Kentville facilities dimensions.

[Dan Conlin]

Nice highlighting. That's the machine shop/blacksmith shop and stores building. Ric's reference to American Can rang a bell. The DAR shut down the machine shop in the early 1960s and I dug up a 1969 publicaition that says the DAR rented the former Machine Shop in 1964 to American Can Company who made cans for the various food plants in the Annapolis Valley.
The buildings burned in an accidental fire in 1973.
More info and other views of these buildings are in the DAR wiki Machine Shop page:
http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... chine_Shop

Dan Conlin

[stem]

I updated the machine shop article on the wiki with the info on the can company although a citation might be nice if you have one.

http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?tit ... chine_Shop

[briantrainman]

Yes, from information I have come across, the larger building was for engine servicing and had two rails entering and the smaller building attatched to it was a paint shop with one track entering.

[stem]

So the foreground shop is actually the paint shop!

Well that might explain what the piping is on the roof then. It all makes sense that this piping is either water piping used to wet down the shop before painting or it is a fire supression system.

Anyone have any more information?

[Dan Conlin]

The smaller building in the foreground, attached to the machine shop was the backsmith shop and stores building according to the 1954 fire insurance map. Leon Barron also confirmed this to me when we walked through the foundation trace about nine years ago. In one of Gary Ness's books there's a picture of the coal tower with a a boxcar in the foreground unloading stores (kegs of spikes I think) on the north side of this building.

I don't think there ever was a track going into this building. Brian - could you be thinking of the shop that stood between the carshop and the station? It had one track running into it and was the paint shop in the 1940s and 50s according to the fire insurance map.

I think the pipe running on the roof is the insulated steam line. It started in the boiler house behind the carshop and ran to various places in the yard with one branch feeding the steam heaters of parked passenger cars by the station and another going into the roundhouse.

Dan

[Ric]

Ric's reference to American Can rang a bell.
Dan Conlin

At least I am good for something

[briantrainman]

Yes, thats them. In later photos only the concrete pads remain. Were they demolished or lost in a fire and when would that have been? Brian

[stem]

Would that have been the fire that destroyed the can making facility. American can was it?

[Ric]

Yes it was American Can

[SamuelMClark]

I looked though the posts and I didn't see any information about dimensions for the Kentville Station. Do you know what the full dimension are or what would be even better the HO scaled.

Cheers

[SamuelMClark]

Does any one have a blue print or a scaled HO drawing of the passenger station in Kentville?

[briantrainman]

One other thing I have not seen anywhere is the dimesions of the coaling tower at Kentville as well as the old sanding tower that was next to it. Anybody know? Also when was the newer sanding facility erected next to the engine house and was there an ash pit somewhere? Brian

[Dan Conlin]

Does any one have a blue print or a scaled HO drawing of the passenger station in Kentville?

Hi Samuel,

The original blue prints by architect Herbert Gates for the 1902 Kentville station expansion are found at the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. Your should be able to order scans or photocopies from them for a reasonable fee: nsarm@gov.ns.ca
They are great plans with profiles, floor plans and details of the canopy. The scale is 1/8" to the foot so they are easy to adjust to HO scale with a little work on the photocopier % enlargement.
The plans do not include the 1915 addition (with those dormers) but it would be easy to modify as the 1915 addition kept all the 1902 style elements.
The basic dimensions for the station were 32' 4" wide, 36' high to the roof peak (42 ' high to the top of the tower). The 1915 addition brought the total length to 185 feet. The 1902 version was 145 feet long.

I am working on an HO model of the 1902 version.

Jim Taylor in Cambridge, NS did an impressive N scale model of the station in its final configuration.

All the best, Dan

[stem]

Almost sounds like you have a copy or did you just see it? I'd love to AutoCAD it.

[briantrainman]

Steve, I feel like an idiot that I started this post although it may have been of some benefit to other members. My office looks like something you would see on "Hoarders" and because of that I had forgotten that I have information and drawings of the Kentville station. As I do not trust in my ability to post some of this stuff correctly to the WIKI I was wondering if I could send you a disc with the files after I get everything scanned. Brian