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Category:Subdivision Kingsport

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Kingsport Subdivision, "The Cornwallis Valley Railway" 1890 to 1961

The Kingsport Subdivision ran 13.6 miles north from Kentville to Kingsport, terminating on the large government wharf at Kingsport. Another branch, the Weston Subdivision or "North Mountain Line" ran west from Centreville, at Mile 4.8 of the CVR, to Weston.

History

A typical scene on the CVR: small country station and giant apple warehouses, Sheffield Mills, circa 1930

The Kingsport subdivision began as an independent company called the Cornwallis Valley Railway (CVR) which was formed in 1887 by merchants and farmers in Canning and Kentville. The CVR was incorporated on May 3, 1887 with the goal of building a railway from Kingsport to Kentville or Berwick. The "incorporators" listed in the original act of incorporation were C. R. Burgess, R. M. Rand, Stephen Sheffield, Charles E. Borden, B. H. Dodge, Joseph E. Ells, Stephen Burgess, E. M. Beckwith, Caleb R. Bill, D. M. Dickie, and W. E. Roscoe.[1] Key players on this board were: the area's Member of Parliament, Frederick William Borden; Canning merchant and former MLA Stephen Sheffield, who served as the president; and Kentville merchant and future MLA, Brenton Hamilton Dodge, who served as secretary. [Editor's note: there seems to be discrepancies between the list of incorporators from the text of the act and list of board members from other sources.] The company quickly received provincial and federal charters, construction subsidies and a contract to carry the mail.[2]

Sheffield turned the first sod at Canning to symbolically begin construction on September 28, 1888.[3] In June 1889 work started on the line. Workers numbered 300 and included masonry teams building culverts. Ties and posts were pre-positioned along the line to ensure continuous progress.[4]

The major construction work was the 80-foot iron bridge over the Cornwallis River. There were also five trestles: three trestles near Canning crossing the Habitant River and floodplain and two trestles crossing the Canard River near Mill Village as well as a numerous stone culverts and a few wooden box culverts. Near the height of land at Centreville, a 1000-foot cutting was required. Cuttings were also required to be dug at Canning and at Kingsport where the line connected to the Kingsport Wharf. A 16-high embankment was built at Dr. Miller's property in Canning. Four large stations were built at first: at Kentville, Canard (Aldershot), Canning and Kingsport line based on the standard Windsor & Annapolis Second Generation station design. Additional sidings were built at Mill Village; Rands Crossing near Canning (Hillaton) and at Pereau (near Kingsport). The cost was estimated at $175,000 to 200,000. The line received a subsidy of $6,400 per mile, split between the federal and provincial governments. The government of Kings County purchased the land for the right of way at a cost of $27,000.[5]

On October 30, 1889 the Cornwallis River Bridge was completed and W&AR Locomotive No. 2 became the first locomotive to run on the CVR, pulling a work train across the bridge with ballast for roadbed construction.[6]

By December 22, 1890, the line started operation leasing rolling stock and terminal facilities from the Windsor and Annapolis Railway in Kentville. It began with one locomotive, (CVR No. 1 "Queen Mab"), one combine car, ("Daphne", CVR No. 3, later DAR 31), plus 8 boxcars and 12 flat cars. The freight cars were all built by the Harris Company from Saint John.[7] The little railway immediately proved profitable and by 1891 it was carrying 18,161 passengers and 20,635,041 lbs freight a year. The CVR was purchased by the Windsor and Annapolis Railway on July 26, 1892, just before the W&AR evolved into the Dominion Atlantic. The CVR became a DAR subdivision but train crews and locals used the name CVR for the subdivision until it's final abandonment in the 1990s.

Running through the richest apple districts of the valley and connecting to steamers and schooners at the Kingsport wharf, the line enjoyed heavy traffic in its first decades, running six trains a day in World War One. It also served as a suburban railway for the greater Kentville area, bringing school children, shoppers and workers to town in the morning and back home at night.

A branch track from the Cornwallis Valley Railway was built beside the north platform of the Kentville Station in September 1898, allowing passengers and baggage to be directly transferred to and from mainline trains at the station to the CVR trains parked on the station's north platform.[8]

Traffic was increased in 1914 when the Weston Subdivision or North Mountain Line was added to the CVR, branching off to the west at Centreville and running 14 miles to Weston. It added another four trains a day serving the seven stations and dozens of apple warehouses west of Centreville.

The collapse of the apple industry after 1945 and the growth of paved roads eroded traffic in the 1950s.The Dominion Atlantic tried a bus service in DAR livery on the CVR from Kingsport to Kentville between 1947 and 1949 but reverted to mixed trains for the duration of rail service.[9] The once busy branchline acquired the common nickname "Blueberry Express" for its slow mixed trains in its final years.[10] After several years of application, the DAR abandoned most of the subdivision. Tracks north of Mill Village (Steam Mill) at Mile 2.2 to Kingsport and Weston were abandoned on January 31, 1961. The remnant of the subdivision became Spur Track D of the DAR serving Camp Aldershot and the feed mill and fertilizer plant at Mill Village.

On September 22, 1993, CP Rail finally closed the last of the CVR when it abandoned all of its tracks west of New Minas including the remaining 2.3 mile Spur Track D from Kentville to Mill Village (Steam Mill).


Original map by Mike Gerrits

Trains

Train No. 11 Noon to Kingsport

Train No. 12 Morning to Kentville

Train No. 13 Afternoon to Kingsport

Train No. 14 Afternoon to Kentville

Train No. 15 Early Morning to Kingsport

Train No. 16 Early Morning to Kentville

Train No. 17 Evening to Kingsport

Train No. 18 Evening to Kentville

Photo Gallery

Maps

Structures

References and Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1887 Nova Scotia Chapter 59 - An Act to incorporate the Cornwallis Valley Railway Company, Limited
  2. ↑ Carmen Miller, A Knight in Politics: A Biography of Frederick William Borden, p. 59
  3. ↑ Montreal Herald, September 29, 1888, courtesy Phil Vogler
  4. ↑ "300 men working on Cornwallis Railway 1889", Chignecto Post, January 1, 1885-December 26, 1889, courtesy Phil Vogler
  5. ↑ "Cornwallis Valley Railway", The Acadian, Jan. 29, 1890.
  6. ↑ W.W. Clarke, Clarke's History of the Earliest Railways in Nova Scotia, page 11
  7. ↑ "Cornwallis Valley Railway", The Acadian, Jan. 29, 1890.
  8. ↑ Digby Courier, Sept. 23, 1898, transcribed on page 17 of "Dominion Atlantic Railway III, Digby Courier Notes 1890-1904", Carl Riff"
  9. ↑ Ed Coleman, "Gone and Almost Forgotten the CVR Bus", Kings County Advertiser Register, 17 April 2013
  10. ↑ Interpretation Panels, Kingsport Community Association, Kingsport Wharf

External Links

NORTH MOUNTAIN RAILWAY Part of the DOMINION ATLANTIC RAILWAY", by Spurgeon G. “Spud” Roscoe]

Locations

Locations categorised below under "D" are on the Kentville to Centreville leg (north). Locations categorised under "K" are on the Centreville to Kingsport leg (east).

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