The Railways of Canada Archives -- Salem & Hillsborough Railroad And Other Railways of Albert County

Salem & Hillsborough Railroad
And Other Railways of Albert County

by Art Clowes and David Othen

The history of our rail line dates back to April 13, 1864 when The Albert Railway Company was first incorporated to build a line from the European and North American Railway (presently the Canadian National Railway) at Salisbury, New Brunswick to the parish of Hillsborough. Prior to being acquired by the Canadian Government Railways in May, 1918, this railway was known by three legal names, and like many branch lines had seen its share of service interruptions and bankruptcies.

Today, we have to thank Mr. A. E. Killam, for bringing the railway into Hillsborough, since the original proposal was to take a straighter line inland several miles, thus missing Hillsborough. The early arguments against coming to Hillsborough all related to the grades! In the two miles between Salem and Weldon, the line makes a vertical drop of almost 26.82 metres (88 feet). After a run across the marshes along the Petitcodiac River the railway climbs 4.27 metres (14 feet) to our Hillsborough station. The original line over the 4.4 miles from Hillsborough to Albert Mines travelled vertically 59.74 metres (196 feet). Today the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad operates between Hillsborough and Baltimore (near Turtle Creek) and the extra curves through Salem, to gain height, adds to the enjoyment of the ride.

Let's flash back to early October 1872, as Lieutenant-Governor Wilmot with a number of other top-hatted gentlemen and their ladies gathered near Salisbury to turn the first sod of the Albert Railway. The bright sunshine and colourful fall foliage made a suitable backdrop. This was about the peak of early railway construction, Canadian Confederation was only a few years old, and everyone was flush with enthusiasm for railway building. Railways were going to be the saviour of the people, once built, they weren't subject to the ongoing problems of the early muddy trails we called roads. The railway promoters, like most promoters, figured that their systems would out perform all other modes of transportation such as horses and those slow sailing ships that had to rely on the wind. The area from Salisbury to Hillsborough was mostly unsettled, but the promise of lumber, minerals and active ship building along the Petitcodiac River were great drawing cards. Coupled with this were the subsidies of the governments, as well as local communities along the proposed routes.

Early settlers along the Petitcodiac River had quickly learned about the land. The Acadians built the early dykes with their aboiteaux to keep out the tide whilst still allowing drainage thus permitting the marshes to become valuable farmland. Other entrepreneurs discovered various minerals and other resources and soon ships were carrying stone from the river's shores to markets. Grindstone Island, needs no explanation, but many ship loads of other cut stone went to Boston and New York for their buildings. About 1850, a mineral related to coal was discovered near Albert Mines. This mineral became known as Albertite, (technically called in 1877, congealed inspissated petroleum) and was a great source of "coal oil." It was promoted as a great illuminating oil. As hundreds of tons of this mineral was exported by ship, a railway was built from the Albert Mines to a coal wharf on the Petitcodiac River. This railway wharf was located a few hundred metres south of the village of Hillsborough, and its cars were pulled by horses. This Albertite mining operation wound up a few years after the arrival of the Albert Railway.

About the same time, large gypsum deposits were discovered between Hillsborough and Albert Mines. In 1851, the Hillsborough Plaister & Rail Road Company was incorporated by the New Brunswick government. Soon they also had a horse powered railway hauling cars from their quarries to their plaster mill and a river wharf in Hillsborough. The mill, although rebuilt several times continued near to its original location until it was closed in 1980. The Salem & Hillsborough Railroad acquired some of these closed mill facilities. The Hillsborough Plaister & Rail Road continued to operate until about the beginning of World War I, however, by then, it had converted to steam power. In the early 1900's they had two 0-4-0 tank engines, No. 1, the Connie and No. 2, the Tad.

So, one can speculate that Mr. Killam, probably had his eye on some of this business as he looped his railway into Hillsborough. It was four years from the turning of the first sod on the Albert Railway until an excursion over the first eleven miles from Salisbury occurred on November 11, 1876. Construction was then in full swing, as the rails were reported reaching Hillsborough by the end of 1876. The first train over this 24.37 miles from Salisbury rolled into Hillsborough on Saturday, January 27, 1877.

