Cartier Railway
Encyclopedia
The Cartier Railway is a privately owned railway that operates 260 miles (416 km) of track in the Canadian
province of Québec
. It is operated by the Cartier Railway Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal, formerly Québec Cartier Mining Company
. The railway connects the company's massive iron ore mine
at Mont-Wright
in Northeastern Québec with the company's processing plant and port
at Port Cartier, formerly Shelter Bay, which is located on the northern banks of the St. Lawrence River.
The Cartier Railway has 26 locomotives, over 950 ore cars, 300 utility cars, and various other pieces of maintenance equipment. The railroad, along with other Northeastern Québec railways, including the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation
line, the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway
and the Arnaud Railway is completely isolated from any other railroad network in North America. Although the other 3 railroads connect to each other, they don't have any connections to this railroad at all, making this one completely 100% isolated from any other railroads.
The entire line was equipped with Centralized Traffic Control
from the very beginning and the railroad has twelve sidings between Port-Cartier and Lac Jeannine :fr:Lac Jeannine, named in alphabetical order from south to north. The siding names are Able, Baker, Charles, Dog, Eva, Fox, Georges, Howe, Item, Jig, Kay, and Love. All sidings are 6,600 ft (2011 m) in length except for Fox which is 12,090 feet (3685 m) and Love at 14,200 feet (4328 m). Since southbound loaded ore trains never enter the sidings, the south ends of each siding have power switches while the north ends have spring switches. However, both Fox and Love sidings have power switches at both ends.
Diesel Division GP9
locomotives and eight Montreal Locomotive Works
RS-18
locomotives. A fleet of 500 ore cars were constructed by Canadian Car and Foundry
. The first full year saw 8,130,000 tons of concentrate shipped with three trainsets cycling between Lac Jeannine and Port-Cartier. Winter operations would see trains length dropped to as few as 90 cars with more trainsets added to keep up with production. The railway would move an average of eight to nine million tons for the next ten years.
On of the biggest problems faced by the Cartier Railway during the winter months was keeping the concentrate from freezing to the sides of the ore cars, which could make dumping the concentrate a very slow process. The solution to this problem was to line the insides of the ore cars with styrofoam
sheets and cover it with plywood
. Steam was injected in the plywood/styrofoam liner at the mine and it would keep the ore insulated until it reached the unloader at Port-Cartier.
In 1972, as the original Lac Jeannine deposit was starting to run out, the railway was extended an additional 86 miles (143 km) to a new ore deposit located near Mont Wright. Morrison-Knudsen was the construction company which built the extension. The new line departed the original line at Milepost 174, just north of Love Siding. This located was named South Junction by the railroad. The terrain was much milder on the new extension and only five bridges needed to be constructed. Six additional 6,600 ft (2011 m) sidings were constructed and continued the alphabetical naming. These sidings are named Mike, Nan, Oboe, Pat, Queen, and Rob. Production at the Mont Wright mine was planned at 19 million tons per year, requiring additional railroad equipment to handle the additional volume. Six M636
locomotives were purchased from Montreal Locomotive Works, while Marine Industries of Sorel, Quebec built 130 additional ore cars.
One of the new M636 locomotives would have an extremely short career. On May 31, 1972, M636 #72 along with GP9's 52 and 58 and RS-18 61 ranaway and derailed along with 134 ore cars into the Macdonald River on the grade, in the canyon between the sidings of Jig and Kay. Both crew members and a passenger were killed and all units, including #72, just on its second trip, were retired and scrapped on the spot. The accident was believed to be caused by crew fatigue.
The railroad suddenly found itself short of equipment again and fellow U.S. Steel railroad Bessemer & Lake Erie sent four of its Alco RSD-15
locomotives to the Cartier Railway in June 1972. Two more RSD-15's headed north in 1973. The Cartier Railway also acquired from Morrison-Knudsen three Alco C636
demonstrators, which were used during construction of the Mont Wright extension. Finally in 1973, the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range sent three ALCO C630
locomotives to the Cartier Railway with the remaining 7 C630s sent in 1976. These units were oddballs on the DM&IR because the rest of their fleet was all Electro-Motive Division units, but they fit in very well on the Cartier Railway. Several more M636s were purchased new from MLW during 1976, as well as several acquired used from the Canadian National.
By 2002, the old Alco and MLW locomotives were supplemented by newer General Electric
AC4400CW
and ES44s.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
province of Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. It is operated by the Cartier Railway Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal, formerly Québec Cartier Mining Company
Québec Cartier Mining Company
Québec Cartier Mining Company was one of the leading producers of iron ore products in North America, now part of ArcelorMittal.The company was founded in the late 1950s by multiple Canadian and American investors, based in Quebec, Canada. The first open pit mine was located in Lac-Jeanine, Quebec....
