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Difference between revisions of "Apple Trains"
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===Operations=== | ===Operations=== | ||
| − | From September to April during the peak decades of the apple industry, apples were loaded at 150 [[:Category:Apple Warehouses|apple warehouses]] along the DAR. Local trains brought them to [[Kentville]] to be | + | From September to April during the peak decades of the apple industry, apples were loaded at 150 [[:Category:Apple Warehouses|apple warehouses]] along the DAR. Local trains brought them to [[Kentville]] to be marshaled into freights bound for steamships in [[Halifax]]. In peak seasons, this produced massive double-header 50 boxcar freight specials, as many as six special trains per weekend, requiring an extra switcher locomotive in Kentville and extra CPR vans from Montreal.(1) Apple trains also served the vinegar plants and apple evaporators such the [[Berwick Evaporator]] which ran all through the winter. This heavy traffic had to be maintained right through heavy [[:Category:Winter|winter snow conditions]]. In the early years of the W&A, and the DAR, many steamers met trains at [[Annapolis Royal]] for apples. The [[Kingsport Wharf]] and the [[Port Williams]] wharf also served as smaller shipping points for apples. However Halifax grew to be the largest destination for apple trains as it could better serve larger steamers. |
===Rolling Stock=== | ===Rolling Stock=== | ||
| − | The DAR used standard 36 and 40 foot boxcars in summer and early fall. In early years, ventilated boxcars were popular for early fall shipments to avoid heat and moisture build-up. During the winter when freezing temperatures arrived, a large fleet of specially adapted insulated boxcars were used for apple service, the [[DAR069938|69900 series]], | + | The DAR used standard 36 and 40 foot boxcars in summer and early fall. In early years, ventilated boxcars were popular for early fall shipments to avoid heat and moisture build-up. During the winter when freezing temperatures arrived, a large fleet of specially adapted insulated boxcars were used for apple service, the [[DAR069938|69900 series]]. Portable stoves were often carried in the box cars in winter to avoid freezing, tended by men from apple warehouses who road with the car to Halifax. [[Refrigerator Cars]] also played an important role in winter. Their insulated sides kept apple barrels from freezing in sub-zero temperatures, assisted in very cold weather with portable stoves or charcoal heaters. While refrigerated cars protected apples and ensured a better quality product, the also has less capacity due to the thick walls and bunkers, and could only carry 200 barrels of apples as opposed to 300 barrels in a standard boxcar.<ref>Anne Hutton, ''Valley Gold'', Halifax: Petheric Press (1981) p. 83</ref> |
===Structures=== | ===Structures=== | ||
Revision as of 18:13, 7 February 2020
Apple Trains
Apple freight was the DAR's most important cargo. Apple traffic helped build the DAR and the DAR built the Valley's apple industry from a small side-crop to a major international export. Apple traffic averaged between 1 and 2 million barrels a year with the record crop in 1933 hitting 3,673,678 barrels.(3) Britain was the world's largest importer of apples and in the 1930s, one out of every ten apples sold in Britain came from from Annapolis Valley farms via the DAR. Over 150 apple warehouses lined the route of the DAR.(2) However, the loss of the British export market during World War Two crippled the apple industry and greatly reduced DAR freight traffic from the 1940s onward. The hundreds of apple warehouses closed, although the surviving volume of apple traffic processed at centralized apple processing plants such as Scotian Gold at Coldbrook, M. W. Graves in Berwick and the Canada Foods Plant in Kentville remained important DAR customers in later years.
Operations
From September to April during the peak decades of the apple industry, apples were loaded at 150 apple warehouses along the DAR. Local trains brought them to Kentville to be marshaled into freights bound for steamships in Halifax. In peak seasons, this produced massive double-header 50 boxcar freight specials, as many as six special trains per weekend, requiring an extra switcher locomotive in Kentville and extra CPR vans from Montreal.(1) Apple trains also served the vinegar plants and apple evaporators such the Berwick Evaporator which ran all through the winter. This heavy traffic had to be maintained right through heavy winter snow conditions. In the early years of the W&A, and the DAR, many steamers met trains at Annapolis Royal for apples. The Kingsport Wharf and the Port Williams wharf also served as smaller shipping points for apples. However Halifax grew to be the largest destination for apple trains as it could better serve larger steamers.
Rolling Stock
The DAR used standard 36 and 40 foot boxcars in summer and early fall. In early years, ventilated boxcars were popular for early fall shipments to avoid heat and moisture build-up. During the winter when freezing temperatures arrived, a large fleet of specially adapted insulated boxcars were used for apple service, the 69900 series. Portable stoves were often carried in the box cars in winter to avoid freezing, tended by men from apple warehouses who road with the car to Halifax. Refrigerator Cars also played an important role in winter. Their insulated sides kept apple barrels from freezing in sub-zero temperatures, assisted in very cold weather with portable stoves or charcoal heaters. While refrigerated cars protected apples and ensured a better quality product, the also has less capacity due to the thick walls and bunkers, and could only carry 200 barrels of apples as opposed to 300 barrels in a standard boxcar.[1]
Structures
See main article Apple Warehouses
Apple warehouses, where apples were packed, stored and shipped, were the centrepoint of apple operations. Evaporators, like the Berwick Evaporator and a dozen others were also important customers for apple trains as well as a few vinegar and cider plants. In later years, large central processing plants like Scotian Gold in Coldbrook and M. W. Graves in Berwick remained important customers.
Berwick Station during the apple export season before apple warehouses were built, 1890s.
The Pleasant Valley apple warehouse during apple shipping season with box car being loaded, with the rear of the Berwick Station to right, 1911.
Apple loading with DAR boxcars No. 1238, 1267 and No. 1300, unknown location, circa 1894 - 1920.
Apple train in Halifax in 1925.
DAR Chart of Apple and Produce Warehouses, February 23, 1927, a map of all apple warehouses on the DAR giving owners and capacity in barrels, 1927.
Typical DAR scene: small country station with giant apple warehouses, circa 1930.
- CDCDA Apple Warehouse Thumb.jpg
Centreville Station surrounded by apple warehouses.
Apple barrels piled by the station at Centreville.
A double header apple train in Centreville.
Map by Willard Longley showing apple warehouse locations in 1931
Article about the Berwick Apple Evaporator, 2006.
References and Footnotes
(1) Kentville Advertiser, Mar. 25, Sept. 9 and Sept. 16, 1937
(2) Some Economic Aspects of the Apple Industry in Nova Scotia by Willard Longley
(3) Valley Gold by Ann Hutton
External Links
- ↑ Anne Hutton, Valley Gold, Halifax: Petheric Press (1981) p. 83
