I believe the Hantsport gypsum facility was opened in 1947. Previous to this, gypsum trains unloaded somewhere in Deep Brook. Of course, steam would have been the power until the arrival of diesels in the 50s. Is it possible that the steam engines were turned at Windsor, running light from Hantsport and back?
Matthew Keoughan
Dartmouth, NS
Keeping the memory alive of the famous "Land of Evangeline Route".
From what I read on the wiki yesterday it appears during the warm months most of the gypsum from the Miller Creek mine went only as far as Wentworth where it was offloaded and then eventually loaded into ships at a dock there, so this may have been done using a single D-10 that wasn't turned at all.
Probably starting in the late summer, two D-10s were used to run gypsum all the way down to Deep Brook where it was stockpiled for later in the year. When the ice in the Avon River became too thick for shipping all the gypsum went to Deep Brook for loading onto ships ( guess this would indicate a deeper port where the ice broke up each time the tide went out).
The power went to Annapolis Royal to turn on the south end of the trip, not sure about the north end of the run though. There's a 1950s map in the wiki that does not show a wye at the Miller Creek mine but there is a curved road on the map right were you'd expect a wye to be on the opposite side of the entrance to the mine from the main. When I first drew the DAR including the first eight miles of the Truro Sub, Google Earth had 1992 satellite shots where you could still easily see track that was removed thirty years earlier. Now they've removed the older images and replaced the with five year old images of poor quality and you can hardly find any old track at all in some places. So, can't say if the wye was ever there or not. In the current images on Google Earth there is plenty of room for the leg of the wye if it existed.
So how about this possibility? They sent a single loco to pick up loads at the mine. It backs the loads up into Windsor where they leave the gypsum, turn the loco and caboose on the wye then bring on a helper loco before departing west.
I think for the most part the gypsum was handled as local work out of Windsor to and from the mines. They used a van a but probably didn't turn the engine at all. In the fall when the gypsum was run down to south of Cornwallis, then they probably assembled enough gypsum in Windsor and had a pair of D-10s and a caboose run light out of Kentville, turn in Windsor, and take the train down to where ever the unloading facility was south of Cornwallis. That means the return trip would have had to back up to Annapolis Royal before they could turn the engines... that's my guess.
Re the steam-era gypsum trains: Growing up in Annapolis Royal, it was common belief that the gypsum trans-shipment facility at Deep Brook was established because of the submarine threat in the Bay of Fundy.
It was years later that I heard the more plausible explanation; that ships could only be partially loaded at Hantsport, even at high tide, and they would proceed to Deep Brook to be topped up before proceeding down the Eastern Seaboard. Dredging Hantsport harbor and the acquisition of a tugboat meant the abandonment of Deep Brook and the demise of the gypsum trains in the western end of the valley.
In the late 1940's, I had a summer job at a gas station adjacent to the DAR/Hwy one crossing at the west end of Annapolis Royal and it was here that I often witnessed a spectacular display of DAR steam power.
All trains were required to stop at the Annapolis station. The line west was a slight downgrade, about 1000 feet to the highway crossing, then across the Allain River bridge - two wooden trestles and one long steel span. (It's still there). On a summer morning, with dew on the rails, you would hear the exhaust of two D-10s, spinning their wheels as they attempted to get the 20 car train moving. About half-way to the crossing a trainman on the footboard of the second locomotive would pull the pin and the lead locomotive would surge ahead and cross the bridge ahead of the rest of the train. Both whistles would be screaming for the crossing and both throttles would be wide open. How I wish I could have had a video camera in those days!
Apparently the bridge was not certified for the weight of two D-10s, although there was no problem with the double-header D-6s then in use on the passenger runs. I remember once seeing separation of the locomotives at the high steel bridge in Clementsport, but not nearly as exciting without the whistles!
That would have been exciting to see! I think there were a lot more of those undocumented tricks in use than we'll ever know about so your account is valued very much. If you don't mind Doug, would love to put that account on the wiki on the Allain River Bridge page as well as the Gypsum Trains page.
It would be really great if you had any more recollections about railway movements and business like loading Christmas tree and receiving and unloading fuel cars or whatever else you remember!
What did they use the wye for is a good example. Were there regular movement on the wye for anything in particular? Can you remember if the wharves were still in operation and any movements to them? Did anything other type of loads get regularly delivered to the station or the freight shed? It looked to be a good size.
Do you ever remember seeing the old engine house at all or even in use?
