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Kentville Machine Shop
Kentville Machine Shop
1869-1919
The DAR's first locomotive and machine shops stood to the south of the mainline in Kentville. Built by the Windsor and Annapolis Railway in the late 1860s and gradually expanded, the first locomotive shops included a small enclosed turntable, a three bay engine house, machine shops and blacksmith shops.[1]
1920-1973
A large new machine shop and blacksmith shop was built beside the roundhouse in 1920. The new shop was 60 x 180 feet and stood between the roundhouse and sanding tower. It included an attached 30 x 144 foot blacksmith shop[2] and stores building.[3] Two large doors faced east allowing locomotives and rolling stock to enter for major service work. At its peak in 1927 the shops and roundhouse employed 126 men, including dozens of machinists, boilermakers and seven blacksmiths with seven apprentices as well as a brass foundry. The shop made the DAR largely self-sufficient for most car, locomotive and MOW parts.[4] It did Class 1, 2, and 3 repairs, the last being complete dismantlement and rebuild of locomotives. Locomotives rebuilt in the Kentville Shops included No. 39 "Lescarbot" which received a feedwater heater system in a complete rebuild in 1927.[5] and No. 544, which received a new boiler in a major rebuild in January 1936.[6] The DAR shop also did considerable non-railway contract work in slack times.[7] Shop facilities also included showers and a steam laundry for shop workers.[8] Staff drooped to 100 during the Depression, but the shops still remained busy in all trades.[9]
The shop received major equipment upgrades in the late 1930s when larger steam locomotives arrived on the line. However the shops saw staff reductions starting in 1939 when 50 employees were laid off in the machine shop, blacksmith, carpentry and paint shops, leaving only the roundhouse and running repairs staff untouched.[10] Further reductions steadily followed in the late 1950s when diesels replaced steam. Routine maintenance was moved to the former Car Shop and major rebuilds were shifted to Saint John and Montreal. By the early 60's, the shop buildings were empty. In 1964, the American Can Company leased the building from the DAR to produce cans for the various food processing plants and canneries in the Annapolis Valley.[11] The shop buildings were destroyed by an accidental fire in 1973.[12]
Gallery
Lightning, a broad gauge locomotive in front of the W&AR Kentville Engine House and Machine Shop in 1872.
Kentville roundhouse, turntable and shops from the coaling tower, 1940s or 50s.
Pile Driver No. 922 beside the Kentville Machine Shop in 1947.
Water stand pipe with the Kentville Machine Shop in the background, c. 1950.
Aux steam crane and tender No. 4 with locomotive No. 1018 in front of the Kentville Machine Shop, circa 1950.
No. 2665 departing Kentville in August 1951 leading Train No. 95 through the Kentville Railyard. Visible is sanding tower in the background and the roof of the Machine Shop's stores shed.
No. 470 leading the Kingsport local, Train No. 11 past the east end of the Machine Shop August 1951.
Locomotive No. 2551 in front of the Kentville Machine Shop by the stand pipe of the Kentville Water Tower, August 30, 1953.
No. 1092 in Kentville, N.S. Kentville Machine Shop on August 27, 1956.
Locomotives No. 2501 and No. 2209 inside the Kentville Machine Shop circa 1958.
DAR locomotive 2501 in the Kentville Machine Shop, photographer and date unknown, probably circa 1958.
DAR locomotive 2501 with the tender of No. 2209 in the Kentville Machine Shop, c. 1958.
Crane No. 3 beside the Kentville Roundhouse with the Machine Shop in the background, c.1958.
Kentville Roundhouse with Kentville Machine Shop, 1958 July 31.
No. 8131 and No. 8132 with the north wall of the machine shop to the right beside the turntable. The car shops and power plant are on the left, August 1959.
Engine 2209 at the Kentville Machine Shop entrance, 8 August 1959.
CPR diesel No. 8135 passes through the Kentville Railyard along the the south side of the machine shop in 1961.
Burro Boom Car No. 418135 made from underframe of Pile Driver No. 400002 coupled to Flanger No. 400434 in front of the derelict Machine Shop on May 5, 1964.
Dayliner No. 9057 in 1973. The burned ruins of the machine shop can be seen through the legs of the coal tower.
The Kentville Roundhouse with the Kentville Machine Shop foundation in foreground, June 18, 1970.
Kentville Railyard, Kentville Car Shop, Kentville Coaling Tower and the foundation of theKentville Machine Shop, October 1990.
Kentville Railyard with the Kentville Track Scale in the centre & the foundation of the Kentville Machine Shop in the foreground, 1990.
References and Footnotes
- ↑ Kentville Fire Insurance Plan, Sheet 1, March 1906
- ↑ Railway and Marine World November 1920, Carl Riff notes
- ↑ Kentville Fire Insurance Plans, Sheet 7, December 1951
- ↑ D.A.R. Plant an Eyeopener to Visitors" Rotarians Visit Roundhouse and Shops", Halifax Chronicle Herald, February 5, 1927, Carl Riff Notes
- ↑ D.A.R. Plant an Eyeopener to Visitors" Rotarians Visit Roundhouse and Shops", Halifax Chronicle Herald, February 5, 1927, Carl Riff Notes
- ↑ Links and Pins, "Railway Notes", Halifax Chronicle Herald January 18, 1936, Carl Riff Collection
- ↑ Gary W. Ness, Canadian Pacific's Dominion Atlantic Railway Vol. I, page 16.
- ↑ Georgina Robinson, "The DAR Machine Shop", Kings County Vignettes Vol. 8, Kings County Museum, page 23-24.
- ↑ Links and Pins, "Railway Notes", Halifax Chronicle Herald January 18, 1936, Carl Riff Collection
- ↑ "Fifty Lose Jobs D.A.R. Shop Layoffs - Maybe More Later", Halifax Chronicle Herald July 27, 1939, Carl Riff Collection
- ↑ Memorandum of General Information on the Dominion Atlantic Railway, Feb. 17, 1969, page 9, Dominion Atlantic Railway, Library and Archives Canada HE2810 D7 D7 fol.
- ↑ "Fire Department Supplement", Kentville Advertiser, Feb. 23, 1988, page 10.
