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The Gatineau–Chelsea–Wakefield Steam Train
Passenger train operations have left a legacy of history to residents in the Gatineau Valley. The original passenger steam train service began as a company in 1871 under the name of "Ottawa and Gatineau Valley Railway Company" (G.V.R.). Then after a short duration, the company charter was introduced by Québec in 1879. The first of four grants from the government turned out to be funding for the first 50 miles of track. By 1887, the company obtained a federal charter and actual construction on the railway began in 1889. In that year, about two miles of the railway spread northward into the Gatineau Hills from Hull.
On December 16, 1890, the first passenger car passed over the Railway, being a special including government engineers on their tour of inspection. In the morning of that day, the car left the C.P.R. depot in Ottawa to take the G.V.R. to the junction of the two railways in Hull. The party in the railcar included Mr. H.J. Beemer, president of the G.V.R., Thomas Ridout, Dominion Government Engineer, Louis A. Vallée, Quebec Government Engineer, W. Dale Harris, Chief Engineer of the Road, Guy C. Dunn, H.O. McFall, engine driver, and a Citizen reporter.
The new line on leaving the C.P.R. took a couple of easy curves. On each side of the line, the company put up barbed wire fencing with a board top as extra prevention for cattle. As a sign of responsible maintenance of way, adjoining culverts were visited and critically examined, first after leaving the junction and then again upon arriving at Ironsides on the north side of Hull. The next stop was a mile further. Here, a close inspection was made of a pipe culvert. Three hundred yards distant from this was a big steel culvert, a substantial construction of 9 feet 2 inches high, made with steel rails and banked in with concrete. The heavy piece of work on this caused no end of anxiety to rail crews owing to frequent slides. The rail cutting in this area was three- quarters of a mile long with an average depth of 15 to 20 feet through heavy clay. The work to complete it took just over one year before it was finished.
A short distance further, another cutting was made. This was about 130 yards in length with a depth of 150 feet. Then a pipe culvert deep down required an immense amount of labour to complete, having to be done twice over owing to a slide. To repair the slide, gravel was brought in from a considerable distance. Portions of it gave way to a composition of sticky clay with a little quicksand running through. Just a mile and a half back from this spot, were the old Iron Mines at Ironsides. Chelsea Station was soon after reached. The Station was six miles from the CPR junction and immediately outside the celebrated Gilmour`s Grove, so well known to picnickers. (Citizen, Wednesday, December 17, 1890.)
In 1890, the Chelsea Station House was very neat and accommodating. It was located at the foot of Mill Street just on the east side of the switch which guides an additional set of rails into a siding. The Station had a large freight shed connecting off the side, as well as comfortable headquarters for the station master.
About a quarter of a mile from the Station location, the beautiful and picturesque scenery of the Gatineau Region blossomed into view, on one side with a high cutting and on the other, a winding river below with a background of wood and majestic mountains. This scenery over time would touch the hearts of many an artist. About just two and a half miles further on from the station, the train could stop at Atkinson’s toll gate, where by this time in 1890, the line was laid just to this point. Here the crew stopped for lunch. Food baskets were turned out by Mr. Sam Cassidy with the inspection tour having provided a good tonic. After lunch, the teams were in waiting and the party took the road to Wakefield. The station at Wakefield was and still is a neat little structure. At the point of its early construction in the 1890s, the railway company had tidy offices in the station from which point, Engineer Dunn pushed the work forward.
By the middle of August, 1891, seven new coach cars arrived from Wimbledon, Delaware, for the Gatineau Valley Railway. They were manufactured by Jackson and Sheppard Company and were finished in oak. In total, they consisted of four excursion cars, a first class car, and a mail and baggage car. Arrangements were made to run into the C.P.R. Union station at Ottawa, thus giving the line an Ottawa terminus by the early part of September, 1891. But amidst all of this, heavy landslides in the vicinity of Ironsides impeded the construction work considerably.
