Newfoundland's trains are long gone, but they're still chugging along the tracks in Chile

While the trains that once zipped along Newfoundland's rail tracks have been gone for decades, they have not been forgotten.

In fact, they're beloved by the country that imported them decades ago.

Paul Springowski, an Ohio man who documents his love of trains on his social media channels, recently visited Chile to see the Newfoundland diesel locomotives in action.

"It's very bitter that the railroad is not running anymore, but the motive power, the locomotives are in the best place that they possibly could be," Springowski told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning.

"They're loved by the people who run them. And I don't see the remaining ones going anywhere anytime soon. So if anybody wants to see, it's definitely the time."

Newfoundland used the NF210, a locomotive built by General Motors Diesel for the narrow gauge rail network used on the island. The last train ran on Sept. 30, 1988. Some were sold for scrap, but some engines were sold to other counties.

WATCH |  All aboard — all the trains he can! 

CBC Newfoundland Morning8:14Who knew? Newfoundland diesel locomotives are still riding the rails, in Chile

The railway in Newfoundland shut down more than 30 years ago, but some locomotives from this province are still riding the rails. Paul Springowski is a railway enthusiast from Ohio who's seen them for himself. He recently returned from a trip to Chile, and he's shared some photos and video of Newfoundland diesel locomotives chugging along through the desert. Bernice reached Paul Springowski, and asked him how he first got interested, as a child, in the Newfoundland railway.

Springowski said the Chilean landscape is mostly flat and photos of the trains travelling through the area don't do it justice.

"The climb over the coastal mountain shelf to get up to elevation is where you really see these trains battle it out. I mean, they're just in full throttle down on their knees trying to make it over the grade," he said.

While there are fewer of the Newfoundland trains on the tracks these days, he said some are still going, making the run between the cities of Mejillones, Antofagasta and Calama.

What's more, Springowski added, the trains are considered to be more comfortable than others in operation in Chile.

"The cabs are roomier and they're just reliable. They're robust engines and they refuse to quit," he said. "That stuff can be rebuilt over and over and over. And if you just keep up with it, it would probably run forever."

'Weird designs'

Springowski, who has not visited Newfoundland and Labrador, first came across the story of the Newfoundland Railway at his local library in Lorain, Ohio, which had a VHS tape collection on trains.

"I was so almost just shocked by the weird designs of narrow gauge engines and all that. I'd never seen anything like it," he said. "I thought, 'Man, I'd love to see those engines,' because they were just weird looking."

LISTEN | The CBC's Bernice Hillier speaks with Paul Springowski on his trip to Chile: 

Meet the Ohio man who went to Chile to see the Newfoundland trains in action

10 hours ago

Duration 2:17

Paul Springowski is a lover of trains. Newfoundland’s rail network is of course no more, but some of the machine’s engines were sold to other countries. Springowski spoke with the CBC’s Bernice Hillier about his trip overseas to witness it in action.

Through his research he found that out several Newfoundland trains ended up in Chile, which was building a train network in order to traffic its sulfuric acid.

"And I was like, 'Oh, I'll never get down there.' And here we are now. I took a trip to go see him," he said.

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