Subdivision Kingsport

The Kingsport Subdivision ran 13.6 miles north from Kentville to Kingsport and terminating on the large government wharf at Kingsport. In Centreville, at Mile 4.8, the Weston Subdivision branched out to the West.

History

The Kingsport subdivision began as an independant company called the Cornwallis Valley Railway (CVR - See also Weston Subdivision) which was formed in 1887 by merchants and farmers in Canning. The line opened on December 22, 1890, leasing rolling stock and terminal facilities from the Windsor and Annapolis Railway in Kentville. It immediately proved profitable and was purchased by the Windsor and Annapolis Railway in 1892, just before the W&A 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. However the collapse of the apple industry after 1945 and the growth of paved roads eroded traffic in the 1950s. After several years of application, the DAR abandoned most of the subdivision.

Tracks north of Mill Village (Steam Mill) at Mile 2.7 to Kingsport and Weston were abandoned on January 31, 1961. The remnants of the subdivision became Spur Track D of the DAR serving several large feed mills at Mill Village and Camp Aldershot.

On September 22, 1993, CP Rail formally abandoned its tracks from New Minas (mileage 52.9) to Kentville, including the remaining 2.3 mile Spur Track D from mileage 56.1 of the Halifax Subdivision to the end of track in Mill Village (Steam Mill).

Gallery

References and Footnotes

• Dominion Atlantic Railway Timetable June 29, 1914, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, VF Vol.1 #5.
• 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.
• http://alts.net/ns1625/railways.html
• http://www.alts.net/ns1625/railwy05.html

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).