In the middle of November, 1891, a grizzly accident took the lives of four people in a tiny place north of Wakefield known as Stagg Creek. It was an appalling site at the scene of the smash-up. In the chaotic mess were the ruins of what had once been an engine and tender and 13 flat-cars. The bodies of four victims were laid out on one of the cars. The faces of these people were covered by handkerchiefs and their clothes were smeared with the soft sticky clay from which they had been dug. All presented a ghastly sight. Driver Sol Wilson was found in the cab of the ill-fated engine which had been literally embedded in the mud. His hand was on the lever. The fellow had neither the time to stop the train or jump for his life. His face and chest were parboiled by the escaping steam. His watch, when opened by his brother-in-law appeared to have stopped at just 10 minutes past four. In the meantime, the bodies of Robert Meagher, the fireman, and John Hammond, the oiler, were dug out near the engine. Both were close together.
Hammond`s body was the worst spectacle of the four of them. It was terribly scalded and swollen. This was the first trip for the unfortunate young fellow. For several weeks he had been working as a section head on the upper end of the railway, and just the night before had been taken onto the engine as an oiler and cleaner. On the morning of the accident, he came down with a gravel train which passed the ill-fated spot without apparent danger, and on the return trip, met his death. No one around knew anything of him or his parents but it was rumored that he had deserted from one of the military batteries. Meagher, the fireman, was from St. Catherines, N.B., and his remains were sent home.
William Blakely, one of the brakemen, had a most miraculous escape. He was hurled into the middle of the debris yet came out without a scratch. At the time, he was on the seventh car back from the engine. And according to his own statement, he was looking out toward the rear engine when he saw the driver jump out of the cab. But before he could think of anything, much less jump himself, he was hurled forward. There was a crashing noise, and that was all he knew. When he came to, he was on the top of one car with the bottom of the other just above, but not close enough to crush him. Half conscious, he worked his way out from the ruins.
Sam Douglas, the conductor of the train, was on one of the rear cars. He jumped when he heard the first crash, but in falling, broke his left arm and got badly shaken up. At the same time, Alex White, a brakeman, also jumped but was unhurt.
The wreck presented a picture of desolation. The land had slipped completely from under the rails a distance of 150 feet leaving them suspended in the air. Twenty feet or more below, in a bed of thick mud thrown on its side, lay the engine, considerably smashed, with the tender partly on top and also turned over. In sliding, the land had carried half a dozen or more trees with it and these lay uprooted, adding to the uncanny look of the wreck. Only three flat cars and the rear engine remained on the track. There was mud everywhere around the wreck. Just where the debris lay had been shallow water, and when the thirteen car loads of ballast were dumped into it, a vast bed of liquid mud was formed. At the same time, when the engine with three of the victims rolled down the slope, it was completely buried by the unyielding gravel. Only one of the driving wheels was left uncovered to show its whereabouts. As one of the road hands later said, the occupants of the cab had just enough time to know they were done for and that was all. Where the accident occurred, there was a sharp curve leading to a bridge about 100 feet further on, and approaching it, there was a downgrade which would permit the locomotive to shut off steam. But just at the point of the slide the railway was level and they had no chance to see it.
The Inquest
Fully two hundred persons, sectionmen, special hands and farmers from the surrounding district were on the spot when the special train arrived for the inquest. The Coroner had a jury picked from among the farmers and the following were empanelled: William Farrell (foreman), William Moore, Patrick Rice, Henry Beckford, David Brown, John Skillen, William Maxwell, Robert Reed, John Cahill and Sam Brooks. The jury viewed the bodies at the bottom of the slope and the inquest was then opened in an adjacent car. The coroner had to use the lid of one of the coffin shells as a desk and this had been taken up by Mr. Maynard Rogers, the undertaker. Sergeant Moylan of the Ottawa Police Force, acted as special constable.
