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Kentville Station

From DARwiki
The Kentville Station at its height with all additions in 1942. Courtesy Jim Taylor

Kentville Station

In its first year of operation, the Windsor and Annapolis Railway used the Kentville Freight Shed as a temporary station until the station for Kentville was completed in September 1870.[1] The station served as divisional and corporate headquarters for the DAR as well as serving Kentville's passenger, baggage and telegraph traffic. A lunch room also operated in the west end of the station for most of its history. A 30 foot baggage room was added to the east in 1889.[2] A major addition, designed in 1902 and completed by 1904, added a central tower, all-round platform awnings and a 40 foot extension to the west. Another 40 foot extension with six dormers was added to the west in 1920. The station was initially a straw yellow colour with dark red trim. It was given a dark red and black trim paint scheme in World War Two. The platform awnings were gradually cut back over the years and many offices became vacant as Canadian Pacific centralized operations. In 1970, the dispatcher's office was closed as the CP office in Saint John took over dispatching duties.[3] VIA Rail moved its passenger service out of the old station in May 1988.[4] VIA's new station was a brick structure with a tower that echoed the tower of the old wooden DAR station. It was built at a cost of $240,000. The new station opened for passengers in late May and was officially opened in June.[5] The new station served only a year and a half until passenger service was canceled. The DAR's wooden station was demolished in 1990. The VIA brick station was purchased by the Town of Kentville. It first served as a bus station but since May 2018 has been leased to the Kentville Historical Society as a heritage centre which includes a room dedicated to the history of the DAR inn Kentville.[6]

Article: Where is Station 178? by Louis Comeau

Windsor & Annapolis Railway Wood Station 1870 - 1889

The station was described as "nearly completed" in August 1870 for a cost of $4,000. The building was 74' x 34' with a stone and brick basement containing three fire-proof vaults; two kitchen rooms for the refreshment department and two store rooms. The first floor had five rooms and a hall. The east end had a general waiting room and ticket and telegraph offices. The west end had a dining hall and pantry. The second floor had nine rooms and hall for the general offices. The third floor had three rooms and hall, one of which was rented to the Masonic Hall.[7] More detailed dimensions noted in 1874 were 74' x 32' in size with a 350' platform, 12' wide. On the freight station side the platform measured 260' x 12'.[8]

Station painted straw yellow with dark red and white trim.

Dominion Atlantic Railway Wood Station 1889 - 1904

Original station with a 30 foot baggage room added to the east in the 1889[9]. The Cornwallis Valley Railway built a small station next door when the CVR began operations in 1890 and in September 1898, a branch track from the CVR was built beside the north platform of the main station, allowing passengers and baggage to be directly transferred to and from trains on the mainline at the station to the CVR branchline trains parked on the station's north platform.[10]

Station painted straw yellow with dark red and white trim.

Dominion Atlantic Railway Wood Station 1904 - 1919

A major reconstruction of the station was designed by the Halifax architect Herbert Gates in 1902. The major enlargement of the station was paid in part by a $6,000 subsidy from the Town of Kentville awarded in February 1904.[11] The work was completed by 1904 and dramatically enlarged and changed the appearance of the station, adding a central tower, all-round platform awnings and a 40 foot extension to the west for a lunch room and additional offices. The new dimensions of the station were 32' 4" wide, 36' high to the roof peak (42' high to the top of the tower) and 145' long.[12]

1902 Hebert Gates plans for the Kentville Station

1904 - 1919

Station painted straw yellow with dark red and white trim

Dominion Atlantic Railway Wood Station 1920 - 1990

Another 40 foor extension with six dormers was added to the west in 1920, providing restaurant space to the lunch room and additional offices.[13] These 1920 additions brought the final dimensions of the station to be 185 feet long, 32' 4" wide and 36' high to the roof peak (42 ' high to the top of the tower.) The first floor operator's bay window was removed in May 1931 to provide more platform space. The platform was replaced at the same time with a tar covered wooden platform replacing the old planked platform.[14] Sometime in the 1920s, the DAR built a tall flag pole just behind the station by the DAR tennis courts, the tallest flag pole in Kings County. It was shortened over the years but remained in place until at least 1954.[15]

1920 - 1943

Station painted straw yellow with dark red and white trim.

1948 - 1967

Station painted dark red with black trim and pale yellow windows.

1967 - 1990

Station painted solid dark red.

Other Known Images

Kentville Station in 1969 - Canada Science and Technology Museum Image STR04091a.

VIA Rail Station 1988-1989

Gallery

  • Kentville Station, July 16, 1989. Old station in foreground, new brick station in background to right.

  • A VIA Rail RDC at the new Kentville Station, July 15, 1989.

  • Farewell to VIA in the Valley - January 30, 1990 article on school children witnessing final passenger run at Kentville Station.

Station Interior Objects

Gallery

References and Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Windsor and Annapolis Railway Celebrates First Year of Operation", Daily British Colonist, 25 August 1870
  2. ↑ Construction date of 1889 addition given in transcript of the Department of Railways and Canals, Engineer's Report, 1889, compiled by J. B. King, Scotia Railway Society Collection, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, RG28 Series S Vol. 4 File 15
  3. ↑ Bob Mohowski, "Dominion Atlantic Railway", Railpace Newsmagazine, March 1984, p. 33
  4. ↑ Kentville Advertiser, July 19, 1988, article located by by Conrad Davison
  5. ↑ Kentville Advertiser, "Kentville's New Train Station", June 3, 1988, article located by Conrad Davison
  6. ↑ "Kentville Historical Society", Town of Kentville
  7. ↑ "Windsor and Annapolis Railway Celebrates First Year of Operation", Daily British Colonist, 25 August 1870
  8. ↑ Alexander MacNab, Windsor and Annapolis Railway, Report of Alexander MacNab Nov 1, 1873, page 22
  9. ↑ Construction date of 1889 addition given in transcript of the Department of Railways and Canals, Engineer's Report, 1889, compiled by J. B. King, Scotia Railway Society Collection, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, RG28 Series S Vol. 4 File 15
  10. ↑ Digby Courier, Sept. 23, 1898, transcribed on page 17 of "Dominion Atlantic Railway III, Digby Courier Notes 1890-1904", Carl Riff"
  11. ↑ The Railway and Shipping World Feb. 1904-02, "Kentville Station Debenture, November Earnings"
  12. ↑ Herbert Gates architectural plans for Kentville Station, 1902, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management
  13. ↑ Canadian Railway and Marine World, "Projected Lines, Construction Betterments, Etc. Work in 1920", November 1920
  14. ↑ Links and Pins "With the Railway Men", Halifax Chronicle Herald, May 27, 1931, Carl Riff Notes
  15. ↑ "Harbourville Beachcombings", Kentville Advertiser, April 21, 1927. The tall flagpole is visible with a cross tree if you zoom in on the station in the McCully Air photo No. 271, Kentville in 1931. Last known photo is July 3, 1954.
  • Canadian Railway Station Guide Bruce Ballantyne, Bytown Railway Society, 1998
  • Devil's Half Acre Mabel Nichols Kentville Centenniel Committee, 1986

Reference Tag

External Links

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