Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Initiative - Wiki
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Deep Brook
Deep Brook, Nova Scotia
Subdivision Yarmouth, Mile 10.4
Next Station East: Cornwallis
Next Station West: Bear River
Features and Facilities
- Deep Brook Station D.A.R intermittent scheduled stop from 1905 to 1990
- Passing track 915' long.
- Pile Trestle 105' long
- Mile 11.9 Gypsum Loading and Storage Facility 1927 to 1954
History
Located abut halfway between Digby and Annapolis Royal, Deep Brook was settled by Loyalists in 1784 and named after the small brook with a deep ravine which runs through the community.[1] The railway arrived in 1891 when the federal government constructed the "missing link" between Digby and Annapolis Royal. Deep Brook received a small station. The Deep Brook station boomed in use in the Second World War and two station agents were required to deal with the heavy traffic generated in 1942 by the construction and opening of the Cornwallis training base. However the construction of the military station at Cornwallis and competition from bus lines left the station to be downgraded to caretaker status and eventually closed with passengers and mail being dropped at the Clementsport station. The Deep Brook station was demolished in July 1956.[2] A station sign board replaced the station and was later used as a flag stop by Dayliner service.
In the fall of 1927, the Canadian Gypsum Company built a large gypsum terminal and dock to handle gypsum shipments when winter ice closed the Wentworth gypsum dock near Windsor. The Deep Brook terminal had a huge shed, 500 feet long, 180 feet wide and 90 feet high with a conveyor belt to move gypsum to and from a pier on the Annapolis Basin. Ships and trains would stockpile gypsum at Deep Brook in the fall and gypsum trains continuing to bring gypsum from Wentworth throughout the winter so winter exports of gypsum could continue by ship all year-round without interruption. In 1947, the gypsum company built a new year-round loading terminal at Hantsport.[3] The Deep Brook plant was put into reserve status for gypsum storage and to handle the occasional shipment when Hantsport was out of service. The Deep Brook facility was closed on October 11, 1954. The shed was dismantled and employees were transferred to gypsum operations in Windsor. The wharf and loading structures were sold for local use but burned in 1963 when they were struck by lightning.[4]
The railway left Deep Brook in 1990 when the DAR was abandoned west of Coldbrook.
Gallery
Track Schematic for Deep Brook.
The gypsum storage shed and dock at Deep Brook.
DAR locomotive No. 530 making the first dump of gypsum at the reconstructed trestle in the Deep Brook gypsum terminal, June 18, 1940.
Map showing the Gypsum loader spur and dock, Deep Brook Station at centre, 1950.
Article "Deep Brook Station Removed...", 1956.
Deep Brook station sign, November 18, 1962.
Aerial View showing the remnants of the Gypsum loader spur and dock.
References
- 1969 Memorandum of General Information, page 16.
- 1931 Dominion Atlantic Railway Employee Time Table - June 21, 1931, page 7.
- ↑ C. Bruce Fergusson, "Deep Brook", Place-Names and Places of Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Archives (1967), p. 164-165.
- ↑ Digby Courier, July 11 1956, courtesy Bill Linley and Carol Woodland: "Due to modern rail transportation changes, one of Annapolis County's old landmarks, the Deep Brook railway station, is being demolished and moved away to be used for other purposes. Deep Brook is no longer a railway stop and the mail driver Mr. Keith Harvey drives to Clementsport twice daily to deliver and pick up the mail from the train. It is understood that after the middle of August the mail will be delivered to post offices by trucks, while new streamlined air-conditioned self-propelled rail diesel cars will be used by the DAR between Halifax and Yarmouth. These "Dayliner" coaches can carry sixty-nine passengers and can reach a top speed of 85 miles an hour. During World War Two when the present Naval base HMCS Cornwallis was under construction, the increased passenger and shipping business required two station agents. Later, upon completion of the DAR station at Cornwallis, and with Acadian Bus Lines operating, business decreased and finally only caretakers were employed at the station by the DAR."
- ↑ Joey St. Clair Patterson, The Gypsum Royal Fleet, Hantsport: Tugboat Publishing (2013)
- ↑ Rebecca Titus, "Deep Brook Gypsum Plant and Storage Facility", Clements Historical Society Facebook Post May 28, 2017