Hugh McCann, the brakeman who had the wonderful escape, told of the event. In addition, he said that the railway at that point seemed solid and good before the accident. That day, he had made two other trips. He believed the accident was caused by a landslide, but he had not seen any washouts anywhere along the line. It had been raining heavily off and on for two or three days. And while he had only been on the road for about a month, he believed the track had been laid for several months. He did not think any means could have been taken to prevent the accident. But this of course was then… in 1891.
John Brennan, the road master at the time, said that he had walked over the Stagg Creek site at around 10 in the morning. He added that if a flagman had been placed at the site, the accident it might not have happened, but there was no apparent reason to suspect a flaw in the infrastructure. There had apparently not been any slides in the area before. Trains had passed every day for two months in the past. And these were only construction trains as the railway at this point had yet to be accepted by the government for passenger traffic. The accident according to the roadmaster was caused by heavy rains, though above the track, no water had gathered. Apparently, a good drain had carried the water away to a culvert some 100 feet north of where the earth gave way. The railway there appeared just as solid as anywhere else. Mr. Brennan thought the land had started to slide before the engine went on it.
According to the Barrister representing Sol Wilson’s family, the train was running at about 15 miles an hour at the time of the accident. Fifteen miles was the limit of speed allowed. In addition, a second engine was on hand to push up the cars along a grade north of the bridge. On the day of the accident, the train had three cars less than usual. In addition, Mr. John Rowley, superintendent of construction, stated that he had not considered this point of the line to be more dangerous than anywhere else. Thomas Roy, a civil engineer in charge of the section, also noted that the area of Stagg Creek had been graded since the previous May. He also reported that it had been quite dry along there. There were no springs around to dampen the earth and the roadbed was cut out from the side of a hill. He believed the smash to be purely accidental. Barrister Hudson asked if he accident might not have been averted if the roadbed would have been built 30 feet deeper into the side of the hill, as it would not then have slipped from under the tracks. Mr. Roy responded that he could not answer for what might have been.
Conductor McGinnis, in charge of the rear engine owned by the C.P.R., swore positively that he had not heard any whistle to apply brakes. Steam was off at the time, and the rear engine stopped on its own accord just near the edge of the landslip. The conductor had been over the ground twice that day and had seen nothing to indicate danger.
John Cleary, the engineer of the rear engine, swore positively that he had heard a whistle for brake application. The next second, he saw the front engine go down. He said to his mate, ``we’re down on the dump`` - and as he throttled back, he reversed also.
The Barrister concluded that from the testimony, it was clear that the slide was there before the engine came to it. Another witness recounted that when the front engine began to go, he saw the track rise up in front, and that driver Wilson was too close to keep from going in. He would not even have had the time to jump.
Finally, Mr. W.D. Harris, the Chief Engineer on the road, stated that the location of the section had been approved by government and built according to government specifications. The accident was caused by a landslide which might have occurred anywhere.
This was all the evidence taken and, after some five minutes consideration, the jury brought in a verdict that the accident and death of the four men was “caused by the landslide under the railway in the township of Lowe on the 16 th of December, 1891.” No blame was attached to anyone.”
There is one significant observation which no one at the inquest would have known at the time. The majority of the composition of the earth in the area of Stagg Creek, was Leda Clay. And when this clay becomes super-saturated in the presence of heavy rains, it turns out to have the consistency of gray soup. No one could have detected the change in composition unless they were looking for it. And clearly, no one did. (Ottawa Journal, Friday, November 18 th , 1892) In the wake of the accident, construction on the railway continued. The tracks reached Farrelton by 1892. By 1893, they continued north as far as Kazabazua and in 1894, they reached Wright. That same year, the name of the operating company was changed to Ottawa and Gatineau Railway Company. And by 1896, the tracks reached Gracefield.
