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[[Image:DAR 2627 train 100 Digby, NS 8-26-56.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Midnight, [[Train No. 100]] at [[Digby]] in the early morning of August 26, 1956.]]
 
[[Image:DAR 2627 train 100 Digby, NS 8-26-56.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Midnight, [[Train No. 100]] at [[Digby]] in the early morning of August 26, 1956.]]
  
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"The Midnight" was the popular nickname for the DAR's long running overnight mixed trains between [[Halifax]] and [[Yarmouth]], [[Train No. 99]] and [[Train No. 100]].  
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"The Midnight" was the popular nickname for the DAR's long-running overnight mixed trains between [[Halifax]] and [[Yarmouth]], [[Train No. 99]] and [[Train No. 100]].
  
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No. 99 left Halifax in the evening with freight, express, coach and sleeping cars, arriving at Annapolis Valley towns about midnight and arriving in Yarmouth early in the morning. It ran opposite [[Train No. 100]], the [[Yarmouth]] to [[Halifax]] overnight mixed train which was also known as "The Midnight" in the Western parts of the DAR such as [[Annapolis Royal]](1), although eastern towns such as [[Wolfville]] called No. 100, the [[Fast Freight]].(2) For many in the valley the Midnight was an evocative symbol of sleepy late-night mysteries. Homes next to stations like [[Berwick]] would often find polite but confused passengers from "The Midnight" knocking on their doors in the wee hours asking for directions and taxis in the still and deserted streets of valley towns.(3)
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The two night trains were launched in 1921 as mixed passenger and freight but, at least initially, only carrying through freight between Halifax and Yarmouth.<ref>[[The_Gazette_1921_Dec_9_DAR_Improvements_and_New_Bridgetown_Station|''The_Gazette''_1921_Dec_9_"DAR_Improvements_and_New_Bridgetown_Station"]]</ref>
  
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[[M. Allen Gibson|Allen Gibson]] wrote in his nostalgic book ''[[Train Time]]'': "The last train of the day was Number 99, Yarmouth-bound from Halifax. Familiarly known as "The Midnight", it arrived at or about the witching hour when the old town clock atop the post office was striking its twelve nocturnal notes. Student days at Acadia often found one studying late, the passage of time forgotten in the pursuit of of knowledge or, as more likely, in some last and harried effort to finish an assignment. The sound of "The Midnight" blowing for the station was a reminder of bedtime and, often sleep came to the distant rhythm of the engine's exhaust as the train hammered up the grade out of Port Williams."(4)
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No. 99 left Halifax in the evening with freight, express, coach and sleeping cars, arriving at Annapolis Valley towns about midnight and arriving in Yarmouth early in the morning. It ran opposite [[Train No. 100]], the [[Yarmouth]] to [[Halifax]] overnight mixed train which was also known as "The Midnight" in the Western parts of the DAR such as [[Annapolis Royal]],<ref>Doug Schaffner, post to DAR-DPI Forum, Dec. 19. 2009: http://www.dardpi.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=188</ref> although eastern towns such as [[Wolfville]] called No. 100, the [[Fast Freight]].<Ref>[[M. Allen Gibson]], ''[[Train Time]]'', Windsor: Lancelot Press (1973) page 21, 25.</ref> For many in the valley the Midnight was an evocative symbol of sleepy late-night mysteries. Homes next to stations like [[Berwick]] would often find polite but confused passengers from "The Midnight" knocking on their doors in the wee hours asking for directions and taxis in the still and deserted streets of valley towns.<ref>Personal conversation, Mary Louise Conlin, [[Berwick]], 2005</ref>
  
