Nova Scotia has two Shortlines - the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway and the Windsor & Hantsport Railway - and a variety of industrial operations based on gypsum mining, coal mining and steel manufacture and fabrication.

A mixture of second-hand power is used on the shortlines, with the Windsor and Hantsport using entirely Alco/MLW RS23s, usually three at a time!

1) CAPE BRETON & CENTRAL NOVA SCOTIA RAILWAY:

This railway runs 230 miles from Sydney, Cape Breton to the Canadian National interchange at Truro, NS. It used to carry coal from the DEVCO mines near Sydney and steel products (mainly rails) from Sydney Steel but the phasing out of the mines and steel plant has reduced this traffic to a trickle.

Now much of the traffic is from the Port Hawkesbury/Point Tupper area including forest products from Stora Forest Industries at Point Tupper, and natural gas by-products from offshore gas. In the New Glasgow area Michelin receives supplies  as does Trenton Car Works and Kimberley Clark. The latter two industries also ship out products by rail. Some logs and general merchandise are also hauled.

In 1997 Mainline freights were hauled by Alco/MLW C630Ms (there was one M636 on the roster) and two GM GP50s borrowed from the Indiana & Ohio Railway (IORY). By the end of 1999 all the Alcos had been retired and are being scrapped or sold and mainline power was six GP50s still in BN livery but lettered IORY or CBCNS. These four-axle units were not liked by the crews on the steeply-graded route and have now been replaced by four leased HATX SD45s.

Switching was performed by Alco/MLW RS18s but then a diverse collection of  Geeps including one GM GP18 arrived from other shortlines and many were eventually retired and scrapped.  Now three leased LLPX GP15s, three GP9-4s in RailLink livery, a GP9 in CB&CNS green livery and a GP-40 in GEXR livery share turns on these duties and on the short freights across Cape Breton island.

Here we see Alco/MLW RS18 #3842 pausing between switching operations at Point Tupper on 6 October 1997.

The next two photos show GM GP18 4700 preparing train 305 at Sydney on 6 October 1997. Note that the locomotive does not have the full railway name but only the initials C.B.& C.N.S. The locomotive was built for GTW.

2) THE WINDSOR & HANTSPORT RAILWAY COMPANY LIMITED:

This railway runs from Mantua to near New Minas with a branch to the Canadian National mainline at Windsor Junction. Total trackage is about 60 miles. It mainly hauls gypsum from the mines in the Windsor area to the loading dock at Hantsport but is also developing new business hauling logs, feed grain, cooking oil, produce and general merchandise.

The roster is entirely Alco/MLW RS23 units purchased from CP Rail. Only one unit has been repainted, all the other units have the CP Rail name (but not the logo where it existed) painted out with black paint and are lettered WHRC in white. The maintenance shops are able to repair all parts of the RS23s (or have suppliers who can) and the staff are confident that they can keep the fleet running as long as it is economically viable to do so.

In this photo four RS23s led by # 8036 haul a loaded 25 car gypsum train from the mine at Mantua on 2 August 1995.

This is the only unit in The Windsor & Hantsport Railway paint scheme of maroon with grey stripe and white lettering. It is seen at Hantsport on 9 September 1995.

Here RS23 8026 has its wheels reprofiled on 12 January 1996 at Windsor NS. One brake block at a time is replaced by a cutter and the the locomotive is operated backwards and forwards. The snow is an added safety precaution!!

In 1997 the WHRC began a series of summer-weekend excursion trains between Windsor and Hantsport although on some occasions the train went to Mantua. The railroad purchased two open-air cars and one ex-VIA dayniter car (which is air-conditioned) and runs the consist with their repainted caboose # 150 and a locomotive at each end, though they are not mu'd together and so the rear locomotive only idles.

3) NATIONAL GYPSUM:

National Gypsum operates the largest gypsum mine in Canada at Milford. Generally two seventy car trains are operated each day by Canadian National from the mine to the shipping dock at Wright's Cove Dartmouth. At Wright's Cove the gypsum is stockpiled prior to loading onto ocean freighters which take the gypsum to wallboard manufacturing plants in the United States.

Until mid 2000 National Gypsum had three locomotives, the biggest of which was a remote-controlled GE 100 ton locomotive (built in 1971) which switched the loaded cars at the mine (the cars are pulled through the loader by a hauser with prongs that push on the axles). The engineer carries a control pack at waist level and radio signals are sent to the locomotive via a repeater located on the roof of the loading building.