In 1901, the company name changed once again to Ottawa Northern and Western Railway. It was in this year at the end of March, when the biggest landslide in the history of the Ottawa and Gatineau Railway occurred about a mile and a half south of Chelsea. The entire side of a cliff, about 188 feet in width, slid down onto the railway tracks and covered them over to a great height. A gang of 100 men under Roadmaster J. Brennan started work to clear the tracks. They worked all day and just as they had made a clean passage for the trains, another landslide took place. And the men continued their work. Trains in the meantime worked to both sides of the landslide and passengers were transferred across. Amazingly, the landslide which had had such a demoralizing effect on the service of the Gatineau Valley Railway was entirely cleared away by two o’clock on the following afternoon, permitting the trains to resume their scheduled runs. No time was lost in removing the obstructions and the speed with which it was done, reflects great credit on the Roadmaster, Mr. J. Brennan. (January 4 th , 1901 Ottawa Journal).
Over 100 years later, the train was halted once again due to washouts and landslips on the Mile Long Hill south of Chelsea. And while these were not as great as those in 1901, they have been significant enough for combined governments to consider the expenditure of at least $3 million in restoration.
By 1902, the tracks for the Gatineau Valley Railway were completed to Maniwaki. And at the time, both the railway and the Interprovincial Bridge Company were leased to Canadian Pacific. The C.P.R .then entered into the domain of local railway operations.
But the washout problem would not go away. On April 14 th, 1911, a Gatineau Valley train ran into a washout only two miles from North Wakefield and only the heroism of the train engineer saved the passengers. The engine toppled into a hole but the train stopped on the brink. The engineer, William McFall of the C.P.R., was badly scalded. But by his actions, 40 passengers were saved from death or serious injury. It was about three miles from North Wakefield. The accident occurred about 6:30 and it was due to the washout. The up-train which left Ottawa at 5 o’clock arrived at North Wakefield on time at 6:20. Conductor T.F. Carter and Engineer William McFall were in charge of the train.
About two and a half hours before the down train had passed through safely over the site, and sectionmen who went over the line afterward reported it in good shape.
Recent thaws and rain, however, had put Engineer McFall on his guard, and he was watching the line closely. About three miles from the North Wakefield Station, he saw a gap in the track between fifty and a hundred feet wide and over 25 feet deep. He was almost upon it before he saw the danger. The Fireman jumped. Engineer McFall however, stuck to his post, throwing on the emergency brakes and doing all in his power to stop the train. He succeeded as far as the train was concerned, but the engine toppled over into the hole and he had no time to escape.
The passengers rushed out to see why the train had stopped and there was great excitement when they realized what a narrow escape that they had had. The search was immediately made for the engineer who it was feared, was under the engine, which, over ended and covered with clouds of steam, was lying in the bottom of the hole. Mr. McFall’s body was seen lying on the ice of the river a few feet away. He was scalded from head to foot by the steam. Dr. Pritchard of North Wakefield was at once called and cared for the suffering man.
Word of the accident was wired to Ottawa and a special train with Mr. H.B. Spencer, district manager on board, left at nine o’clock for the scene of the wreck. A gang was at once put to work bringing over the washout section of track. Toward morning, the passengers continued to their destination by special train.
Engineer McFall was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Ottawa. At the time, a journalist from the Ottawa Journal spoke with his wife. She stated that her husband had been railroading for forty years and this was the second accident that he had had. Two years prior, he had had his foot cut off due to an open switch. Mrs. McFall, related that her husband, when brought to hospital in the morning, suffered intense pain, but expressed great satisfaction that all passengers in his charge had been saved. She added, “I was at the station to meet him when the train got in. He was quite conscious and could talk. He related to us how the accident happened. On the way to the hospital, he talked quite freely and told me how the accident occured. He told me that the train was going full speed and they were going round a curve which prevented him from noticing the washout until they were practically on top of it. He immediately applied the brakes, but it was too late to prevent the engine from going into the hole. In doing so, however, he reduced the speed and probably saved the rest of the train. He cried out to the Fireman, Harry Baker, “Jump for your life! And I will remain to see that everything is all right.” A second later, the engine left the tracks.
