2 Great new items on the wiki.

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Thanks to Dan Conlin, we have 2 great new items on the wiki you've got to see.

The first is a document that is called a "Memorandum of General Information". If you've never heard of one of these, you'll wish we had one for every year on the railway! Take a gander here:
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... oOfGenInfo

We now have as well, an Employee Timetable from 1931! Another welcome addition especially at this age as it illustrates the DAR in it's hey-day. See the new schedule here:
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... 621-DARETT

[Paul Charland]

Thanks Dan and Steve,

This is great stuff for anyone who wants to get a feel for what this line did for a living. The list of customers, what they made, how much they shipped, can't ask for better information then this.

Bit of a surprise to see just how much was shipped in 1967 and 68 compared to the consists from 1973 where the numbers were way down. While collecting the information from the '73 consists there were some obvious missing commodities like peat moss that was shipped out of the Valley to all over North America. I'd have to think this was because the empties were being brought into Kentville and set aside for cleaning and inspection before being assigned to a customer.

I do see one thing missing, customers from Kingston... there were none in the late sixties is a bit hard to believe? We didn't show up until the very early '70s when there was still a large Co-op, the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission was still receiving beer in CN 50' insulated boxcars, Sampson was receiving Coleman tent trailers on tri-level autoracks and pleasure crafts on bi-levels, and the odd boxcar on the team track was probably building supplies for Rafuse... wonder why none of these made the list.

Paul

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My guess is those figures of 265 and 502 cars mentioned in the same breath as Greenwood were actually the entire Kingston area traffic with Greenwood lumped in. A huge amount of that had to be fuel for the base to feed those hungry Argus engines. My best approximation is those aircraft consumed around 1000 gallons per hour. For those who aren't RCAF brats on top of hopeless railfans, the Argus had 4 of the same engines as a B-29.

This tank cars were probably 23,500 gallons cars and so every aircraft on one longe range patrol (15 to 25 hours) would consume an entire railway car of fuel. If there was a major military exercise in 1968 this is probably why we see the cars jump from 265 to 502 in a single year. I know my Dad was flying out of Shearwater in '68 flying Trackers off the Bonaventure and we hardly saw him at all in 1968. They were busy back then.

[Paul Charland]

Hi Steve,

Eighteen cylinder engines don't feed themselves! Loved the Tracker, wanted one since I was a kid.

Interesting to see the wye to the active side of the base was designated Auburn, but then I guess that was what it was when it comes down to it. I passed this twice a day on the way to school and never knew there was a wye there, would have been in a field of three foot high scrub brush. On the east side of the crossing there two 20' ex-CP trailers that house a man named Harold Clemm. He was an architect when he was young, built a new house for his new bride which burnt to the ground while he was at work one day, with her inside. Never lived in anything with electricity after that, became a bit of a hermit, poor sole. Just before we moved in '77 CP dropped off a third trailer for him, another 20 footer in the old maroon and yellow lettering... funny the things you remember after thirty years!

Paul

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I built a Tracker in the 80's based on the photos in my Dad's log book that I still have today. Most of the decals (anything black) were handmade by printing on blank decal sheets painted flat black in a laser printer. I did the gold stripes on the tail as well.

[Paul Charland]

Hi Steve,

Very nice! Only seen the RCN paint scheme on the gate guard at Shearwater, otherwise I mostly remember them in the solid 'duck egg green' scheme of the CAF years.

Paul

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Well then let me get completely off the thread here and offer up one more RCN paint job. I built this in the same era (still have it) but re-photographed it at 5 megpixels a few years back. Much nicer.

At the same time I re-photographed the Firefly, I did my Arrow again.

Fairey Firefly 1/72 Airfix (uggh)

Avro Arrow (Hobbycraft)

Ok.. enuf airplanes or I'm going to have to start a site with you AND your brother!!

[Paul Charland]

Hi Steve,

This is a plane/train thing... so it's actually on topic!

Here's an end shot of a container that was used to ship 18 cylinder Argus engines over the DAR to the CN in Truro to be forwarded to Pratt and Whitney in Levis Que for major overhauls.



