Nostalgia & History > Dome Observation 'Evangeline Park'

Here’s 'Evangeline Park' bringing up the markers on VIA's westbound Ocean departing Halifax and again at Truro, NS.

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The CPR (VIA) Park Cars are named for Canadian Provincial or National Parks with the exception of “Evangeline Park”.....The origin of its name can be traced to the Grand Pre Memorial Park established by the Dominion Atlantic Railway in 1917. For a brief time it was named Evangeline Memorial Park and now.....the Grand Pré National Historic Site in Nova Scotia.

Evangeline was the heroine in Longfellow’s poem about the expulsion of the Acadians in 1755 (many went to Louisiana (today’s Cajuns) Her statue stands next to a replica of the Church of St. Charles at the Grand Pré National Historic Site where the deportation order was given by the British.

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Evangeline was a promotional icon for the Dominion Atlantic Railway and used to market the Annapolis Valley as the “Land of Evangeline Route” and was also depicted on the DAR logo for many years. Trains such as “The New Yorker” and “Flying Bluenose” carried tourists who arrived in Yarmouth on overnight steamships from Boston and New York.

http://www.dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=New_Yorker

When the DAR acquired RDCs in the 1950s, they were know as the “Fast Evangeline Dayliner Passenger Service” This continued into the VIA era until the last runs in January 1990.

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After the DAR was abandoned west of Kentville......a shortline, the Windsor & Hantsport Railway acquired the remaining track and continued operations.....even running an excursion train; the Evangeline Express for a few years beginning in 1997. A stop was established at the Grand Pre Park for those wanting to tour the Park.

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Sadly the W&H has ceased operations but the platform is still there next to the all but abandoned right-of-way.

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An Iron Cross was erected adjacent to the right-of-way to mark the location of the Deportation in 1755.....Trains stopped to view it.

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A Dome has returned to the Ocean year'round and 'Evangeline Park' was doing the honours yeasterday (Nov 4) on westbound #15:

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