Mrs. McFall continued. “So far as I could gather from what my husband said, the next he could recall was finding himself on the ground and suffering terribly from the effects of the hot water and steam.” “He told me that he jumped on the ice first and that it seemed to break under his feet and he went down in the water a short way. This considerably relieved the terrible pain from the burns. He was later pulled from the water by some of the passengers and was greatly relieved when told that none of the passengers had been injured.” He exclaimed, “Then thank Heaven they are all saved.” He next enquired for the safety of his fireman. The latter had escaped uninjured. Conductor McFall was one of the veteran railroad men of Ontario and took the first train over the Gatineau Road. Before going to the Gatineau Valley Railway he was for many years operating on the old Brockville and Ottawa line. William McFall passed away a short time later. In the wake of his passing, the Ottawa Citizen wrote, “His actions inspired admiration and respect for railway engineers as a body. Engineer McFall was an elderly man and had already been maimed in a previous accident, resulting in the loss of a foot. Yet, with unshaken nerve, he continued his work, and when again he was unfortunate enough to meet disaster through no fault of his own, he courageously met death in order to ensure the safety of his passengers. (Ottawa Citizen, April 18, 1911.)
Sixteen years later In 1926, the construction of the Chelsea Power Dam raised the level of the Gatineau River. The tracks between Kirk`s Ferry and Chelsea had to be placed on higher ground as the original tracks were now flooded over. (Low Down to Hull and Back News, June 6th, 1974) Just one year after the raising of the river, on March 14 th , 1927, the Ottawa Journal documented the collapse of a clay bank near Lowe, about 40km north of Ottawa, caused a delay in traffic on the railway which had now become known as the “C.P.R. Maniwaki line”. The track was buried under six feet of clay over a distance of some 60 feet. (Ottawa Journal, March 14 th , 1927).
Tourist Excursions
Steam train excursion operations on the Gatineau began in 1974 under the auspices of the National Capital Commission and the National Museum of Science and Technology using restored Canadian Pacific equipment. The first locomotive was CPR D-10 No.1057, leased from the Ontario Rail Association of Toronto, along with rolling stock from the same organization. Operating train crews were provided by Canadian Pacific – under contract – while the servicing and firing of the 1201 was handled by volunteers of the Bytown Railway Society of Ottawa.
By 1976, the stream train operation had its own equipment in the form of ex-CP Pacific 1201, owned by the National Museum of Science and Technology. With five passenger cars, it provided seating for 325 passengers, all belonging to the Museum. This operation lasted through to the end of the 1985 operating season. It stopped when Canadian Pacific opted to abandon the Maniwaki Subdivision. The operation ran 2 days per week, initially Wednesday and Sunday, and then in later years, Saturday and Sunday, using the National Museum of Science and Technology as a base, as well as the VIA Rail station in Ottawa. As the Federal Government got out of the excursion business, some forward looking visionaries in the Gatineau Valley conceived the idea of a public/private partnership to operate an excursion service into Wakefield. Enter John Trent and the Friends. Although their initial plan was to operate “Canadian” rolling stock, none was available or that which was available would have required a substantial and expensive restoration. Accordingly, the decision was made to look overseas and the original operator of the train, Marc Grondin, arranged for the purchase of Swedish rolling stock from the Swedish National Railways.
The Swedish steam train which came to Canada was built in 1907 and used in Sweden until electric engines were introduced in 1945. Mothballed for twenty years, the steam train returned to service for a short time in the 1960s, but was again mothballed until it was finally sold and shipped to Canada in the 1990s. As the story goes, the government of Sweden had been so worried during the Cold War that invaders might destroy their electric train system, for decades they stored their pristine fleet of steam engines as a back-up. Some of them were stored in mountain caves. Others were stored in a long corrugated steel shed which looked much like a farmer’s barn. In the majority of cases the storage barns were positioned about 20 km from the border with Finland. When the Swedes built these barns close to the Finish borders, the spur lines were actually hidden and for all purposes, the rail lines to the storage sheds were camouflaged as a farmer’s field. The locomotive along with Diesel 244, the coach cars and assorted rolling stock as well as tons of spare parts and technical manuals eventually came to Canada by sea on a boat named the “Federal Mass”. The Launch date was June 28, 1992.
