Windsor and Annapolis Railway Company, Limited

Cover of the 1889 Passenger Schedule.

The Windsor and Annapolis Railway (W&AR) was the most significant of the founding companies of the Dominion Atlantic Railway. The W&AR was formed by Nova Scotian railway promoters and British investors in 1864 to connect the government owned "Windsor Branch" of the Nova Scotia Railway at Windsor with Annapolis Royal. Construction was completed in 1869. The railway struggled at first but soon developed a growing passenger and freight traffic from the Annapolis Valley. Built at first to the broad gauge of 5' 6", it converted to standard guage of 4' 8 1/2" in 1875. The W&AR faced a formidable rival in the Western Counties Railway (WCR) which used political connections several times to take control of the lucrative "Windsor Branch". The W&AR merged with the WCR in 1894 to create the Dominion Atlantic Railway with the W&AR's old mainline becoming the Kentville and Halifax subdivisions of the Dominion Atlantic. The W&AR was the senior partner in the merger which established the old W&AR headquarters in Kentville as the headquarters of the new company. The Dominion Altantic inherited the W&AR's "Land of Evangeline" identity and the W&AR's livery of bright magenta red locomotives. The W&AR was also a small-scale builder of wooden railway passenger and freight cars at its Kentville Shops, building several cars that survived into the DAR fleet.

W.& A.R. had a special rail customer during the 1880's The Palace RR Photograph Car Company. They operated a special car which was a mobile photograph studio which would travel the line. A Lewis Rice operated once of these such cars along with his photographic studios in Windsor & Wolfville. (3)

W&AR Locomotives

These are the W&A broad gauge locomotives, 9 of which were traded to the Canadian Government on July 1, 1875 that never made it to the DAR roster.

• W&AR Joseph Howe, - second hand from Canadian Government
• W&AR Sir Gaspard le Marchant, - second hand from Canadian Government
• W&AR St. Lawrence, - Portland
• W&AR No. 1 First Evangeline, - Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co., traded to the ICR 1875
• W&AR No. 2 First "Gabriel", - Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co., , traded to the ICR 1875
• W&AR No. 3 First Hiawatha, - Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co., traded to the ICR 1875
• W&AR No. 4 First Blomindon/Minnehaha, - Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co., traded to the ICR 1875
• W&AR First Gaspereau, - Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co.
• W&AR First Grand Pre, (destroyed January 5, 1872 by fire at the Halifax Roundhouse) - Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co.
• W&AR First Mic-Mac
• W&AR Maliseet
• W&AR First Minnehaha
• W&AR St. Croix - second hand from Portland in 1871
• W&AR Lightning - second hand from Great Western Railway in 1871

The locomotives below are the W&A standard gauge locomotives which later became DAR locomotives.

• W&AR No. 1 Second "Evangeline" later DAR No. 14
• W&AR No. 2 Second "Gabriel" later DAR No. 13
• W&AR No. 3 Second "Hiawatha" later DAR No. 2
• W&AR No. 4 "Blomidon" possibly later DAR No. 4
• W&AR No. 6 later DAR No. 3
• W&AR No. 8 "Benedict" later DAR No. 5
• W&AR No. 9 Second "Minnehaha" later DAR No. 6
• W&AR No. 10 "Kentville" later DAR No. 12
• W&AR No. 11 "St. Eulalie" later DAR No. 9
• W&AR No. 12 "Acadia" later DAR No. 11
• W&AR No. 13 "Queen Mab" later DAR No. 1
• W&AR No. 14 "Atlanta" later DAR No. 16
• W&AR No. 15 "Oberon" later DAR No. 19
• W&AR No. 16 "" later DAR No. 20

Gallery

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  Fox, Walter and Company engine 1868 built for WAR.

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  The first recorded photo of the Kentville Station taken in August 1869, also showing the Freight Shed and Car Shop.

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  The first Windsor & Annapolis "Gabriel" built by Messrs. Fox, Walker & Co.

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  Kentville Station and Yard in the Windsor and Annapolis era, July 27, 1871

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  Lighting, a broad gauge locomotive in front of the W&AR Kentville Engine House and Machine Shop in 1872.

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  Lighting, a broad gauge locomotive in front of the W&AR Kentville Engine House and Machine Shop in 1872.

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  The first Annapolis Royal Station station, circa 1880.

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  Memo from the W&AR.

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  Windsor and Annapolis Coach No. 3 Juno Builders Photo 1893.

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  Windsor & Annapolis No. 15 "Oberon" builder's (Baldwin) photo in 1893. This locomotive became the DAR No. 19.

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  W&A No. 16 "Titania" that become DAR No. 20 "Titania".

References and Footnotes

• Gary Ness's Canadian Pacific's Dominion Atlantic Railway (Vol. I), page 1, (Vol. II), page 13.
• Marguerite Woodworth, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, pages 51-87.
• (3) Tom Sheppard, Historic Wolfville: Grand Pre and Countryside, page 178.