DAR0026

Dominion Atlantic Railway Steam Locomotive No. 26, "President", "Governor Cox", "Kent"

Wheel Arrangement: 4-4-0

Built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in March 1901.

• Builder No. 18998
• 18" x 24" cylinders
• 66" drivers.

No.26 was built by Baldwin for the DAR in 1901 and was first given the name "President". In the 1920s, the locomotive was renamed "Governor Cox" and in the 1930s became "Kent". It was a near twin to No. 25.

In 1915, No. 26 with engineer Ben Hartlen fought an epic three day battle against 26 foot snow drifts at Grafton on the Weston Subdivision (North Mountain Line.)(1)

On October 12, 1920, No. 26 was being driven by engineer Harry Walsh and fireman Fred Yould as the lead locomotive in a double headed freight from Truro with No. 27. Both engines were badly wrecked after striking pigs or a cow at high speed at Lower Truro. Fireman Fred Yould was killed.(2)

No. 26 was rebuilt and served for many more years. It became the last 4-4-0 locomotive on the DAR and was photographed a great deal in its final years when it worked as a switcher in the Kentville Railyard and pulled the school train to Kingsport. It was scrapped in Kentville in 1941.(3)

Name Origins:

• "President": uncertain
• "Governor Cox": Nicholas Cox, British Army officer in colonial Nova Scotia, later Lt. Governor of Gaspe
• "Kent": Edward Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, military commander in Nova Scotia

Gallery

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  No. 26 "President".

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  DAR No. 26 "President", circa 1910.

• 

  Double header wreck, 1920 at Lower Truro involving No. 26 and 27.

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  Double header wreck, 1920 at Lower Truro involving No. 26 and 27.

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  Kent, locomotive No. 26.

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  No. 26 "Kent" June 18, 1936 at Kentville

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  No. 26 "Kent" at Kentville.

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  Page from the booklet Highlights of Nova Scotia History, showing the history of No. 26's name, "Kent"

Other Known Photographs:

• Stephens Collection, Canada Science and Technology Museum, STR08349 (in Kentville, circa 1940, lettered "Kent", W. Rawdingson in cab, photo by M. Acham)
• Photo of locomotive on page 43, Locomotive Quarterly, Spring 1998, Vol XXI, Number 3, photo collection of Kenneth S. Macdonald.
• M. Allen Gibson, Train Time, Windsor: Lancelot Press (1973) page 22 (leaving Kentville for Kingsport, 1937)
• Bruce Nett, The Dominion Atlantic Railway Times, (Summer 1994) page 3: top (builders photo 1901 lettered "President"); middle (lettered Governor Cox, c. 1920s), bottom (lettered Kent, 1930s)
• Merrilees Collection, Library and Archives Canada, Glass Negative builders photo 1901 C-013768
• George Warden Collection, Musquodoboit Railway Museum, MRM 761.1.816

References and Footnotes

(1)George Bishop "Railway Notes", Kentville Advertiser, March 2, 1939.

(2) J.B. King "Pigs Ditch 2 Engines, Kill Midland Fireman: Writers Discourse on DAR Old Timers", Halifax Chronicle Herald.

(3) Charles McBride DAR Locomotive List

• Jim O'Donnell "Dominion Atlantic Railway Locomotive Roster"
• Omer Lavallée, Canadian Pacific Steam Locomotives, p. 348, 352.