The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Although the new light-rail plan will become a major improvement over what
we have now, it still does not go far enough. After all we have an unused
railway line that goes across the Ottawa River into the City of Gatineau
and extends to the Town of Wakefield. We should look into making use of
this railway line now that the Gatineau-Wakefield steam train is up for
sale.

Ian Sherwood,
Ottawa

Owner decides to sell after dispute with municipalities that own track
Dave Rogers, The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 - direct link

Seven potential buyers have shown interest in the Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield
Steam Train after it stopped operations indefinitely in May because of a
dispute between the owner and the municipalities that own the line on which
it runs.

Special to the West Quebec Post
John E. Trent

Once again people are proposing a bicycle path along the right of way of the Wakefield tourist train. Although the debate was concluded many years ago, it seems the arguments have to be made once again why bicycle paths and trains make uneasy partners.

It must be said from the outset that the supporters of the train had in their heads from the beginning that a joint train and bicycle path would be ideal. It seems so natural, doesn’t it? Unfortunately not.

A joint meeting between Gauthier [the owner of train], Benoît Pelletier, the Quebec minister responsible for the Outaouais; and Compagnie de chemin de fer de l'Outaouais (CCFO), which owns the railway used by the train and is run by municipalities in the region ... comes more than a week after the train was temporarily shut down because of a landslide near its tracks, but the situation has a long history

The decision was made for both business and personal reasons[*] after the owner of the company, Gauthier was unable to amend the contract he signed several months ago with local municipalities, which owns the railway used by the train.

The train must be offered first to the CCFO, ahead of any other potential buyers, and the CCFO could choose to run the train itself.

Two other parties, one in the region and one outside the region, have expressed interest in the train, which is worth an estimated $2.5 million.

Century-old Wakefield steam train for sale
Last Updated: Friday, May 23, 2008 | 4:49 PM ET
CBC News - direct link

The historic steam-powered train that takes tourists on excursions in western Quebec is for sale, the owner has announced.

André Guibord, a spokesman for Jean Gauthier, owner of Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Steam Train Company, made the announcement Friday.

A lot has been said and written on the Steam Train's current troubles. I could add to that and correct certain affirmations, but in a case like this "discretion is the better part of valour".

All the same, it is worth mentionning that the operator of the Steam Train, Jean Gauthier, deserves to be able to take a well-deserved retirement with our collective thanks for all his hard work since he rescued the enterprise over a decade ago. Since, he has worked with hammer, pick and shovel as the track gang foreman at an age when most of us would rather sit in the shade. It is to be hoped however that he would sell the train to an experienced railway operator rather than dispersing the assets!

Following a landslip beside the Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield Steam Train tracks earlier this week, Le Droit of Thursday May 15th carried an alarming story on the effects of the soil movement and the municipally- imposed suspension of service until Saturday May 17th and the threat by the body that owns the trackbed to make the Steam Train operator pay for repairs to the terrain if any of the slip involves the railway right-of-way.

Le mardi 13 mai 2008

Le «p'tit train de Wakefield» doit rester en gare

Justine Mercier
LeDroit

Le « p'tit train de Wakefield » est resté en gare, hier, et demeurera encore
immobile, aujourd¹hui, en raison d'un glissement de terrain survenu à
Chelsea.

Le directeur général de la compagnie Train à vapeur Hull-Chelsea-Wakefield,
André Groulx, a précisé que le glissement n'a pas touché le sol directement
sous les rails.

« Ce n'est pas dans l'emprise ferroviaire, on est loin d'un risque imminent,
donc c'est juste une question de précaution », a-t-il expliqué.

The Friends of the Steam Train executive has been very active working to gather a number of threads to allow for development of our favorite railway. The STO Rapibus project will share the line southward from Freeman Road in Gatineau (Hull sector) and this will mean complete renewal for the track on that stretch but also major disruption. To allow for development of a new station in Hull and one in Chelsea and other improvements, a series of discussions have
been taking place, - and while all this looks promising for coordinated development over the next few years, it is still too early to furnish details. Watch this space, though.

A near-identical train set to the HCW is now for sale in the US...

http://www.railmerchants.net/
http://www.railmerchants.net/locomotives/rdc.html
http://www.railmerchants.net/swedish/index.htm (this looks suspiciously like the Hull, Chelsea and Wakefield fleet!)
http://www.railmerchants.net/passenger/long.html (Long Island coach cars ­200 for sale!)