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. 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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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 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.

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.^[3] The once busy branchline acquired the common nickname "Blueberry Express" for its slow mixed trains in its final years.^[4] 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).

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

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  The DAR Kentville Station with the small CVR station on the right, circa 1900.

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  Locomotive No. 31 at Canning Station with the Oyler apple warehouse under construction.

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  Kingsport Wharf, terminus of the subdivision, with flatcars and gondola on wharf spur, circa 1900.

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  Kingsport Wharf with Locomotive No. 12; Combine No. 24 (behind engine) and Combine No. 31 meeting the DAR ferry SS Prince Albert, summer 1911.

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  Combine No. 24 (behind engine) and No. 31 with Locomotive No. 12 in a detail of a Kingsport Wharf photo, c. 1911

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  Locomotive No. 13 "Gabriel" at the Kingsport Station, circa 1895-1911.

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  DAR locomotive No. 10 derailed in train wreck at Canning, Nov. 9, 1912.

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  DAR specials for the Cornwallis Valley Line in The Kentville Advertiser, Sept. 24, 1918.

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  Ephraim Hiltz inside the Kingsport Enginehouse with locomotive No. 21, circa 1915.

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  Locomotive No. 33 and caboose 435786 at Kingsport Beach, at the head of the Kingsport Wharf, circa 1920s.

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  Sheffield Mills station and apple warehouses, circa 1930.

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  Locomotive 470 with typical Kingsport Subdivision mixed train leaving Canning for Kingsport, circa 1940-1955.

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  Locomotive No. 470 delivers the mail at Centreville.

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  Centreville Station from the east.

• CDCDA Apple Warehouse Thumb.jpg

  Centreville Station surrounded by apple warehouses.

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  Centreville looking east from the station.

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  A double header apple train in Centreville.

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  Locomotive No. 26 by the Kentville Water Tower with Kingsport-bound Train No. 13, 1937.

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  Kingsport Wharf and freight shed, Summer 1940.

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  DAR locomotive No. 470 with Train No. 11 at the Kingsport Station, circa 1942.

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  Aldershot Station, dated August 1943.

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  Locomotive No. 470 with crew at Kingsport Station, June 1943.

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  Locomotive No. 470 with crew at Kingsport, August 1943.

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  Kingsport Station agent and crew of the Kingsport train at the Kingsport Station, summer 1946.

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  Locomotive 470 at the Kingsport Station with the Mayflower Fruit Company warehouse and the Kingsport Section House, 1946.

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  Air photo of Kingsport, CVR terminus, 1945.

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  Train No. 14 traversing the last few hundred feet of the CVR arriving at Kentville from Kingsport led by No. 470, August 1949.

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  No. 470 at Kentville station July 3, 1954 leading Train No. 13 for Kingsport.

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  The Kingsport Train crosses the Cornwallis River Bridge at Mile .23 of the Kingsport Subdivision, Aug. 27 1956.

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  Train No. 12 arriving at Kentville from Kingsport Aug. 27, 1956 pulled by No. 2526.

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  Mixed Train for Kingsport leaving yard. Visible is business car Nova Scotia beside the repair shop and the coaling tower in Kentville on August 28, 1956.

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  Sheffield Mills Station, from the west, 1958.

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  Kingsport Enginehouse from the north east showing surrounding landscape, 1958.

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  Kingsport Station, 1959.

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  CPR No. 8131 with Kingsport Way Freight in the last days of branchline, August 1959.

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  The Kingsport Wharf, the terminus of the CVR, showing the boarded up DAR freight shed in the last days of the subdivision, circa 1960.

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  CVR tracks at Brooklyn Street just north of Kentville approaching the bridge over the Cornwallis River, Spring 1985.

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  CVR tracks at the Brooklyn Street level crossing, Meadowview, near Aldershot, Spring 1985.

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  An SW1200 brings a covered hopper from the CVR Spur into the Kentville Railyard, 1990.

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  End of track at Steam Mill in the summer of 1993.

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  Camp Aldershot Station, April 23, 2008.

Maps

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  Map of the Cornwallis Valley Railway/Kingsport Subdivision, detail from "Kingsport" Sheet No. 84", Geological Survey of Canada Map, 1911.

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  Topographic map showing the western end of the CVR with Kentville and Centreville.

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  Topographic map showing the eastern end of the CVR, Canning to Kingsport, circa 1956.

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  Map of Canning Wye and Spur as designed April 28, 1911.

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  Map of the Annapolis Valley Fruit District, 1931 including warehouses on the CVR.

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  Pereau Track Plan from 1935 accident investigation.

Structures

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  CVR Stations Plan, based on Windsor & Annapolis Railway stations, drawn by Dan Conlin, 2004.

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  Plans of typical CVR apple warehouse, drawn by Dan Conlin, 2004.

References and Footnotes

• Dominion Atlantic Railway Timetable June 29, 1914, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, VF Vol.1 #5.
• "Timetable No. 77 For Employees June 21, 1931", Dominion Atlantic Railway, p. 3
• Dominion Atlantic Railway Employeed Timetable September 25, 1949, Library and Archives Canada, pmp -HE.2804 DC
• Marguerite Woodworth, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, 1937, p. 104-107.

External Links

• Ivan Smith's History of the CVR at ROCA.
• Ivan Smith's History of Railway Companies in Nova Scotia
• 1949 Dominion Atlantic Railway Passenger train service schedule at Ivan's Smith's site
• [http://www.ve1bc.com/files/THE%20CORNWALLIS%20VALLEY%20RAILROAD.pdf "CORNWALLIS VALLEY RAILWAY

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

• Mike's CVR Fruit Warehouses Photo Page and Slide Show
• Mike's CVR Fruit Warehouses Google Map]
• Kingsport Web Site - local history and current events.

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).