Carbonear reconsidering fate of beloved landmark Locomotive 803

By Mark Squibb/December 9, 2022

A decision of Carbonear council to scrap the locomotive that for decades has served as one of the town’s most recognizable landmarks has raised the ire of train enthusiasts near and far.

Council voted unanimously during the November 22 meeting to scrap the locomotive, citing safety concerns and the high cost of restoration.

Once news of the decision broke, railway enthusiasts flooded the Town Hall with messages asking them to reconsider.

“It was probably a couple of days after I started receiving e-mails from different people,” said Carbonear Mayor Frank Butt. “I think I received six in a two-or three-day period, which was a lot regarding a motion that had been made. So, I forwarded those to administration, but they just kept coming and coming.”

Besides the e-mails and social media messages, Butt said someone started a petition to save the train, which racked up over 1,500 signatures in just two days.

Butt said the matter will be brought back to the council table, and that he personally is drafting a recommendation that council establish an ad hoc committee to investigate the matter further.

“I will send that to administration, and then they will forward it to all council members,” explained Butt. “And then hopefully that will be put on the agenda, and if council sees fit, a motion will be made to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate funding for the restoration of this locomotive.”

He said the committee would be dissolved once the matter is resolved — whatever the resolution may be.

“This has generated a lot of interest, and we’re happy with that,” said Butt. “Council, and I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that council didn’t want to see that machine go. But in order for it to stay there, someone has to come up with some money to fix it up. So, that’s what we’re trying to find out now — how are we going to secure funds if council decides to move forward with saving Locomotive 803.”

Butt said efforts to restore the locomotive have gone back as far as at least 2015, and that some budgets back, the town set asides funds for it.

“Since our last two councils, and since we have hired our Economic Development and Tourism Officer Kerri Abbott, we have exhausted all avenues for funding, federal, provincial, and municipal, and even private as well,” said Butt. “There are lots of avenues we have tried. And unfortunately, the federal and provincial governments didn’t have any funds available at this particular time.”

One piece of misinformation Butt said he has heard floating around is that the Town is willing to spend millions on the downtown core but is content to let the train rust apart.

“The funding for downtown is cost-shared,” said Butt. “We only pay 10 percent. So, it’s a $1.1 million project, but 90 percent of it is paid by the provincial and federal governments, and the other 10 percent is paid by the municipal.”

Butt said the cost of restoration work is simply too high to justify the Town taking the project on on its own.

“The cost of repairing it is in the six figures,” said Butt. “So, you’re looking at $100,000 plus. Which is a lot of money to put into a piece of equipment. It would benefit the town, but it would be a hard sell. I don’t think that I could go to the residents of the town and say, ‘We want to take $100,000 of your tax monies and spend it on the train.’ I don’t think that would be too well received.”

He said the revenue from the scrap would be minimal, but suggested the funds could be put towards the Carbonear Railway Museum or railway tracks.

Should Carbonear exhaust all other measures, Butt said they would entertain the idea of another town taking over responsibility of the train.

“But, right now, we’re hoping that Carbonear is going to be the one to save this structure, and restore it to its former glory,” said the mayor.

One of the many railway enthusiasts who reached out to council upon hearing the news was Witless Bay Mayor Trevor Croft, an avid railway historian who has worked on a number of restoration projects over the last number of years.

“I wasn’t much of a history student at the time, but my Newfoundland Studies teacher, Jeff Crant, showed our class a YouTube video of the history of the Trepassey Branch Line, which ran from St. John’s to Trepassey and was closed in 1931,” said Croft. “So, after that I got into railway history, beginning with the local area here where I live, and expanding on from there…. Without the railway, this province wouldn’t be what it is today.”

Croft, who worked at a railway company for seven years, along with other railway enthusiasts, have widened tracks and helped restored pump cars across the province. He’s the man who did the cosmetic work on the train on display at the Gordon G. Pike Railway Heritage Museum in Harbour Grace back in 2019, and is a familiar face at railway museums across the province.

He was distraught upon hearing that Locomotive 803 was being sent to the scrap yard.

“I wish I could say I was shocked, but I’m not,” said Croft. “I offered my services to them in 2016, as well as 2018 or 2019 for restoration work that could be done for that locomotive, and I haven’t heard tell of anything since. It was a bit discouraging to hear that their plan is to scrap it, so I’m hoping that they change their minds at the very least.”

Croft said he has spoken with other railway historians and enthusiasts, all of whom were upset with the news— and eager to let Carbonear know that they were upset.

“They were sent a very, very, very large number of e-mails over the last couple of weeks, from people upset that they’re getting rid of this locomotive, so I hope there’s some kind of middle ground there that can be worked on,” said Croft, who said he had first considered having the locomotive transported to Witless Bay.

The train, which has long been stripped of an engine and fuel tank, cosmetically speaking is the worst on the island, according to Croft. He said that whatever is going to be done, it needs to be done soon, or else Mother Nature will take the decision out of anybody’s hands.

“In the condition it is right now, it’s not going to last another couple of years down there next to the ocean, with no protection, no covering, no nothing,” said Croft.

Croft said the town’s claim the restoration could cost upwards of $100,000 may be a stretch.

“It all depends on who you ask,” said Croft. He added there’s no money to be made scrapping metal with lead paint, so there’s not even a huge financial benefit to scrapping the locomotive.

“My ultimate goal is to see it where it is and fully restored,” said Croft. “And I’m happy to work with the Town of Carbonear to give them a hand with that kind of stuff. It’s going to take a lot of work.”

He said Locomotive 803 is particularly unique.

“All of the other locomotives on the island are Mainline trains, the 900 series,” said Croft. “The one in Carbonear is an 800 series, an 803. The only other one of those types of locomotives left in existence is in Ottawa, outside of a museum, and covered in a tarp.”

Given the right funding, he imagines the train restored, and the land nearby adorned with storyboards and proper signage.

Even without the trappings, and even in the state that it’s in, Croft said the locomotive is still a draw for railway tourists.

“A lot of people don’t realise what a unique railway we had here,” said Croft. “And even though it’s closed, we still get a lot of tourists coming in from all over the world to see what’s left of the Newfoundland Railway. This narrow-gauge railway was the longest one in North America, and that alone draws in train nerds from all over the world.”

Croft said that another 800 series locomotive, and old 802 that called Trinity Loop home, was scrapped back in 2005.

The only piece left of that locomotive is the front nose — which is now in Croft’s possession.

Mayor Butt, when asked, could not recall the town having received communications from Croft in the past, but allowed that it would have been some years back and that it would be impossible to remember every e-mail council received.

Carbonear has given Croft until January 15 to forward a proposal.