Canadian Railroads > What's Left in the Annapolis Valley?

Short answer:  Not Much.  At least not much that still moves.

I was working in the Bridgetown area of Nova Scotia, back in 2009 (for provincial election coverage), and the day after the election decided to get some pictures of a place I hadn't spent much time in since my early days on the road, 1980-86.

Bridgetown was once a two railway town.  A CN branchline from Middleton followed the base of the North Mountain, and then swung down to Bridgetown to serve Acadian Distillers.  I don't think the line was active in the '80s at all, although a crossing with flashers was installed when Hwy 101 was extended from Middleton to Lawrencetown.  The 101 would have crossed the track twice more before Bridgetown, but it was officially abandoned sometime before the highway was completed in 1986.  I made one trip to Acadian Distillers with some friends and a pickup truck to buy oaken barrels that once contained rum and rye.  By pouring boiling hot water in the barrels, and sloshing it around for a few weeks, we could make "Swish", an alcoholic beverage of indeterminate quality.  I wound up with a rye barrel, and didn't really care for the result, although one of my more seasoned co-workers described it as "not bad cheap Scotch".  During that visit in 1982, there were still some stubby switchstands attached to the switches in the plant's loading area, but by 2009 nothing was left except the rails in the asphalt.  Even the distillery was gone, with the space taken over by other businesses.

Across the Annapolis River (Bridgetown gets its name from having the bridge farthest down the river), the old DAR station still stands, and has been turned into a decent pub.  The food and beverage I got there was considerably better than the swish I had made so many years ago.  The last freight train through here was in the summer of 1989, and when VIA ceased running the Dayliners, CP wasted no time pulling up the rails and ties.  A substantial through truss bridge across the river still stands just east of the station.

At Round Hill, on the south side of the Annapolis Basin was the DAR's ballast pit.  "Ballast" was a bit of a stretch, since it was really just sand, and that's what most of the DAR was ballasted with.  The exception was the trackage used by the gypsum trains between Hantsport and the mines on the Truro Sub.  They had rock ballast and 100 lb. rails.  This dirt road was where the track curved off the main line and entered the pit.  It looks like somebody is still hauling sand out.

GTD

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Farther west was the division point of Annapolis Royal.  Just west of town the track crossed the Allains River on this impressive structure which used through truss, through girder, and wood pile trestle construction techniques.  It looks like pedestrian traffic was discouraged in 2009, but current maps show it as part of a rail trail, so perhaps it has been made more trail friendly.

The solid brick station was also still extant in 2009, being used by the Clean Annapolis River Project.  There was once a wye here, with a tail track that went down to the town's wharf.  Annapolis Royal has had a bit of a love-hate relationship with the rail trail, fearing they would be overrun by all terrain vehicles.  That's not entirely unjustified, since the Valley has a certain red neck component to its population, while the town itself is the closest thing to an artists' colony in the province.  

GTD

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Thanks for the great tour, Geoff.  In 2003, I was back to Nova Scotia and came up the old DAR from Digby to Windsor.  Still pains me to think that I could have ridden the DAR when I was in Halifax in 1977 and had a day to kill.  Should have ridden to Yarmouth.  Woulda shoulda coulda.

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Thanks for this set of historic photos. That bridge is a beauty.
Bob