Hooray for us!

But when you look back in time to give this great announcement a little perspective, you can see just how great this announcement is.

Since the 1800s, a rail line operated from Hillsborough and other Albert County villages leading to Salisbury and beyond. Consider that the entire rail line was built starting in 1875 for about the same amount of money that our club will now invest in that one trestle! Amazing indeed!

Once repairs to "our" trestle are done, it will be interesting to think back to those days every time we cross it on our ATVs. In the early 1900s, the rail line that relied on that trestle was operating with earnings of as little as $17,000 per year — about the same price today as an upscale four-wheeler.

It wasn’t easy to run a railway in those days. According to the fascinating records of the Albert County Historical Society, the railroad once sent a locomotive to the Moncton shops for repairs but didn’t have the money to pay the $1,000 bill for the work, so railway manager Abram Sherwood had to write a personal cheque to cover the amount, to keep the railway humming.

Remember the last time you got stuck on your ATV? And how much "fun" it was getting out?

Well, in 1896, an axle broke on one of the train’s engines on the train’s way from Salisbury to Hillsborough. The engineer didn’t want to wait for another axle to arrive from the Moncton shops, so he set out with just one axle powering the train. He made it only eight miles before the second axle let go.

The crew travelled the last 16 miles to Hillsborough by handcar to fetch an old set of wheels in storage, but they quickly found out that they were useless.

Instead, they decided to take the wheels from a spare engine, jacking up the massive locomotive and pulling out the wheels and hoisting them onto a horse-drawn carriage.

It was a terrible trip, as the horses had to stop and rest often because of their heavy burden. When the crew would come to a culvert, they had to unhitch the cart and drag the wheels by hand. Upon arrival, they then had to put them under the train, which then headed for Hillsborough, 23 hours late.

In 1903, disaster struck and the Turtle Creek trestle burned while both engines were on the Albert side and none were on the Salisbury side. Sherwood was told it would be impossible to move one of the engines to the Salisbury side of this now massive gap in his train tracks, but his crew did the impossible, moving the engine, somehow, through fields, up a hill, over a highway bridge and onto the train tracks on the other side of Turtle Creek. They then ran two locomotives, one on each side of the creek, until a new trestle was built just five months later.

The rail line from Albert to Hillsborough closed in 1955 and the rest of the line from Hillsborough to Salisbury closed in 1981, replaced by modern highways and trucks. At the same time, big companies that used the railway, like the plaster mill in Hillsborough, had closed anyway. Passenger traffic dropped dramatically since most people had their own cars.

ATVers, hikers and snowmobilers were just about the only folks to use the trestle since the death of the Salem and Hillsborough Railway a few years ago, but now the massive, impressive structure will see a new life thanks to the funding from the federal government and the National Trails Coalition -- and especially thanks to foresight and hard work of the executive, committees and members of the Albert County Trail Blazers ATV Club.

As of October 5, 2009 volunteer club members have spent more than 150 man hours planning and working on the project with the following items underway:

Design engineering (90% complete) Decking materials have been purchased Site visits by engineer, contractor and environment people Contact with the City of Moncton for land access Finalizing contractor pricing

The scope of the refurbishment involves replacement of existing deck members, installation of a full-length guardrail, repairs to the support structure as well as the rehabilitation of concrete piers supporting the steel superstructure. Work is expected to begin by early November with completion scheduled for late this year.

Additional updates and photographs will be made available once work on site begins. Some of the areas requiring work are illustrated below:


Albert County trails get funding; Several nature trail projects approved for federal funding
Times & Transcript (Moncton)
Sat Sep 12 2009
Page: A10
Section: News;News
Byline: Yvon Gauvin Times & Transcript staff

Albert County nature trails and recreational facilities along with Fundy National Park in Alma were the main beneficiaries when the federal government came calling this week with funding assistance.

One of these beneficiaries is the 395-foot rail trestle in Turtle Creek which received $48,275 towards refurbishment. Another $1,259 went towards development of the Board View Closed Course and $13,500 to the Caledonia Closed Course.

Money also went to Fundy National Park for outdoor exhibits.

The trail improvement projects are the result of efforts by the Albert County Trail Blazers and the New Brunswick ATV Federation.

Making the announcements in Hillsborough and Alma was Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore who said the federal government and National Trails Coalition are working together to "create jobs, stimulate the economy and improve Canada's stock of trail infrastructure for the present and for our future."

Funding is through the Government of Canada's Economic Action Plan, the NTC and provincial, territorial, municipal or private funding partners.

Moore also announced new outdoor exhibits at Fundy National Park's Dickson Falls and Point Wolfe's Shiphaven Trail and Lookout.

The exhibits are part of the innovative multi-year Fundy National Park EcoIntegrity Project launched in 2007.

"These new exhibits are wonderful examples of how we are protecting the natural and cultural heritage of Fundy National Park for the benefit of Canadians, and our visitors of today and visitors of tomorrow," said Moore. "Being able to see or touch an item brings a different level of understanding and appreciation. The vision for these exhibits is to have relevant information for visitors throughout the park so they can make the link between the knowledge they gain and the natural world around them."

Jim Prentice, minister responsible for Parks Canada, noted that thanks to the park's EcoIntegrity Project, new experiences await visitors to Dickson Falls and the Point Wolfe Lookout as well as at the Hueston Brook day-use area. "These new exhibits help visitors understand and appreciate the park, and experience deeper connections to this unique landscape," he said.

Terry from the environment checked out the site and provided our permit.
Concrete work necessary
Hemlock was purchased for this project. Much of it required milling.
Not only have jobs been created through this project there have been hundreds of volunteer hours go into this project. Everyone works hard!!
Mother Nature was not co-operating and an access road required more work than anticipated.
The work on the support structure below began and is now completed.
Materials are being brought in to the work crew at least twice a week.
And the deck work begins!
The railings are built. And now the railing is started.