Cars are unloaded at Wright's Cove using a rotary tipper (up untilMay  2003). Each car has to be pushed into the tipper, uncoupled and then the rest of the train is pulled out of the way. The incoming car pushes the unloaded car down a grade where it is positioned using the hand brake by a brakeman who climbs onto the car as it leaves the tipper. An un-numbered British-built Hunslet 0-6-0 (built in 1986) used to perform these duties. A GE 45 ton locomotive (built in 1955) was kept as spare locomotive although the Dartmouth crews say they prefer it because it has better braking power than the Hunslet. The Hunslet and the rotary tipper are generally controlled by an operator using a beltpack . He also uncouples the cars as they enter the tipper.

In October 2000 National Gypsum obtained two GM switchers which were reconditioned and equipped for remote control by A.A. Merrilees. The first unit 506 (an SW900) arrived in Dartmouth in early October but despite having a cut down cab would not fit  through the unloader (the cab would not fit through the car clamps). The second unit (now numbered 507) is also remote controlled and has worked at the Milford mine site since early 2001. It is ex CN 8512:1 later 7162 - an SW8.

In May 2003 National Gypsum took delivery of about 120 higher capacity, air dump cars built by   These are painted grey, lettered NGCX and many carry the names of employees (each had to sign a release to allow their names to be put on the car)! Now trains are only about 60 cars long and two SD75Is have difficulty getting the loaded train up the grade from the mine after stopping to align the switch to the main line.

4) FUNDY GYPSUM:

Fundy Gypsum near Windsor has two mines - one at Mantua and one at Dimock's both served by The Windsor & Hantsport Railway. The gypsum company has several GE 25T & 45T locomotives which are used for loading at the mine sites. The cars have air-operated bottom doors. At Hantsport the cars are pulled through the unloader and the doors are opened one at a time so that the gypsum falls onto a conveyer belt. The cars are now switched using one of the WHRC locomotives but previously an un-numbered GE 45T was used and this was apparently controlled remotely.

5) TRENTON CAR WORKS:

The railroad car manufacturing facility at Trenton, outside New Glasgow, was originally owned by Hawker Siddeley, then Lavalin and is now owned by Greenbrier Industries. Since Greenbrier has taken over the locomotives and facilities look much cleaner and tidier. There are two GE 45T locomotives - 2701 & 2702.

6) SYDNEY STEEL CORPORATION (SYSCO):

The Sydney Steel Corporation has had several owners during its lifetime including DOSCO (Dominion Steel and Coal).  In the 1990s it was "downsized" and manufactured rails for domestic and foreign railroads. The internal narrow gauge railway was closed. The works interchanged standard gauge cars with the CB&CNS and used a mixture of locomotives including GE 65T & 80Ts as well as SW8s & an SW9. After many attempts to sell the plant, it was closed in 2002.

7) CAPE BRETON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (DEVCO):

This crown corporation was formed in 1968 to improve the economy of Cape Breton and increase employment. One division - the coal division - was formed to operate the mines in Cape Breton and the Sydney & Louisburg Railway which became the DEVCO Railway. In the 1970s it had a motley collection of second-hand ALCO RS1s, RS23s and RS27s. From 1979 to 1983 they purchased thirteen GP38-2s some of which had power take-offs so that they could be used as emergency generators at the mines.

The railroad hauled the coal to the washing plant at Victoria Junction and then either to the loading dock at Witney Pier, to the domestic coal terminal at Dominion or to the interchange with the CB&CNS at Sydney.

When the mines closed several of the GP38-2s were sold and the coal pier and railroad were purchased by Emera (owners of the Nova Scotia Power Corporation). Coal is now imported through the pier and hauled by train to Victoria Junction where it is unloaded by a special tipper that has an electric remote controlled "pusher" that runs on a short track inside the building parallel to the line of coal cars and positions them for roatary tiping.  After blending, the coal is trucked to one power station and taken by train to another. The cars have rotary couplings and so do not have to be uncoupled. The railroad is operated by the Quebec Railway Corporation as the Sydney Coal Railway.

Note the symbol indicating motion and transportation and the differences in name - DEVCO RAILWAY and CAPE BRETON DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. Similar variations exist on other equipment including the coal cars.