The Albert Railway used a former Intercolonial engine during construction, possibly No. 84. As the road started operations, it also had two Baldwin built locomotives on its roster. These locomotives had cost the company $9,550 each.

The remaining 20.39 miles between Hillsborough and Hopewell Corner (Albert) were completed and ready for opening by early October 1877. The official opening of the 44.76 miles of the Albert Railway took place on Thursday, October 4, 1877 with Lieutenant-Governor Tilley in attendance at Albert. The original station houses at Albert and Hillsborough were both two storey frame structures, 24 x 38 feet and cost $1,125 each. The station houses at Cape as well as at Albert (rebuilt by the Canadian Government Railways following the burning of the original) remain today as private residences. The former Albert station still sports colours close its original.

Portions of the Albert Railway nearer the southern end, now part of a provincial hiking trail, swung out on the marshes in front of Hopewell Hill to be opposite the shipyard of Gaius Turner, Esquire, across the Shepody River at Harvey Bank. At Riverside it passed near Senator McLellan's shipyard.

In 1878, the Harvey Branch Railway was formed to construct a railway from Albert across the Shepody River to Harvey Bank, a distance of a little over 3 miles. The above mentioned Gaius S. Turner, a local entrepreneur and politician was one of the driving forces behind this railway extension to his ship yard, and as we will mention latter, was very involved in another railway until his death in April 1892. The extension to Harvey Bank went into operation in the mid 1880's.

October 10, 1889 saw the formation of the Salisbury & Harvey Railway company (from which the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad copied its initials). The Salisbury & Harvey was a corporate reorganization after an earlier bankruptcy, and controlled the full 48 miles from Salisbury to Harvey Bank.

The year 1878 also saw Gaius Turner and his friends charter a second railway called the Albert Southern Railway. This line was to provide a rail connection from Alma to other parts of the country via the Albert Railway. Mileages were measured from Harvey (Branch) Junction on the east side of the Shepody River (Germantown) marshes. The railway was beleaguered by numerous problems created by both government inspectors and the rough terrain encountered on the descent into Alma, 121.92 metres, (400 feet) in its southern 4.5 miles. While routing at both ends had to be changed during construction, it was reported in late 1887 that 10.5 miles of the final 16.2 miles of track had been laid. During 1888 the Albert Southern received a locomotive and was able to move 8 or 10 cars of pulpwood daily to Harvey to load a ship. While money problems kept the progress on this railway slow, operation over the finished track continued as the track crept towards Alma, which saw its first locomotive on June 9, 1891. The line from Harvey Junction (near Harvey) to Alma was formally opened on July 1, 1891. Excursions over the Albert Southern were always mammoth events, and low fares helped, like 80 cents return between Hillsborough and Alma for adults and children under 15 years were carried free.

Photo Albert County Historical Society Collection

Whether due to fate, poor construction or maintenance, Friday, June 29, 1894 was to become a very important date to both the Harvey Branch and Albert Southern railways. That Friday, the regular afternoon passenger train was heading for Harvey from Salisbury, when as they were crossing the Shepody River bridge near Albert, it collapsed! While the engine reached the Harvey side safely, the passenger and baggage-mail cars weren't so lucky, and wound up in about four feet of water in the river. There were four passengers in the coach and four crew in the combined baggage and mail car. Luckily, no one was seriously injured, although Miss Coonan was knocked unconscious. There was an engine on the now isolated trackage but this bridge was not reconstructed.

Photo Albert County Historical Society Collection

The Albert Southern struggled on until about 1900-1901, when operations over it ceased. During the first decade of the 1900's the rails were removed and sold, leaving portions of its road bed that can still be explored a hundred years later.

While, no doubt the portion of the Harvey Branch Railway between Harvey Junction (Derry's Corner) and Harvey Bank was used by the Albert Southern, overall it seemed to quietly vanish after the Shepody bridge collapse in 1894, although some records show that the rails were not lifted until about 1916 for the war effort.

The Salisbury & Harvey Railway changed its name in 1909 to the Salisbury & Albert, which kept mildly busy until the start of First World War, although the company never showed much of a profit.

