Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Initiative - Wiki
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Paradise
Paradise, Nova Scotia
Subdivision Kentville, Mile 39.9
- Next Station East: Lawrencetown
- Next Station West: Bridgetown
Facilities & Features
Passing Track: 1380' long
Pile trestle, 60', over Starretts Brook, Mile 40.14
Pile trestle, 40', over swamp and brook, Mile 41.88
Commerce & Industry
Several early fruit warehouses were built at Paradise along with a cattle pen and ramp. The Roxburg lumber mill shipped considerable amounts of lumber from the station in the 1920s.
- Paradise Fruit Company Warehouse, United Fruit Companies 16,500 barrel capacity
- Star Fruit Company Warehouse, 13,000 barrel capacity
- H.D. Starret, 10,000 barrel capacity[1]
Description & History
A fertile farming district along the Annapolis River, Paradise received its name from Acadian settlers in the 1600s as "Paradis Terrestre" (Paradise on Earth). The Windsor & Annapolis Railway began construction through the village in 1868 and railway service began in June 1869. The railway initially built a a small standard Windsor & Annapolis Railway station along with a 200' x 12' passenger platform connected to a 150' x 10' freight platform and a 340' freight siding.[2] Rail access motivated local farmers to start a co-operative cheese factory beside the tracks, one of the first in Nova Scotia, which operated from 1872 to 1885.[3] The railway also led the construction of several apple warehouses which remained longtime employers and shippers of apples. The Highway No. 1 level crossing at Paradise received one of the Annapolis Valley's first set of wigwag warning bell and signal in 1938[4] The original W&A Paradise Station was later replaced by a standard CPR branch line station. Paradise remained a flag stop until June 1980.[5] Railway service ended in 1990 when the Kentville Subdivision was abandoned west of Coldbrook.
Gallery
Paradise Station and apple warehouses. c. 1900.
Paradise Station and platform with DAR mainline and the Paradise freight spur containing a DAR flatcar, circa 1900.
Paradise Station with lumber pile and DAR train arriving, circa 1924.
Paradise Station, June 1959.
References & Footnotes
- ↑ Dominion Atlantic Railway, DAR Chart of Apple and Produce Warehouses, February 23, 1927
- ↑ *Alexander MacNab, Windsor and Annapolis Railway, Report of Alexander MacNab Nov 1, 1873, p. 24
- ↑ "The Paradise Cheese Manufacturing Company", Paradise Historical Society
- ↑ The Advertiser, Sept. 29, 1938
- ↑ Scotian Railroad Society News April 1980
