketing traffic. This included a May 1941 photograph inventory that forms a main part of the article. Securing new locomotives to replace the aging roster is mentioned, including that new locos were being delivered, but no specifics.

The roster in “Narrow Gauge Railways of Canada” indicates that North British supplied Mikes pre-war but this source was obviously cut off. So Alco supplied Mikados 1009-1013 in 1941, Montreal supplied 1014-1015 also in 1941, and Alco again supplied 1016-1019 in 1944. Maybe the first batch were already built and supplied from stock?????, but the second set would probably be purpose built.

Cheers,
Ralph



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2020 08:16PM by tgbcvr.