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Sydney and Louisburg Railway
(S&L: 1895 - 1968)

By Robert Chant

The first mining done in Cape Breton was the excavation of exposed seams in the shear cliffs along the coastline of the island and loading coal directly onto boats. The first of these was about 1720, when the French started to mine coal at Cow Bay (now Port Morien) for use at the Fortress Louisbourg. The Engish used tunnels dug into the exposed coal seams at Burnt Head (which later caught fire, thus the name) in 1745. The DesBarres mine, or the old Sydney Works, was opened by Cape Breton's governor Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBares in Sydney Mines using the same method as was employed at Burnt Head, and operated for close to 40 years.

Many of these "audits" were used to reach the coal reserves along the coastline. As the tunnels reached farther inland, the companies had to start sinking shafts every 200 meters along the seam for haulage and proper ventilation. At this time it was being done in the Sydney Mines, Old Bridgeport (Dominion) and Lingan areas.

In 1826 the Duke of York acquired a lease on all mineral rights in Nova Scotia, but quickly subleased his interests to the General Mining Association (GMA) to pay a debt. The GMA selected only one seam for development in each of the districts under its control. Commercial mines at this time could only be opened on the Sydney filed if it were possible to transport coal to a sheltered harbour for shipping. It did not make sense to waste capital resources by duplicating machinery, transport facilities, and ventillation equipment.

With the limited resources available, early companies including the GMA, were restricted to laying short lengths of cordurory road or wagonroad to a near by cove or wharf, and interior reserves could therefore not be developed. The earliest railways in the area were the tracks of the Sydney Mines Railway laid from the Jacob Pit in Sydney Mines to a shipping pier in North Sydney on the north side of Sydney Harbour, and from Old Lingan and Old Bridgeport mines to shipping facilities in the Bridgeport Basin.

The GMA maintained this monopoly until 1858, when it relinquishment its ownership to the Nova Scotia Government except for about 90 square kilometres of land, spread over three separate areas. The government promptly granted exploration licenses to encourage mine development outside of the GMA lands. Nineteen producing mines were opened in the period 1858-1875, with the majority of output being exported to the United States.

The new indepenadant mining companies begun after 1858 also constructed light railways, but in most cases the results were disappointing. The entire coast from Port Morien to Point Aconi, including Sydney Harbour, is exposed to strong north-easterly gales. Wharves, such as those constructed at Port Morien by the Gowerie Company, were endangered by storm and ice damage, while the artificial harbour dredged out at Big Glace Bay Lake (Port Caledonia) and used by both the Caledonia (in Glace Bay) and the Clyde Coal (in Donkin) Companies rapidly silted up. The Little Glace Bay Company had more sucess with its expensive artificial harbour at the mouth of Renwick Brook (in Glace Bay), from which short rail lines ran to the Hub and Sterling collieries, and later to the Caledonia colliery. (NOTE: This outlet, with its small size, narrow entrance, and exposed approach would eventually rendered it unsuitable for the combined exports of Domco when it was created in 1893.)

The Victoria and International companies, with no sheltered coast on their properties, chose to construct a longer rail line to inner Sydney Harbour. The Victoria Company built its railway from its mine at New Victoria to the sheltered wharf at Victoria Pier. The International Company constructed a line from its mine, at what is now the Bridgeport district of Glace Bay, to a shipping port on the Sydney Harbour. (NOTE: This shipping point is still know as International Pier and, although modernized, is still used by the Cape Breton Development Corporation for coal shipments worldwide.)

The Glasgow and Cape Breton Coal and Railway Company, built the narrow-guage Cape Breton Railway to this same port in 1871 from Reserve. This entitled the company, which operated as the Reserve Mining Company, to the coal lease in this area that the government was offering as incentive to the construction of such a link. This line opened the interior of the coal fields on the south side of the Sydney Harbour, being shared by both the Emery and Lorway companies. In 1872, the line was extend to Schooner Pond to the mines of both the Clyde and Schooner Pond Coal Companies.

To enable the Reserve Mining Company to ship coal year round, it was decided to extend their line to the only ice-free port in the area located at Louisbourg. The first attempt was made in 1877, but the line was poorly-built and was lost to a forest fire soon after completion.

The full development of the Cape Breton coal fields began with the formation of two giant conglomerates in the 1890's. The first of these, the Dominion Coal Company (Domco) was formed in 1893 through the amalgamation of the eight companies operating on the south side of Sydney Harbour. On it creation, Domco inherited eight shipping facilities, and two parallel tracks to Sydney (see Fig #1). It abandoned the narrow-guage Capr Breton Railway and linked all of its mines by the former International track, extending it via the Hub, Sterling, Caledonia and Gowrie mines and on to Louisbourg.

Figure #1: When the Dominoion Coal Company was form, its inherited the eight
companies on the southside of the Sydney Harbour, and the railways that serve their mines.

