Memories of Annapolis Royal

[Frogmore]

I have recently obtained this photo of N0. 25, Strathcona, with a westbound DAR express at the Annapolis Royal station. http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... e:R85.jpeg. The date is probably early or mid-twenties. No. 25 was assigned east of Kentville before 1920; the McColl Frontenac Oil Co. (later Texaco) established their bulk plant in 1929 and it does not appear in picture. The "Premier" label on tank was an early Imperial Oil trademark. Of interest is the long building at left which was the DAR engine house. It was situated alongside the Windsor & Annapolis main line which terminated at the wharf, which would be at left in picture, about 1/4 mile distant.(See external link to 1878 map of the W & A in Annapolis Royal) This was probably the original building shown on map and part of it survived until the 1940's. When the "missing link" beween Annapolis & Digby was completed the track shown in photo became the new main line and also served as the south leg of the wye. The north leg went in beside the freight station, shown at center of photo, and joined the former main line a few hundred feet from the wharf. I wonder where the water tank was when this photo was taken? I remember a water tank opposite the freight station at the convergence of the two tracks, with two pipes to service locomotives on either side. This was replaced by a standard CPR water tank on the opposite side of the main line in 1949. Also, I have another question - how did the W & A turn their trains? There is no evidence of an earlier wye or a turntable near the waterfront.

Doug

[Dan Conlin]

I have uploaded some early views of DAR stations from Clarke's history, including the only view I have seen of the first station in Annapolis Royal:
http://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=I ... tation.jpg
What do you make of this Doug? Any idea of where it was located? I love the big busy platform. I can just imagine posters and placards for nearby steamship service stuck to the freight shed door. The first generations of stations along the line all seem to have been this basic gable structure with a small office/waiting room on the east end and freight room on the east end. The Grand Pre station seems to have survived the longest.

Dan

[Dan Conlin]

I think I have an explanation of how the W & A turned their trains in Annapolis before the wye was built. Edward Bush's book ''Enginehouses and Turntables on Canadian Railways" (Boston Mills Press, 1980) says that the W & A had enclosed turntables at its first enginehouses in Kentville and Annapolis. Each enginehouse had three locomotive tracks and a short turntable. This worked with small early 4-4-0s. He has a neat plan of similar enclosed turntable/engine house from a 19th century PEI terminal by way of example. This Annapolis enginehouse burned in 1897 and was replaced with a more standard version.

Dan Conlin

[stem]

I'm trying to imagine what an enclosed turn table must have looked like never having seen nor even heard of one before.

[mountainrail]

Steve,
Attached is a photo of the enclosed turntable on the Intercolonial at Saint John, N.B. This is the ultimate version, with a full roundhouse. Engines would enter and be turned to back into a stall. Smoke rose up the central chimney. This one was built over a two year period,1858 to 1860,and was 175 ft. in diameter.
I would suppose a three track version would perhaps have the turntable on one side of the building, and three tracks radiating off to the other side?

Jim O'Donnell

[stem]

Thanks for the photo! This is quite the sight I must say.

Interesting item about Kentville having an enclosed turntable. I wonder why we can't see it in this photo of the W&A yard from 1871, two years after the W&A officially fired up. I've always thought as well that this was interesting just how much construction is still underway at this juncture.

Perhaps the turn table is still to come (can anyone see it?). It may or may not have been in the same place as the CPR turntable built in 1916?

http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... eYarda.jpg

[Dan Conlin]

If you look carefully in the distance, of the Kentville picture:
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... eYarda.jpg
... just to the left of the roof of the car shop, you can see a large roof with a smoke vent at right angles to the mainline. This is the top of original W&A engine house and enclosed turn table. It was located to the south of the mainline opposite the later roundhouse and shops which were north of the mainline. It was not as elaborate a structure as that amazing St. John photo that Jim posted. The Kentville structure was more of a big rectangular building with attached buildings for the shops and blacksmiths. The 1905 Fire Insurance map maps out the complex, although sadly it does not show the inside turntable, only the lead tracks going into it. Leon Barron had a great Birdseye View Drawing of Kentville in 1879 with a nice exterior view. Leon told me that after the roundhouse was built, the old engine house was demolished in the 1920s, a senior DAR shop employee took the small turntable mechanism home and installed it in his barn so he could turn his Model T around! The old engine house location was buried under the south yard tracks. Apparently they found some foundation bits when they did the big environmental clean up of the yard a few years ago. Edward Bush's book Engine Houses and Turntables has some good drawings of similar structures. I know the Ottawa Public library has a copy. Anyone in Canada can get a copy via interlibrary loan if anyone is interested - a wonderful free and fast service available at all our local libraries.

