Al Butt’s description (February 2026) of the Newfie Bullet’s meandering route across the island and the hazards encountered in driving from St John’s to the ferry at Port aux Basques before the completion of the TCH brought back memories of our family’s trip on the Caribou in 1963. We put our ancient Morris Oxford on a special freight car for a rendezvous at the ferry and embarked on the train with 3 very young children. I remember a delicious dinner of salmon and, Al, I’m pretty sure there were linen tablecloths. After dinner we managed to settle the very excited small people into their bunks. The train staff were wonderfully friendly and helpful and suggested that perhaps my husband and I would like to go to the bar car and they would be happy to babysit. Their invitation was gratefully accepted.

Sometime the next morning we stopped, a common occurrence on the trip, but this time there was no further movement. Al Butt mentioned that “sometimes trains were blown completely off the rails”. That had happened to a freight train ahead of us on the single track with no convenient passing place. We sat marooned for sometime until a small fleet of school buses emerged from the bush. Passengers and luggage were crammed into the buses. We were in the second bus. As the first disappeared down the unpaved track our driver turned to his passengers and hopefully asked if anyone knew where the Trans-Canada Highway was.

A chorus of “Follow the bus in front!” gave him confidence and we set off. Unfortunately the bus in front got a flat tire some miles down the road. Luckily they had a spare tire but no jack. Helpful passengers searched the bush for usable logs and after another delay the convoy set off again. We arrived at the ferry several hours later. Passengers already on-board were forgiving, after all the bar had been open since the scheduled departure time, many hours earlier. Our return trip several weeks later was so uneventful that it has left no memories.

We drove the unfinished TCH in 1964 in a VW van, camping for a couple of nights on the way to and from the ferry. The signs – ‘We’ll finish the drive in ‘65, thanks to Mr. Pearson’ – were ubiquitous. More recent visits to Newfoundland were on beautifully paved roads but we still miss the Bullet.

Gillian Sandeman
Peterborough, Ontario