By the time the Groulx family had their operations laid out, they began connecting with Don Shapiro, a broker in California, to find suitable rolling stock to replace the 1201. They were the ones who in fact ended up with the Swedish class 2-8-0 Locomotive and nine coach cars comprising the train consist. A sold out train represents approximately 500 passengers. Looking back nearly 20 years, one of the advantages of this equipment was that it was generally half the weight of the North American stock. And now with the new equipment, it was a blessing in disguise. The lighter locomotive could still haul at least eight or nine cars in the consist. The older 1201 could only handle about a maximum of 6 conventional coaches. The challenge for this equipment was the ability of the respective trains to handle the grade on the Mile Hill. The 909 being lighter and a freight hauler was better rated for the grades on the line. The Swedish locomotive has eight drive wheels operating on four axles - a class 2-8-0. It was able to handle the grades more easily.
Staffing on the Steam Train was a main concern. When one of the long time employees on the train retired in 2011, he was 78. That brought the average employment age to about 50. Some employees were in their late teens and the others were retired from well established careers. The strength as far as staffing was concerned, was that train crews operated mostly out of passion. Running a train had not been a first career for most of the train crew. Their houses were paid for and their families were raised. At the time, stream train operations generally involved a small business catering to a big business world. The train was generally expensive to operate and as such, the operators couldn’t dream of going big time without some government help. While still in the hands of the National Capital Commission, the steam train to Wakefield had operated with locomotives 1057 and 1201. Ches Banks, the senior engineer on the Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Railway, dates his time from the 1057 era while Phil Jago, an HCW fireman, worked on the 1201 between 1979 and 1985, joining the HCW payroll in May of 2007 following an orientation in the fall of 2006. The train crew has also had other ex-railroaders – former steam men – as part of regular operations but, as the years rolled by, these men grew too old to cope with the grueling demands of a steam locomotive.
While the employees at one end of the spectrum were retired, on the other end, the front line staff comprised tour guides, ticket office reservations agents, musicians and entertainers. These young people brought a youthful energy to the train. Over time, such a mixture made for a perfect balance of wisdom and youthful energy. The young were full of ideas and the more elderly provided a balance. During normal operations, the steam train had about 80 paid employees in-house.
In terms of catering, Robert Bourassa of the famous restaurant Henri Berger did the catering on the train for five years. But this came to an abrupt halt when the Federal Government stopped the practice of allowing senior executives to have paid lunches, bringing about the closure of the well known Hull establishment. By the mid-2000s, the steam train operators decided to deal with Bytown Catering in Ottawa. And in between Berger and Bytown, another operator had the catering operation for about a year. Indeed, he had tried to purchase the train after it stopped running in 2008. At the time waiters and kitchen staff were among the nearly 20 jobs created in addition to the 75 seasonal jobs associated with the steam train operations.
When the steam train recommenced its operations in 1992, initial challenges were to get a grasp on the railway operating business while managing infrastructure and transport regulation and all which that encompasses, and to establish ways to profit from the service. An additional element involved understanding the tourism industry which implied entertainment on wheels.
Successful operations are pivotal in the steam train business. There needs to be a good level of knowledge of rail regulations, rolling stock, and at the same time a sound understanding of sales, ticket office operations, accounting, on-road sales, hiring, training, and a need to be well versed in the restaurant business while ordering wine and liquors for weekend operations. The train over the years has had some 30 musicians working on a part time basis and management has had to be many things to many people. This over time was the reality. Management has also had to deal with train crews, food and beverage operations, and retail sales. The work had its variety.
