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Aldershot
Aldershot, Nova Scotia
Mile 1.6 from Kentville on the Kingsport Subdivision, the Cornwallis Valley Railway
Mile 1.6 from Kentville on the Spur Track D Kingsport after 1961
- Next Station North: Mill Village
- Next Station South: Kentville
Facilities
- Spur Irving Oil, Mile .55 (1930s)
- Aldershot Wye
- Camp Aldershot Military Station and telegraph office
History
Beginning as a small station stop on the Cornwallis Valley Railway in 1889, Aldershot grew in importance in 1904 when it was chosen as the militia training base for western Nova Scotia which attracted special troop trains. A wye was built to turn troop train locomotives. Additional facilities were added in both world wars which eventually included several supply warehouses located along the wye and two station buildings. The Aldershot wye was also used by DAR Kentville Roundhouse staff for testing refitted locomotives as they could be given a short run from Kentville and turned at Aldershot without disrupting mainline traffic.[1]
On Sept. 13, 1928, the evening Train from Weston to Kentville from the North Mountain Line with 6 freight cars and 1 passenger car derailed just past the Aldershot crossing. The passenger car and a boxcar of apples toppled over. Conductor K. Melvor seriously injured and 3 passengers received minor injuries.[2]
In 1956, Locomotive 2617 derailed at Aldershot and buried itself in sand and gravel after splitting a switch on the Aldershot wye.[3]
Gallery
Aldershot Station postcard with troop train from the Aldershot base, circa 1912.
Derailment of troop train bound for Camp Aldershot in the Kentville Railyard, Sept. 9, 1913.
Camp Aldershot Military Station circa 1916.
Aldershot Station, dated August 1943.
Topographic map from Berwick to Kentville circa 1956.
Camp Aldershot telegraph Station, 2008.
References and Footnotes
- ↑ Leon Barron, personal communication with Dan Conlin, 2000
- ↑ "D.A.R. Wreck Cars Leave Rail at Aldershot", Halifax Herald, Sept. 14, 1928, Carl Riff Collection
- ↑ Gary W. Ness, The Dominion Atlantic Railway: 1894-1994, p. 94
- Dominion Atlantic Railway Employee Time Table September 25, 1949, Library and Archives Canada, PMP - HE.2804 DC
- "Time Table No. 77 For Employees June 21, 1931", Dominion Atlantic Railway, p. 3
