T'Railway Provincial Park 1

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This 8 KM (5 mile) section is called the Arboretum Walk which goes through Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. This section is part of the Newfoundland T'Railway Provincial Park and is built on the bed of the old Canadian National Railway line (previously called the Newfoundland Railway) going from St. John's to Port aux Basque a distance of 1,883 KM (548 miles). This park is the Newfoundland section of the Trans Canada Trail and when completed will stretch from St. John's to Victoria, BC and to Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. When finalized, there will be over 17,000 KM (10,560 miles) in length, the longest continuous walking trail in the world.

The Newfoundland Railway operated for more than 100 years before it closed in 1988. It was the longest narrow gauge railroad in North America. The historical and social significance of this railway can not be over stated because it was the first successful attempt to connect the many towns and outports together other than by coastal boat. The building of the railway allowed for the development of inland mining and logging industries; therefore, without this railway, many of the towns such as Grand Falls, Gander and Buchans would not have been founded. A museum to this railway opened in 2003 in the Reid Newfoundland Railway terminal in St. John's; it also depicts that the railway controlled the ferry to Nova Scotia and the coastal boats to the outports.

A popular legend gives credit to an American servicemen stationed at the U.S. Base in Argentia during World War II as affectionately naming the passenger train "Newfie Bullet", a misnomer when you consider it took about two days to travel the 1,883 KM (548 miles). Newfoundland humor adopted this misnomer and the title stuck.

The railway, Newfoundland's first mega-project, was viewed as a symbol of Newfoundland's former independence even after Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. Many people viewed the day the railway died with the same emotion as in April 1949 when Newfoundland lost its independence.