Several years of diminished train service, interruptions and the deterioration of both trackside and track carrying structures including the 4 span bridge across the Petitcodiac River at Mile 1.0, resulted in the federal government acquiring the S. &. A. in 1918 and turning it over to the Canadian Government Railways. Later in 1918 it passed to the Canadian National Railways and became their Albert Subdivision. The C.N.R. totally rebuilt the Petitcodiac River bridge in late 1920.

As on all railways in their early days, a daily passenger train ran over the full line, from its southern terminal Harvey or Albert to Salisbury and returned the same day. This train normally arrived at Salisbury in time to connect with an Intercolonial train from Moncton to Saint John and would lay over until the train from Saint John arrived at Salisbury before starting its return to the south. In those days, railways would run trains on any excuse; general excursions, specials for politicians, funerals, etc. However, reliability, especially in the winters and as the result of minor accidents, often left the public frustrated. Lack of money also cost this line its passenger service at several times. By 1933 passenger service to Albert was down to two trains per week. The main highway from Moncton was paved in 1936 and by 1946 passenger service between Hillsborough and Albert was down to one mixed train per week, while mixed train service between Hillsborough and Salisbury continued on a daily except Sunday basis.

The C.N.R. abandoned the portion of their Albert Subdivision south of Hillsborough to Albert (20.39 miles) effective March 31, 1955, and the line was dismantled before the end of that year. Highway 114 parallels this abandoned rail bed from Hamilton Creek (a couple of miles south of The Rocks) to Albert. Today, as previously mentioned this right of way has been converted to a hiking trail and is still visible in many places from the highway.

Regular freight service continued to run to Hillsborough for the gypsum plaster board mill and the branch showed small but significant profits until the plaster and wallboard business went to trucks in 1977. By 1980 the line was clearly without purpose, and with government approval ceased operations between Mile 2.85 and Hillsboro (Mile 24.36) effective May 28, 1982. The remaining 2.85 miles were officially abandoned as a federal railway by the C.N.R. on July 17, 1987 when it was purchased by NB Power to serve as private trackage for access to their major transformer station at Synton, (300 ton transformers don't move well by road!).

The eleven miles north west from Hillsborough were of significance because they offered good scenery for tourist trains. The Canadian Railroad Historical Association (C.R.H.A.) was able to purchase the line from Hillsborough to Baltimore for $1.00 and set up the operation (Salem & Hillsborough Railroad) which you can see today (passenger trains normally run over the summer on Sunday afternoons with charter and dinner trains running at other times). The Hillsborough terminal and portions of the plaster-mill became the maintenance sheds and offices until they burned down in the disastrous fire of September 16, 1994.

29 is now outside the CPR headquaters in Calgary. The former
Gypsum mill which was used as shops is seen behind the locomotives.

So, as this century draws to a close, the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad, Hillsborough, is still an interesting centre to begin exploring the railway history of Albert County. After a trip over the S&H, the ghosts of Albert County are sure to haunt you as you travel around the county. Perhaps they are the ghosts of the early German immigrants being taught by an Acadian the craft of cutting and hollowing out some of the immense pines trees on Gray's Island to form vats in which to evaporate water from the Petitcodiac and obtain its salt to preserve their meats and fish, or ghosts from the middle of this century in the form of tank cars lettered "New Brunswick Oil Fields Limited" that sat on the siding near Weldon, waiting to be filled with Albert County oil. Or perhaps ghosts of the creaking cars and rails of the horse railways as they slowly moved their heavy cargoes to the river wharves and their waiting barques, brigs and schooners.

So, on your next visit to New Brunswick, be sure to include Hillsborough, Albert County and the S&H on your list of "Must See!"

We are always wanting to add to the history of our railway and the railways of Albert County, so we would appreciate hearing from anyone with information and stories about these. Please contact J.A.Clowes by e-mail or at 234 Canterbury Avenue, Riverview, NB E1B 2R7

Additional photographs and information can be found in "Shadows of the Past" published by the Albert County Historical Society Inc. and at the Salem & Hillsborough Railroad website.

[ ARTICLES ]