Usually two per flatcar and for some reason I recall them being sent out in gondolas as well.

Paul

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I'm going to have to add this to the wiki now under operations!

ALSO! Look at the containers. These are PRESSURIZED containers by the warnings (CAUTION RELEASE PRESSURE BEFORE OPENING) on them and you can see what probably is compressed air fittings.. side by side.. on the container. I wonder what they filled it with?

[Paul Charland]

Hi Steve,

The container had a vacuum seal to prevent rust according to my father who was a fitter at one time.

I've not found a side view of one of these in the few years I've been looking... might be time to look again though.

Paul

[downeastrailfan]

Alright you airplane nuts, I've got a railway question!

How were '89 bi and tri level autoracks unloaded at Kingston? Did CP bring in a ramp?

Thanks Dan and Steve,

This is great stuff for anyone who wants to get a feel for what this line did for a living. The list of customers, what they made, how much they shipped, can't ask for better information then this.

Bit of a surprise to see just how much was shipped in 1967 and 68 compared to the consists from 1973 where the numbers were way down. While collecting the information from the '73 consists there were some obvious missing commodities like peat moss that was shipped out of the Valley to all over North America. I'd have to think this was because the empties were being brought into Kentville and set aside for cleaning and inspection before being assigned to a customer.

I do see one thing missing, customers from Kingston... there were none in the late sixties is a bit hard to believe? We didn't show up until the very early '70s when there was still a large Co-op, the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission was still receiving beer in CN 50' insulated boxcars, Sampson was receiving Coleman tent trailers on tri-level autoracks and pleasure crafts on bi-levels, and the odd boxcar on the team track was probably building supplies for Rafuse... wonder why none of these made the list.

Paul

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I remember a raised platform at Samson's right by the red warehouse at Samson's. Is that your recollection Paul? For some reason I remember that detail. It's probably because you could see it from the window on the Chinese restaurant on main where we used to eat late at night after coming home from playing gigs at 3 a.m.!!!

We used to play from Waterton to Cornwallis in the 70's.

[Paul Charland]

Hi Matt,

Kingston had a ramp at the end of the team track just west of Park Rd next to the Co-op Store. Tri-levels and bi-levels were left near the ramp just east of Park Rd but in the run-around. Both car type were unloaded from the east end by a payloader with extended forks. Coleman tent trailers were light enough once the one at the end were forked off the car a couple of men would then roll the next one to the end to be removed. Extensions were used on the forks for unloading boats from the bi-levels but in much the same manner. Boats were shipped in wooden cribs, the end boat was removed, the a toe chain was used to drag the next boat to the end of the car by the payloader, then it was removed.

Watched this one morning on the way to school, then seen the same car in the evening while coming back from Middleton, the car was heading south and still had half the boats on board. I'd have to think Sampson had another dealer south of Middleton and part of the load was for that dealership. Seen this same shared load thing for farm tractors being delivered to Kentville in the '75 consists, part of the load was for Kentville and part for Lawrencetown.

GW Sampson had their own loading dock at the east end of there building, saw a boxcar being unloaded with boxed ski-doos one fall. Our bus route returning home usually went the back road to Greenwood and it was only on rare occasions that we went home through Kingston or I might have seen more cars at Sampsons.

Paul

[fergusontea]

On the question of the drop in traffic between 1967 and 1973, when was the 101 highway between Bedford and Windsor completed? I don't think it was as early as 1973! I'm just trying to figure out why freight traffic dropped and I'm leaning towards the old enemy, long-haul transport trucks.

-mike

[Paul Charland]

Hi Mike,

The 101 wasn't started until 1975 or '76. In the late spring of '77 the bus to Kentville started getting on and off the 101 at Berwick and in the last week I was in Greenwood a friend gave me a ride in his dune buggy where they were just using earth movers to level the area just east of Kingston for the highway. In the late winter of 1980 we took the 101 as far as Lawrencetown before getting back on 1 to head to Cornwallis.

Paul