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Evangeline
Evangeline was the official name of the DAR's "Dayliner" Rail Diesel Car (RDC) passenger service between Halifax and Yarmouth from 1956 to 1990. The name was used to introduce the RDCs No. 9058 and No. 9059 in 1956, providing a prestige name train for the new daily except Sunday service which replaced several daily trains pulled by steam locomotives.[1] Evangeline was promoted as the name as the route, while "Dayliner" was promoted as the name of the new RDC equipment. The Evangeline name drew on the DAR's long-established "Land of Evangeline" theme. It had been used in earlier times by locomotives No. 14, No. 40 and the steam ships SS Evangeline & SS Evangeline (II). The Evangeline name continued to be used for the RDCs over the 1960s[2] as other RDC units joined and later replaced 9058 and 9059, but the name fell out of use for the DAR's passenger service in the early VIA Rail era of the late 1970s and the term "Dayliner" was more commonly used by communities along the line. However the name Evangeline was revived in 1986[3] and was the official name of the Dayliner service until it was canceled in 1990[4] with VIA Rail No. 6143 and VIA Rail No. 6147 making the last run of the "Evangeline" to Yarmouth on January 14, 1990, ending passenger service on the DAR.
Gallery
Cover for first Evangline Timetable, Aug 20 1956
Schedule in first Evangeline Timetable, Aug 20, 1956
Cover of the 1963 Timetable promoting the fast "Evangeline"
No. 9058 on first run of the Evangeline RDC service in 1956 at Kingston Station.
RDCs in the westbound Evangeline at Mount Uniacke, across Lake Martha from the Uniacke House Museum, September 1983.
VIA Rail poster for The Evangeline "Dayliner" with a westbound RDC on the Clementsport Bridge, circa 1985.
VIA Rail Evangeline poster.
Ticket from last westbound Evangeline.
Yarmouth - Halifax Train No. 152 pauses at Annapolis Royal Station on the last Mon-Sat run of the "Evangeline", January 13, 1990.
Ticket from last westbound Evangeline, Jan. 14, 1990.
VIA Rail RDC No. 6143 and VIA Rail RDC No. 6147 about to depart Halifax, January 14, 1990, last run the Evangeline on the DAR.
See also the Dayliner Gallery for images of Dayliners in the Evangeline Service.
References and Footnotes
- ↑ Bill Linley, Canadian Pacific in Color Volume 1: Eastern Lines, page 14.
- ↑ 1963 Dominion Atlantic Railway Passenger Time Table - October 27, 1963
- ↑ David Othen, Dominion Atlantic Railway The Final 25 Years, page 27.
- ↑ VIA Rail Timetable, April 30, 1989 to January 14, 1990, "Evangeline" Trains 151,152,154, page 14, Conrad Davison Collection
