Vale Railway

Last updated
Vale Railway
Inco Railway open street map.png
Copper Cliff smelter is at the top of the map (right of number 32) and Copper Cliff nickel refinery is at the bottom
Overview
Headquarters Sudbury
Reporting mark VAEX
Locale Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The Vale Railway (reporting mark VAEX [1] ), formerly the INCO Railway (reporting mark INCX [2] ), is an industrial railway operating in the City of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and operated by Vale Limited.

Contents

Former Inco electric locomotive at the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum INCOelectric.JPG
Former Inco electric locomotive at the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum

An internal, private railway, the line connects Vale's mines and processing plants that dominates the city's skyline. The line serves Copper Cliff North Mine, Copper Cliff South Mine, Creighton Mine, Frood Mine, Stobie Mine, Clarabelle Mill, Copper Cliff Smelter, and Copper Cliff Nickel Refinery. The isolated Levack mine spur in the north end of the city serves Coleman Mine and is operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The line was once entirely electrified along its route. Electrification began in 1926, but ended in 2000 in favour of diesel locomotives. [3]

The following junctions exist with the line: [4]

Locomotive roster

VAEX rosters 8 re-manufactured EMD GP38-4M locomotives for use on ore trains from the mines, slag trains from the smelter, or for local plant switching of various chemicals and products. These locomotives have upgraded electrical systems and are set up for remote operation.

ModelMakerNumbersBuild DateRemarks
GP38-4M EMD 2001Feb-1964Nee NW GP35 #222 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2002Jun-1965Nee SP GP35 #7757 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2003May-1964Nee PRR GP35 #2256 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2004Feb-1964Nee C&NW GP35 #825 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2005Apr-1964Nee C&NW GP35 #836 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2006Apr-1964Nee C&NW GP35 #841 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2007Mar-1965Nee C&NW GP35 #864 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M
GP38-4M EMD 2008Apr-1964Nee C&NW GP35 #843 Rebuilt By MPI to GP38-4M

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O'Donnell is a ghost town and former industrial area inside the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, which today is located on property owned by Vale Limited. It was located along the Algoma Eastern Railway line between two mine sites, Crean Hill and Gertrude. It functioned as a brief offshoot of the nearest major settlement along the line, the Inco company town of Copper Cliff, which today is a suburb of Sudbury.

The Nairn Falls Dam and Generating Plant is a hydroelectric dam and power plant located on the Spanish River to the northeast of the community of Nairn in Nairn and Hyman Township, Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately 50 kilometres west of Sudbury. It is owned and operated by Vale Limited, notable in the area for its mining operations. The power from the plant is primarily supplied to these operations, with excess power sold to Ontario Hydro. The generating plant works in conjunction with High Falls Dams No. 1 and 2, as well as the 'Big Eddy' generating plant, in a cascade system, where excess water power from upstream dams is utilized by the downstream ones.

The Wabagishik Dam and Generating Station is a concrete gravity dam and hydroelectric power plant on the Vermilion River. It is located within the former town of Walden in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The complex is owned and operated by Vale Limited, which is notable in the area for its mining operations.

The Coleman Mine is an underground nickel and copper mine operated by Vale 45 kilometres (28 mi) northwest of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It is the flagship mine of Vale's Sudbury operation. The mine recently implemented the use of electric haul vehicles and installed an underground 4G LTE network.

References

  1. "Railroad Reporting Marks_V". Pwrr.org. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  2. "Railroad Reporting Marks_I". Pwrr.org. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  3. "Old Time Trains". Trainweb.org. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  4. "Waterloo Region Model Railway Club". Waterloo Region Model Railway Club. Retrieved 1 September 2017.

Further reading