Salem & Hillsborough Railroad – David Othen

The Salem & Hillsborough Railroad operated between 1984 and 2004 as a tourist railway carrying passengers and operating dinner trains between Hillsborough, Salem & Baltimore, New Brunswick.

Steam Locomotives

Three steam locomotives operated on the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad. Ex S&L 42, ex CPR 29 and ex CN 1009.

Here ex Sydney & Louisbourg 42 (built in 1899 by Schenectady Locomotive Works) is operating on the Cape Breton Steam Railway in  June 1973. It came to the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad under steam on 13 November 1983. After a couple of years operating on the S&H it needed boiler and firebox repairs. The photo below shows it in the S&H workshops on 7 September 1987. It is now stored at the Museum of Industry in Stellarton, Nova Scotia.

29 & 1009 came to the S&H on flat cars on 13 November 1983.

Both were put into operating condition but 1009 was the more powerful locomotive and did the majority of train haulage by steam locomotives.

Here 1009 with the first class coach approaches Hillsborough up a 1.5% grade on 21 May 1988.

1009 was last steamed in August 1998 for use in the movie Paradise Siding. To celebrate its 100th Anniversary CRHA(NB) has produced a video of it. Click here for more information and to see a movie clip. Ex CN 1009 is now on display at the New Brunswick Railway Museum .

CPR 29 is a 4-4-0 built by the CPR in Montreal in 1887. 29 along with 136 & 144 ended their careers on the CP Norton – Chipman branch in New Brunswick. They were used on this branch because the bridges were not strong enough to support heavier diesel locomotives. 29 made a final farewell steam run on the CPR in 1960. She is seen below at Hillsborough on 7 September 1987. 

Subsequently Canadian Pacific 29 and the sheds were damaged in a fire on 16 September 1994. The photo below shows the remains of 29 and diesels 208 and 209 on 24 September 1994.

CP 29 is now on static display outside the Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters in downtown Calgary.

Diesel Locomotives

7941

7941 is an NW2 built in 1946 by GM for CN. It came to the S&H in operating condition on 13 November 1983. It was used for several years before being retired with a cracked engine block.

The upper photo shows 7941 at Hillsborough on 16 August 1985 and the lower photo shows 7941 in S&H livery in the scrap line at Moncton on 4 September 1989.

208/8208 and 209

These two RS-1s were purchased from the Devco Railway in 1984. 208 was built in 1946 and 209 in 1950 by ALCO. 208 was in operating condition and was renumbered 8208 (it later was numbered back to 208). 209 was acquired mainly as a parts source and never operated on the S&H.

Both locomotives were photographed at Hillsborough – 8208 on 7 September 1987 and 209 on 17 August  1985.

1754

1754 was built as a four axle RS-18 # 3847 by Montreal Locomotive Works for Canadian National in 1959. In 1975 Canadian National retrucked it with six wheel trucks from a scrapped RSC-13 locomotive so that it could be used on branch lines in Atlantic Canada. In 1995 CN donated the locomotive to the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad.

The upper photograph shows the locomotive running round its train at Salem on 8 October 1995 while the lower shows the locomotive a year later when it had been completely repainted (Hillsborough 13 October 1996)

1754 was used extensively on the S&H and is now at the New Brunswick Railway Museum. 

8245

8245 was acquired from CN in 1989 in exchange for 7941.

8245 is an S12 built in 1958 by Montreal Locomotive Works for Canadian National. Only 11 were built; all for Canadian National. The S12 was a Canadian version of the Alco S4.

8245 before repainting is seen with 208 (now renumbered) at Hillsborough on 4 September 1989.

8245 after repainting is seen here at Hillsborough, New Brunswick with the dinner train on 5 September 1993. She was used extensively on the S&H and is now at the New Brunswick Railway Museum.

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Material on this page is copyright 1997-2012 by Pat and David Othen. Reproduced with permission.