DAR0039

Dominion Atlantic Railway Steam Locomotive No. 39 (1st) "Benedict" ~ 1917-1923

Wheel Arrangement: 4-6-0

Built by North British Locomotive Company at Glasgow. Scotland in November 1903.

• Builder No. 16036
• 21" x 26" cylinders
• 63" drivers
• 53' wheelbase length, engine and tender
• CPR Class:

Built as Canadian Pacific Railway locomotive No. 983, renumbered as CPR No. 522 in 1908. It was transferred to the DAR in September 1917 and became DAR No. 39, "Benedict". It was returned to the CPR and numbered back to CPR No. 522 in August 1923.

The renumbering probably took place after No. 39 was repaired after damage from a serious snow plow derailment in January 1923 at Somerset where one of the engine crew was badly scalded.

Name Origins: Father of the heroine Evangeline in the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Earlier used by locomotive, DAR No. 5 and later used by DAR locomotive No. 531.

Gallery

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  “Benedict”, 1923.

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  Somerset train wreck, with locomotives No. 39, No. 556 and snow plow No.4, January 19, 1923.

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  Snow plow wreck of Locomotive No. 39, Somerset, January 19, 1923.

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  Kentville Roundhouse with numbered stalls, 1927. Locomotive No. 39 visible in Stall No. 5.

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  “Benedict” at Digby.

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References and Footnotes

Jim O'Donnell "Dominion Atlantic Railway Locomotive Roster"

Dominion Atlantic Railway Steam Locomotive No. 39 (2nd) “Lescarbot” ~ 1923-1937

Wheel Arrangement: 4-6-0

Built Schenectady Locomotive Works, Schenectady, New York in November 1902.

• Builder No. 26755
• 20" x 26" cylinders
• 63" drivers.
• 54' 6" engine and tender wheelbase length
• CPR Class: D6a

The DAR's second locomotive No. 39 was built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1903 as CPR 508. It was transferred to the DAR in August 1923 as the second DAR No. 39, taking the new name "Lescarbot". No. 39 received a complete rebuilt in 1927 at the Kentville Machine Shop, including the installation of a feedwater heater, the largest rebuild to date at the DAR shops. On July 11, 1935, a careless automobile driver drove in front of No. 39 as it pulled Train No. 14 across the Pereau crossing on the Kingsport Subdivision and two passengers in the automobile were killed. In May 1937, No. 39 it was renumbered as DAR No. 508 as the DAR shifted to CPR style numbers. See DAR No. 508 for details of its later career. The locomotive was scrapped in 1947.

Name Origin: Marc Lescarbot, French poet, lawyer and historian at Port Royal in 1606. The same name later used with DAR No. 530

Gallery

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  “Lescarbot” at Halifax circa 1935.

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  DAR No. 39 at Kentville

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  DAR No. 39 number plate. National Railway Museum. York, England.

Other Known Photographs of this locomotive number as No. 39:

• McQuinn Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, N-4014 (in Windsor, 1923) & N-4015 (in Windsor)
• Stephens Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, N-18247, N-18248, N-8354 (leaving trestle).
• Mattingly Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa, MAT000546.

References and Footnotes

• Omer Lavallée, Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives, pages 258, 294, 348.

• Jim O'Donnell "Dominion Atlantic Railway Locomotive Roster"

External Links

Second locomotive 39 at the Canada Museum of Science and Technology, Image no. MAT000547 #39's number plate at the National Railway Museum in York, England.