Domco closed all but four mines and began to sink large mechanized mines. In 1900, to create a local market for its coal, the Dominion Coal Company financed the Sydney steel plant. Domco's coal production quadrupled over the next ten years. It built its coke ovens and steel plant adjacent to the major terminus of the International Pier, convenient for iron ore shippment from Newfoundland.

On the northside of Sydney Harbour (Sydney Mines area) the successors to the General Mining Associate, the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company or Scotia, developed four mines and opened coke ovens, a blast furnace, and steel mill.

Both Scotia and Domco now had their mainlines, and any new mining area had to be connected to these before mines could be opened. The Florence area was connected to the Sydney Mines Railway in 1903, the New Waterford area was opened by a Domco spur in 1908, and the interior portion of the Morien basin was served by a spur in 1911.

Scotia's steel mill closed in 1914 when the national railway boom ended and its coal production levels suffered as well. The Dominion Coal Company was also experiencing the same reduction in output. In 1920, both the Scotia and Domco amalgamated to form the British Empire Steel Corporation (Besco). This in turn was reorganized as the Dominion Steel and Coal Company (Dosco) in 1930, but Scotia and Domco remained as separately managed companies with Scotia becoming the Old Sydney Collieries Limited in 1938.

Coal productions drastically declines in the period 1940 to 1973 when "cleaner" fuel sources were developed. By the mid 1960's the situation was so desperate that a federal crown corporation, the Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO), was formed to oversee the phasing-out of mining. But DEVCO has benefited from the increased competitiveness of coal since 1973, and has almost tripled its production.

Since this time there has been over 70 mines on the Island, each with its engine-house, workshops, bunkers, loading facilities, and waste tips.

One of the first coal mines in North America was opened by the French at Port Morien in 1720, and little more than a century later some of the first railroad track on the continent was laid to facilitate the removal of Nova Scotia's coal to local shipping wharves. The mining industry developed rapidly during the latter 19th century. In a thirty-six year period 30 new mines were opened, including those around Sydney Mines and Glace Bay, which resulted in construction of collieries with the shipping ports.

The Nova Scotia government recognized the need for an outlet in Louisbourg which would link the various railroads around Sydney with Louisbourg's harbour and permit the shipment of coal at any time during the year. The first attempt in 1873 was a poorly-built narrow gauge line which failed to meet the needs of the coal companies. Few trains ever made the run to Louisbourg over this road, and in 1883 a forest fire destroyed a major portion of the roadbed.

In 1894 H.M. Whitney, a Boston financier, came to Cape Breton to establish the Dominion Coal Company, later the Dominion Coal and Steel Company, which consolidated ownership of both the numerous local coal mines and the railroads which served them. Construction began on a new railroad to Louisburg and upon its completion in 1895 the Sydney and Louisburg Railway was one of the most modern lines in Canada.

The volume of freight hauled by the S&L rose sharply during its early years. By the 1950's the S&L had 31 steam locomotives operating over 116 miles of track, 39 miles of which was main line. The railroad employed 400 men - hauled 4,000,000 tons of freight annually chiefly coal, any more per mile than any other railroad in Canada. The number of passengers on the S&L, mainly employees of the mines going to and from work, reached a peak of 176,000 in 1913. The coming of automobiles reduced this traffic until passenger trains were eliminated after World War II, although mixed trains continued to run daily, except weekends.

The S&L was a neighbourly and unpretentious railroad, and it operated on a personal basis that meant a lot to the people it served. The railroad ran picnic excursions and "blueberry specials" that would stop anywhere to let passengers off, and pick them up in the evening. It took little for a hunter or vacationer to flag a train and get on, and the crews always took a lively interest in the latest news along the line. Many times, often in foul weather and blizzards, the S&L sent out a locomotive and car to take a doctor somewhere, or bring someone into hospital. There may have been more pranks and practical jokes played by S&L men than on any other line in the country, but they were tough and competent railroaders – in the early days, before air brakes, they spent many runs climbing over the icy tops of coal hoppers to brake the trains – and they moved an enormous amount of coal.

During both world wars the ports of Sydney and Louisbourg were staging areas for Atlantic convoys, and the S&L was a vital link in the supply of fuel and steel manufacture. Until the advent of regular air service to Newfoundland both ports were a terminus for rail and passenger traffic between Newfoundland and the rest of Canada.

Due to the availability of coal for fuel, the first diesel engine was not placed in service on the S&L until 1961, and the last steam locomotive was not retired until 1966. The demise of the railroad soon after resulted from the crises affecting Cape Breton's coal industry in the 1960's. The loss of industrial markets meant less coal shipped from Cape Breton and less need for the rail link to Louisbourg. At present coal is still shipped from Sydney, and several trains daily still pass over the route from the new Lingan mine to Sydney.

©1998 Robert A. Chant, all rights reserved.

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Copyright 2011, Robert A. Chant, all rights reserved.
Last updated on 19 December 2011.