Cheers

[mountainrail]

I have attached a copy of the Kentville engine house - after I posted the reply this am I got to thinking of this picture, so dug it out, but didn't have time to post it then. The portion of the building which would house the 3 stalls is not very bright in the photo, but is the part which shows in the yard view as Dan pointed out. I never knew for sure what this building was before, but it all makes sense now - the turntable would be in the section with the door, and the stalls in the section at right angles on the left. They really built close to the mainline.
The locomotive on the lead is the "Lightning", a broad gauge engine bought second hand in 1871, and traded with the government at the change of gauge in 1875. Photo was believed taken in the spring of 1872.

[stem]

This is spectacular! Any way of talking you into suppling a 1500 x whatever for the wiki?

Everytime you guys get together and combine your research, cool thing like this happens. You've got to love it!

[Dan Conlin]

That is a great photo Jim. I have only seen low quality newspaper versions of that view before. The mainline sure is close to the walls - those windows must have rattled when trains went by! I like how raw and semi-industrial it looks. You also really get a sense the wide gauge. The smaller building across the tracks to the right is the DAR blacksmith and coppersmith shops according to the 1905 fire insurance plan.

Dan

[mountainrail]

Dan
I agree - very primitive looking operation. There must have been a lot of filling and grading done over the years to arrive at the level site we are familar with.
That is great info about those other buildings. Is it possible to obtain a copy of the DAR portion of that fire insurance plan?

Jim

[Frogmore]

Dan, I have no idea where that original Annapolis station was located, but cannot imagine it being anywhere other than between Church Street and Drury Lane, site of the present Farmer's and Trader's Market. There is really no other place that could have accommodated a station with tracks on both sides, and as late as the '50's or 60's this area was a yard with three or four parallel tracks.
Interesting speculation re the possible turntable, but I have uncovered some interesting information since my original post. Don't know if you are familiar with the town, but the former Annapolis Woodworkers establishment has been purchased by Home Hardware and is being extensively renovated. In my role as town councillor, I was examining the plot plans and was very surprised to see a former railroad right-of-way curving right through the building! In other words, this would have been a turnout to the right about 1500 feet before the wharf.
Two possibilities here - could have been a line to the lumber mill near the former Granville Bridge, or it could have been a wye - maybe both.

Doug

[Dan Conlin]

I think you are right about the location of the first Annapolis Royal station. I came across the 1878 bird's eye View of Annnapolis (in Joan Dawson's 2007 book "The Mapmaker's Legacy: Nineteenth-Century Nova Scotia Through Maps"). The birds eye view shows a station which looks a lot like the station in the photo, complete with platform and the switch track in the foreground. It seems to be on Church Street halfway between St.James and St. George.
Interesting to hear about the turnout showing up on the old land plots - although I don't know my AR geography well enough to plot it out in my head.

Dan Conlin

[stem]

We have the birdseye view as a link at the bottom of the Annapolis Royal page.

Here it is for you to continue the discussion:
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm_v2.php?i ... 962&ex=272

So yes, you can see the station and platform facing Railroad St.

Do you think the buildings east (right) of the station just past the end of the platform are railway buildings or it that a large private residence?

[Evangelineroute]

I know we are all aware of the superb restoration of the c 1917 DAR Annapolis Royal station. Apparently the building sustained some damage on Saturday evening. Mrs Nicholson posted the following on Novarail this afternoon:

"Have to tell you all that the Annapolis Royal train station was
vandalized Saturday night. Such a shame. They broke a few windows and
stole one of my CP timetable cover pictures, but, not being art
lovers, they threw it away on a front lawn up town so I have gotten it
back. Will have to install cameras now....sigh.

Jane
Mrs. Nicholson Inc."

I had an opportunity to visit the station in June and the Tenant's staff were kind enough to give me a tour of the building. Mrs. Nicholson has (I believe) four DAR PTT covers c1910-1920 enlarged as posters, then professionally matted and framed...artwork that I had not seen before. Very attractive. Glade to hear the stolen one was recovered.

An example can be seen on her web site:

http://www.mrsnicholson.com/trainstatio ... ide04.html

although I suspect it was the poster, not shown, displayed near the front door that was removed.

Fred