A landslip in 2008 caused everyone to realize that the infrastructure needed some serious attention. As the story goes, the Groulx and Gauthiers went toe to toe with the CCFO vis-à-vis a long term commitment to the railway plus infrastructure investment. A huge amount of work took place in addition to the repairs to the slide on the Mile Hill. The Federal Economic Action Plan provided money to renew installations of new crossings, new culverts, new ties, ballasting, surfacing, turntable renewal, track repairs in the Hull Yard, attention to the crossing signals, shore power in Wakefield, with even more improvements planned right up to the point that the devastating rains came in late June, 2011. Indeed, the railway tie replacement gang was at Alcan just a few days before the rains brought everything to a standstill. These rains washed out infrastructure along the “Mile Hill” between Ironsides and Chelsea. The turntable in Wakefield was completely rebuilt and operator André Groulx and his wife Louise while in operation, dealt with all political levels - one day meeting with a Minister and the next day attending an International Sales event. It was like multi tasking on steroids… and at the same time, the train had to make a profit.
Louise Groulx was a bastion of support to André during the time of their operations. They had a family business obviously, working together on a daily basis. Jean and Jeannine Gauthier owned the train, which has since been purchased by the CCFO – Compagnie de chemin de fer de l’Outaouais. The train management before the sale was like a big convenience store… albeit an unconventional one. There was never time to run out of things to do in an operation such as this.
The Track
Railway track Infrastructure is obviously the foundation of everything. A washout hit the local railway in 2007 at Mileage 7.3 and was repaired in only two and a half days by the Groulx family. It caused only a brief interruption in service. Only one year later in 2008, a landslip at approximately Mile 4.7 brought a cessation in operations for the year and this was where the bubble burst. The steam train operators could no longer operate the train – for this year at least. The washouts and landslips had brought an end to their business.
Enter the CCFO
When the family began operations in 1994, they effectively took over the business from a bankruptcy. The governing body at the time didn’t bother to draft a contact. The Gauthier family lost much money in the three years following. By this time, it was a question of survival for the family business. After five years, operating on about 20 miles of railway, essentially anyone could have come in and shut the operation down. The family had operated without a contract and obviously they wanted to invest in equipment and track. They approached the whole thing sensibly and looked at other operations in North America. They needed terms of reference for investment in infrastructure and equipment. And eventually, they reached an operating agreement with the CCFO in 2007.
The landslide in 2008 provoked the end of operations for the train. The Groulx family hired an engineer to investigate. By this time, the CCFO, which by now was the principal land owner, ordered an engineering study. The price tag for the repairs turned out to be about $9 million. In 2008, the Quebec Ministry of Transport inspected the line. After their inspection, the MTQ recommended that a viable operating contract be made with the CCFO, and that the operator be secured through insurance, which, among other things would cover landslips.
Then the heavy rains came in June of 2011. The rains of the St. Jean Baptist Day weekend in June, devastated homes, roads, the railway and even adjacent farmlands. The region of the Lower Gatineau was officially declared a Disaster Area and personal losses amounted to the millions of dollars. It was the natural disaster that forced the hand of all parties. The CCFO ended up purchasing the train as well as managing the track and the right-of-way. The Gauthier family retired from the business. And now in 2012, the engineering consortium of Marathon, Rail Term and Golder has been engaged to undertake a counter-evaluation to an original study by CIMA, made to estimate the costs for repairs to the track.
There have in fact been a total of nine separate studies and inspections since the disastrous weekend in June, 2011. The group Qualitas did an inspection of the track and then developed an accompanying report describing the damage. Later, the CIMA group did an estimation of repair costs and under the CIMA study, these costs would total $6.2 million. Soon after the report was released there were suggestions to undertake a counter evaluation. It was apparent that repairs could be affected through the use of hopper cars to drop ballast on the railway right-of-way, in place of an access road that was originally recommended to be built alongside the tracks. In addition, much needed ballast to solidify the roadbed on the track was found to be locally available through a supplier at Farm Point. While the counter evaluation has yet to be released, clearly the price of any repairs should effectively be lowered by about one half from the previous evaluation made last November.
The challenge to get the steam train going again is not a small one. It is significant. It will take investments from everyone to realize that effective operations can exist along the track, and that effective profitability can be made with restored operations.
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