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The Dominion Atlantic Railway

The iconic Land of Evangeline Railway

This Nova Scotia Railway conglomerate is one of the more important pages out of Nova Scotia history. The D.A.R. served as the catalyst in the development of the economies of the Annapolis Valley Apple Industry and the Nova Scotia tourism industry and provided the vital link that connected the western end of Nova Scotia from Yarmouth to Halifax and Truro.

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The Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Initiative Wiki Project

The entire DAR DPI web site including this Wiki is my personal donation to the study and preservation of the D.A.R. This railway has always held a fascination for me yet its history has been elusive; confined to a few words in most publications and lacking in breadth and depth. Thankfully a few authors have taken the time to truly wade in, yet there is a much larger folklore component to the D.A.R. that keeps its memory alive. By harnessing the technology of the internet and software like this Wiki, I hope we may eventually assemble the bits and pieces that everyone seems to have; their own little "slice" of the D.A.R.; and together hopefully we can build a true panorama of the railway everyone holds dear.

Steven Meredith

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For Researchers

We are pleased so many come to the DARwiki to research the rich history and deep connection of the railway to the history and development of Nova Scotia. To aid researchers please follow this link to our page called Research Help that lists important documents and links to important pages on the wiki to help uncover the history of the D.A.R.

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As you browse you may notice some images with SAMPLE on them. Those are John MacIntosh photos and his son, Bob MacIntosh gave us permission to post the eBay sample photos even while they were selling. Bob told us that his dad would have been very pleased to have all his photos shared as such. Many buyers came forward after and allowed us to post the image of the slide they bought but those that remain so, the buyers have never come forth. Never the less we do have Bob's permission to show them, as unattractive as the red SAMPLE is.

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Wiki Status

March 06, 2024

Now in our 18th year and still going strong! Our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/DARDPI.ca has been a source of great stories and images for the wiki and has become a wonderful community of friends, fans, family of rail employees and many of the old employees as well.

The result of 18 years of work is that this wiki is firmly established as the home of the largest collection of D.A.R information on the web. Quite the accomplishment for the DAR band of brothers, sisters and fans. We are currently at 6,185 images and 9,064 pages to date!

But this wiki would not exist without our tireless editors and core group contributors, past and present, who continue to add such great content to the wiki. A big thank you to them.

Steve Meredith

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Museum Affiliations

This wiki supports the Middleton Railway Museum and is intended to be a resource to provide as complete a history as possible to serve as a private study resource for museum volunteers on site and on the internet.

We have also forged personal relationships with other museums and societies with which we work closely and with others who have contributed material from their archives to our wiki:

• Kentville Historical Society
• Nova Scotia Museum
• Kings Historical Society
• Wolfville Historical Society
• Yarmouth Historical Society
• Canadian Pacific Historical Association
• Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society

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The Digital DAR - An MSTS Route

Set in the mid seventies, the route from Yarmouth to Windsor Junction including the Coldbrook and Steam Mills spur and the Midland to Brooklyn has been faithfully recreated by Paul over the last 8 years. This was a labour of love and it shows. All the towns along the route and even Cornwallis and Greenwood are especially accurate and well detailed.

Paul has also created all the necessary rolling stock for the railway so that the immersion is complete.

I consider this a priceless donation as the time spent on this recreation runs into years and yet Paul has donated this route for all to enjoy. Perhaps one day, we will even see it running as a permanent display at the Memory Lane Railway Museum!

We have all the necessary files stored here on the forum if you would like to roll your sleeves up and get cracking on the DAR right away. Please click on the link to go right to our file section: http://www.dardpi.ca/forum/viewforum.php?f=17

Take time as well to browse the messages in the area for screen shots and the running dialogue as Paul worked on this.

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Contributions

I would like to assure contributors that unlike other forums and groups on the internet, the images and text contributed will never be reduced or culled to save space. The whole idea to this wiki is to save absolutely everything possible! This wiki is backed up regularly as well to protect these images and text and the investment in time put in to it by all.

Picture Preferences

All contribution are gratefully accepted but if possible, we would like photos in JPG format saved at 100% quality with no smoothing with a the largest dimension (either H or W) at 1500 pixels. At this size, it is not suitable for publication yet allows enthusiasts a great deal of detail when examining the photos.

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Terms of use

You have already agreed to the Terms & Conditions of this web site when you entered it. If you have not agreed then you may not proceed until you have agreed to our Terms & Conditions of use. Please click here to be directed to our Terms & Conditions page.

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User Policy

Our policy to eliminate Spam robots and control Spam "content" will be:

1. The Wiki can not be edited by guests. Interested individuals will be allowed to contribute to the Wiki with no questions asked. If you are interested, make sure you have created a user name on the forum and then send an email on the forum by going to your User Control Panel, private messages, to user "STEM" explaining your interest and I will put you on the wiki with your forum username and password right away. Should you have problems with signing up in the forum, please direct your email to me at "Webmeister *at* DARDPI *dot* ca".----