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==References==
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[[M. Allen Gibson|Allen Gibson]] wrote in his nostalgic book ''[[Train Time]]'': "The last train of the day was Number 99, Yarmouth-bound from Halifax. Familiarly known as "The Midnight", it arrived at or about the witching hour when the old town clock atop the post office was striking its twelve nocturnal notes. Student days at Acadia often found one studying late, the passage of time forgotten in the pursuit of of knowledge or, as more likely, in some last and harried effort to finish an assignment. The sound of "The Midnight" blowing for the station was a reminder of bedtime and, often sleep came to the distant rhythm of the engine's exhaust as the train hammered up the grade out of Port Williams."<ref>[[M. Allen Gibson]], ''[[Train Time]]'', Windsor: Lancelot Press (1973) page 21, 25.</ref>
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(1) Doug Schaffner, post to DAR-DPI Forum, Dec. 19. 2009: http://www.dardpi.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=188
 
  
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(2) & (4) [[M. Allen Gibson]], ''[[Train Time]]'', Windsor: Lancelot Press (1973) page 21, 25.
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==Gallery==
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<gallery>
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File:Gazette 1921 12 09 DAR Improvements and Bridgetown Station.jpg|Article on the new [[Bridgetown Station]], the start of the [[Midnight]] trains, a new [[Digby Station]], and [[Cornwallis Hotel|Aberdeen Hotel]] renovations, Dec 9, 1921. See [[The_Gazette_1921_Dec_9_DAR_Improvements_and_New_Bridgetown_Station|article text.]]
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Image:Train No. 99 at Halifax.jpg|[[Train No. 99]] at [[Halifax]] on July 7, 1954 evening departure to [[Yarmouth]].
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Image:DAR2516 SGM-B0002.jpg|DAR mixed [[Train No. 100]] led by [[DAR2516|No. 2516]] nearing [[Hebron]] in August 1957. Box car [[DAR225114|No. 225114]] can be spotted.
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</gallery>
  
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(3) Personal conversation, Mary Louise Conlin, [[Berwick]]
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==References==
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<references/>
  
 
[[Category: Named Trains]]
 
[[Category: Named Trains]]

Latest revision as of 21:06, 12 December 2021

The Midnight, Train No. 100 at Digby in the early morning of August 26, 1956.

"The Midnight" was the popular nickname for the DAR's long-running overnight mixed trains between Halifax and Yarmouth, Train No. 99 and Train No. 100.

The two night trains were launched in 1921 as mixed passenger and freight but, at least initially, only carrying through freight between Halifax and Yarmouth.[1]

No. 99 left Halifax in the evening with freight, express, coach and sleeping cars, arriving at Annapolis Valley towns about midnight and arriving in Yarmouth early in the morning. It ran opposite Train No. 100, the Yarmouth to Halifax overnight mixed train which was also known as "The Midnight" in the Western parts of the DAR such as Annapolis Royal,[2] although eastern towns such as Wolfville called No. 100, the Fast Freight.[3] For many in the valley the Midnight was an evocative symbol of sleepy late-night mysteries. Homes next to stations like Berwick would often find polite but confused passengers from "The Midnight" knocking on their doors in the wee hours asking for directions and taxis in the still and deserted streets of valley towns.[4]

Allen Gibson wrote in his nostalgic book Train Time: "The last train of the day was Number 99, Yarmouth-bound from Halifax. Familiarly known as "The Midnight", it arrived at or about the witching hour when the old town clock atop the post office was striking its twelve nocturnal notes. Student days at Acadia often found one studying late, the passage of time forgotten in the pursuit of of knowledge or, as more likely, in some last and harried effort to finish an assignment. The sound of "The Midnight" blowing for the station was a reminder of bedtime and, often sleep came to the distant rhythm of the engine's exhaust as the train hammered up the grade out of Port Williams."[5]

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ The_Gazette_1921_Dec_9_"DAR_Improvements_and_New_Bridgetown_Station"
  2. ↑ Doug Schaffner, post to DAR-DPI Forum, Dec. 19. 2009: http://www.dardpi.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=188
  3. ↑ M. Allen Gibson, Train Time, Windsor: Lancelot Press (1973) page 21, 25.
  4. ↑ Personal conversation, Mary Louise Conlin, Berwick, 2005
  5. ↑ M. Allen Gibson, Train Time, Windsor: Lancelot Press (1973) page 21, 25.
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