. The railway connects the company's massive iron ore mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
at Mont-Wright
Mont Wright, Quebec
Mont Wright is a mountain in Fermont, Quebec, a site of major iron ore mining operations since the 1970s by Québec Cartier Mining Company. It is located in Caniapiscau Regional County Municipality....
in Northeastern Québec with the company's processing plant and port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
at Port Cartier, formerly Shelter Bay, which is located on the northern banks of the St. Lawrence River.
The Cartier Railway has 26 locomotives, over 950 ore cars, 300 utility cars, and various other pieces of maintenance equipment. The railroad, along with other Northeastern Québec railways, including the Tshiuetin Rail Transportation
Tshiuetin Rail Transportation
Tshiuetin Rail Transportation Inc. is a Canadian short line railway that stretches 134 miles through the wilderness of western Labrador and northeastern Quebec. It connects Emeril Junction, Labrador with the community of Schefferville, Quebec on the interprovincial boundary...
line, the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway
Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway
The Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway is a Canadian regional railway that stretches through the wilderness of northeastern Quebec and western Labrador. It connects Labrador City, Labrador, with the port of Sept-Îles, Quebec, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River...
and the Arnaud Railway is completely isolated from any other railroad network in North America. Although the other 3 railroads connect to each other, they don't have any connections to this railroad at all, making this one completely 100% isolated from any other railroads.
Beginnings
In 1958, United States Steel formed the Québec Cartier Mining Company to construct an iron-ore mine in the iron-rich Quebec-Labrador Trough, a 40 by long band which cuts through the vast Canadian Shield. Earlier exploration by mine geologists discovered a large deposit in the Trough near Lac Jeannine, about 186 miles (300 km) north of the small town of Shelter Bay, which was located on the northern banks of the St. Lawrence River. In 1959, Shelter Bay, now renamed Port Cartier, was ready for use allowing easier delivery of equipment for the mine and railway, which were still under construction. Construction was completed on the 190 mile (317 km) railway line between Port Cartier and Lac Jeannine on December 19, 1960. The first trainload of iron concentrate left Lac Jeannine on December 16, 1960. Concentrate was stockpiled at Port Cartier while the mine and concentrator were gearing up for full production and the first shipload of concentrate departed the port on July 5, 1961.The Railway
The Cartier Railway is an engineering marvel and was constructed using all the modern, state-of-the art techniques available at the time, including making extensive use of aerial mapping to select the best route through the very mountainous terrain. The initial 190 mile rail line used natural drainage extensively by following the Rochers and Toulnustouc River valleys to keep the grades at a minimum. The ruling grade for southbound loaded trains was kept to a very easy 0.4% while the northbound ruling grade was only 1.35%. Numerous rock cuts had to be blasted and five tunnels, ranging from 350 to 1440 ft (106.7 to 438.9 ), were built where rock cuts weren't possible. Due to the heavy haul nature of this railway, all rail, including sidings and yard tracks, were constructed using 132 lb/yd rail in 78 feet (23.8 m) lengths. Since curves account for 54.3% of the main line, extensive use of flange oilers was needed. The oilers were located every 8 miles or 250 degrees of curvature, whichever was less. Granite, blasted and removed during construction of the harbor at Port Cartier was crushed and used as ballast on the first 54 miles (86.9 km) of the line, while local pit-run gravel was used for the remainder. Twenty-two bridges were needed for the railroad, with the bridge at Milepost 68.5 being the longest (880 feet) and highest (120 feet) on the line. The railway also required the construction of 1,524 culverts for drainage.The entire line was equipped with Centralized Traffic Control
Centralized traffic control
Centralized traffic control is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America and centralizes train routing decisions that were previously carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system consists of a centralized train dispatcher's office that...
from the very beginning and the railroad has twelve sidings between Port-Cartier and Lac Jeannine :fr:Lac Jeannine, named in alphabetical order from south to north. The siding names are Able, Baker, Charles, Dog, Eva, Fox, Georges, Howe, Item, Jig, Kay, and Love. All sidings are 6,600 ft (2011 m) in length except for Fox which is 12,090 feet (3685 m) and Love at 14,200 feet (4328 m). Since southbound loaded ore trains never enter the sidings, the south ends of each siding have power switches while the north ends have spring switches. However, both Fox and Love sidings have power switches at both ends.
Initial operations and expansion
Initial operations consisted of 150-car, 19,000-ton ore trains pulled by five diesel locomotives. The startup fleet of locomotives consisted of nine General MotorsGeneral Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
Diesel Division GP9
GP9
GP9 can refer to:* EMD GP9, a diesel locomotive* Glycoprotein IX, a human gene...
locomotives and eight Montreal Locomotive Works
Montreal Locomotive Works
Montreal Locomotive Works was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883–1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive Company...
