Centreville, Nova Scotia

Subdivision Kingsport, Mile 4.8
Subdivision Weston, Mile 0

Elevation: 90 feet^[1]

Centreville Station

This village north of Kentville was a busy junction on the DAR's Cornwallis Valley Railway branchline, seeing ten trains a day in peak years.^[2] At Centreville, the line north from Kentville split east and west. The tracks of the Kingsport Subdivision continued east to Kingsport while the Weston Subdivision tracks headed west to Weston. A railway trade magazine article in 1908 mentioned the then-proposed Weston Subdivision. The Centreville junction resulted in a complex track plan in the middle of the village which included a large wye, a siding and a spur track which cut across the wye at a diamond crossing. The Centreville station was surrounded on all sides by five large apple warehouses. In 1913, railway contractors Kirk and Cook built a construction camp at Centreville for 100 foreign labours hired to build the North Mountain Line to Weston.^[3] The station agent for many years was Prescott Neville (1896-1984.)^[4] The tracks to Centreville were abandoned in 1961. Today, while the tracks and station are long gone, two warehouses and the roadbed of the wye survive.

Facilities:

Wye, junction with Weston Subdivision

Three fruit warehouses on north side served by a spur track

Two fruit warehouses on the south side served by 6 car siding

Station, daytime agent/operator

Next Station South: Steam Mill Village

Next Station on Weston Subdivision (west): Northville

Next Station on Kingsport Subdivision (east): Ford Crossing

Gallery

Locomotive No. 11 "Acadia" at Centreville.
Centreville station and Apple Warehouses from left to right: the Centreville Fruits; the British Canadian Fruit Association Centreville; the station; S. Belcher and Herbert Oyler warehouses, 1930s.
Centreville station, winter 1930s,
The Centreville Station looking west with the S. Belcher Apple Warehouse on right, 1941
Station 1940's
Locomotive No. 470 delivers the mail at Centreville.
Centreville Station from the east.
Centreville looking east from the station.
Centreville Station with CPR boxcar 250343 parked at an apple warehouse, October 1958.
Centreville Station with passengers and train crew, S. Belcher apple warehouse in the background, 1959.
"Passenger fares from Centreville station".
Wooden box from Centreville station.
Wooden box from Centreville station.
A double header apple train in Centreville.
Topographic map from Berwick to Kentville circa 1956.
Centreville warehouse, October 2007
Details freight doors, Centreville warehouse, October 2007
Detail freight door, Centreville warehouse, October 2007
Detail ventilator, Centreville warehouse, October 2007