Kennetcook, Nova Scotia

Next Station East: Rhine's

Next Station West: Midway

Facilities & Features

Kennetcook Station
Kennetcook Section House
Passing Siding 1023' long

Description & History

Kennetcook is located at a crossroads amidst the farmland of the Kennetcook River Valley and once boasted several sawmills. The arrival of the railway made it into a centre for retail and services for the surrounding area. It was home until 1967 to the last covered bridge in Nova Scotia. The DAR's Midland Line ran right through the village beside the river. Lumber and dairy were important exports at one time and high school students filled a passenger car every day to attend school in Truro. A major train wreck occurred a mile east of Kennetcook when a Truro to Windsor passenger train with over 100 passengers derailed on Sept. 4, 1924.^[1] The station closed in 1971^[2] although scheduled passenger and freight service continued until 1979 with the demise of the Midland mixed train. Sporadic unscheduled extras continued until 1983 when a locomotive collected a lumber car at Kennetcook, one of the last freight moves on the Midland.

Gallery

DAR locomotive No. 385 derailed at Kennetcook with CNR express car and DAR wrecking crane 801, Sept. 4, 1924.
Kennetcook Station and siding, circa 1910, lumber sitting on side waiting for pickup
Midland Mixed Train No. 21 lead by No. 2627 sets out a boxcar at Kennetcook on July 31, 1958.
Kennetcook village, Station and section house at Kennetcook seen from No. 2627 leading Train No. 21 on August 1, 1958.
Eastbound mixed train at Kennetcook, circa 1959.
Kennetcook Station, west end, with Kennetcook village in background and switchstand for siding, June 1959.
Section house in Kennetcook in 1981.