RS-18
MLW RS-18
The MLW RS-18 was an 1800 hp diesel-electric locomotive built by Montreal Locomotive Works between December 1956 and August 1968...
locomotives. A fleet of 500 ore cars were constructed by Canadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry," or more familiarly as "Can Car," manufactured buses, railroad rolling stock and later aircraft for the Canadian market...
. The first full year saw 8,130,000 tons of concentrate shipped with three trainsets cycling between Lac Jeannine and Port-Cartier. Winter operations would see trains length dropped to as few as 90 cars with more trainsets added to keep up with production. The railway would move an average of eight to nine million tons for the next ten years.
On of the biggest problems faced by the Cartier Railway during the winter months was keeping the concentrate from freezing to the sides of the ore cars, which could make dumping the concentrate a very slow process. The solution to this problem was to line the insides of the ore cars with styrofoam
Styrofoam
Styrofoam is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company for closed-cell currently made for thermal insulation and craft applications. In 1941, researchers in Dow's Chemical Physics Lab found a way to make foamed polystyrene...
sheets and cover it with plywood
Plywood
Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...
. Steam was injected in the plywood/styrofoam liner at the mine and it would keep the ore insulated until it reached the unloader at Port-Cartier.
In 1972, as the original Lac Jeannine deposit was starting to run out, the railway was extended an additional 86 miles (143 km) to a new ore deposit located near Mont Wright. Morrison-Knudsen was the construction company which built the extension. The new line departed the original line at Milepost 174, just north of Love Siding. This located was named South Junction by the railroad. The terrain was much milder on the new extension and only five bridges needed to be constructed. Six additional 6,600 ft (2011 m) sidings were constructed and continued the alphabetical naming. These sidings are named Mike, Nan, Oboe, Pat, Queen, and Rob. Production at the Mont Wright mine was planned at 19 million tons per year, requiring additional railroad equipment to handle the additional volume. Six M636
ALCO Century 636
The ALCO Century 636 was the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive constructed by ALCO. The locomotive had a C-C wheel arrangement and . The locomotive rested on a pair of trucks of all-new design, known as the Hi-Ad, standing for 'high adhesion'. Visually, it is similar to the Century 630,...
locomotives were purchased from Montreal Locomotive Works, while Marine Industries of Sorel, Quebec built 130 additional ore cars.
One of the new M636 locomotives would have an extremely short career. On May 31, 1972, M636 #72 along with GP9's 52 and 58 and RS-18 61 ranaway and derailed along with 134 ore cars into the Macdonald River on the grade, in the canyon between the sidings of Jig and Kay. Both crew members and a passenger were killed and all units, including #72, just on its second trip, were retired and scrapped on the spot. The accident was believed to be caused by crew fatigue.
The railroad suddenly found itself short of equipment again and fellow U.S. Steel railroad Bessemer & Lake Erie sent four of its Alco RSD-15
ALCO RSD-15
The ALCO RSD-15 was a diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type built by ALCO of Schenectady, New York between August 1956 and June 1960, during which time 75 locomotives were produced...
locomotives to the Cartier Railway in June 1972. Two more RSD-15's headed north in 1973. The Cartier Railway also acquired from Morrison-Knudsen three Alco C636
ALCO Century 636
The ALCO Century 636 was the most powerful single-engine diesel locomotive constructed by ALCO. The locomotive had a C-C wheel arrangement and . The locomotive rested on a pair of trucks of all-new design, known as the Hi-Ad, standing for 'high adhesion'. Visually, it is similar to the Century 630,...
demonstrators, which were used during construction of the Mont Wright extension. Finally in 1973, the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range sent three ALCO C630
ALCO Century 630
The ALCO Century 630 was a six-axle, 3000 horsepower diesel locomotive built between 1965 and 1967. 77 were built: 3 for Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, 4 for Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, 8 for Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 10 for Norfolk and Western Railway, 15 for Pennsylvania Railroad, 12...
locomotives to the Cartier Railway with the remaining 7 C630s sent in 1976. These units were oddballs on the DM&IR because the rest of their fleet was all Electro-Motive Division units, but they fit in very well on the Cartier Railway. Several more M636s were purchased new from MLW during 1976, as well as several acquired used from the Canadian National.
By 2002, the old Alco and MLW locomotives were supplemented by newer General Electric
GE Transportation Systems
GE Transportation, formerly known as GE Rail, is a division of General Electric. The organization manufactures equipment for the railroad, marine, mining, drilling and energy generation industries. It is based in Erie, Pennsylvania. Locomotives are assembled at the Erie plant, while engine...
AC4400CW
GE AC4400CW
The GE AC4400CW is a diesel-electric locomotive that was built by GE Transportation Systems between 1993 and 2004. It is similar to the Dash 9-44CW, but features AC traction motors instead of DC, with a separate inverter per motor. 2,598 examples of this locomotive were produced for North American...
and ES44s.