The Windsor and Annapolis Railway (W&AR) was a historic Canadian railway that operated in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Annapolis Valley The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy. Stat ...

. The railway ran from

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port-Royal (Acadia), Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be ...

and leased connections to

's capital of Halifax. The W&AR played a major role in developing Nova Scotia's agriculture and tourism industries, operating from 1869 until 1894 when it evolved into the larger

Dominion Atlantic Railway The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley. The Dominion Atlantic Railway was unusually diverse for a ...

The W&AR was formed by British railway investors and Nova Scotian railway promoters in 1864. Investors were attracted by the traffic potential to link Halifax with Bay of Fundy and New England ports as well as the apple orchards in the Annapolis Valley. The company's operations centre was in

Kentville Kentville is an incorporated town in Nova Scotia. It is the most populous town in the Annapolis Valley. As of 2021, the town's population was 6,630. Its census agglomeration is 26,929. History Kentville owes its location to the Cornwallis River ...

, although corporate headquarters remained in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The Windsor and Annapolis negotiated running rights over the government-owned "Windsor Branch" of the

Nova Scotia Railway The Nova Scotia Railway is a historic Canadian railway. It was composed of two lines, one connecting Richmond (immediately north of Halifax) with Windsor, the other connecting Richmond with Pictou Landing via Truro. The railway was incorpo ...

to connect Windsor to the city and harbour of Halifax. Vernon Smith, an experienced railway manager and engineer from Britain was the engineer in charge of construction and became the first general manager. The resident engineer was

Henry Ernest Milner Henry Ernest Milner (18 April 1845 – 10 March 1906) was an English civil engineer and landscape architect. Personal life He was the son of landscape architect Edward Milner and his wife, Elizabeth Mary Kelly, who had eleven children, of who ...

, also from England. Construction began in 1866 with locomotives landed for work crews at Windsor,

Wolfville, Nova Scotia Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School. The town is a tourist destination due ...

and Kentville. The line began operation between Kentville and Annapolis Royal on June 26, 1869 while work continued on the line's two large bridges east of Kentville over the large estuaries of the Avon River at Windsor and the

Gaspereau River The Gaspereau River is a river in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a length of approximately 24 km from its source at Gaspereau Lake on the South Mountain south of Kentville to its mouth at Hortonville on the Minas Basin. The low ...

at Hortonville. An official opening was celebrated on August 18, 1869 with dignitaries including Lord Lisgar the Governor General of Canada arriving by rail from Halifax, although shuttled over the uncompleted bridge works by stage coach. The devastating

Saxby Gale The Saxby Gale was a tropical cyclone which struck eastern Canada's Bay of Fundy region on the night of October 4–5, 1869. The storm was named for Lieutenant Stephen Martin Saxby, a naval instructor who, based on his astronomical studies, ha ...

on October 5, 1869 destroyed much of the newly built line between Hortonville and Wolfville which required hasty rebuilding. Despite these challenges, the railway opened for full operation on December 18, 1869 when the Avon and Gaspereau Bridges were complete and first train ran across the entire line from Halifax to Annapolis Royal. WAR1885

The railway struggled at first with inexperienced staff, limited equipment and especially with extensive and ongoing repairs required on the sections of the line along the

Minas Basin , image = Lookout On Way to Cape Split - 25006718579.jpg , alt = , caption = Looking east across the Southern Bight of Minas Basin from The Lookoff , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , ca ...

damaged by the

in 1869. However passenger traffic quickly blossomed, helped by early tourism promotion of steamship connections to the emerging

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

market. Freight traffic began more slowly but an explosion in apple shipments in the early 1880s ensured the prosperity of the line. The railway was built at first to the Canadian broad gauge of . It converted to the standard gauge of in 1875. The W&AR bought out the thriving branch line, the

Cornwallis Valley Railway The Cornwallis Valley Railway (CVR) was a historic Canadian railway in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. It was built in 1889 and ran from Kentville to Kingsport serving the Cornwallis Township area of Kings County. For most of its history, i ...

in 1890 which ran from Kentville to Kingsport through rich apple districts.

Merger and renaming

A formidable rival to the W&AR was the Western Counties Railway (WCR), based in

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries. History Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...

, which used political allies to threaten the exclusive W&AR access to the critical "Windsor Branch" connection into Halifax. However, the W&AR was able to buy out the WCR in 1894 to create the

, thus providing a through line from Halifax to Yarmouth. The W&AR set the direction for the new united company which took over the W&AR headquarters in Kentville as well as the W&AR's "Land of Evangeline" identity. The

Windsor and Hantsport Railway The Windsor and Hantsport Railway was a railway line in Nova Scotia between Windsor Junction (north of Bedford) and New Minas with a spur at Windsor which runs several miles east, serving two gypsum quarries located at Wentworth Creek and Mant ...

continued to operate over portions of the old Windsor and Annapolis mainline until 2011. A monument to the Vernon Smith and his work constructing of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway was installed beside the line at the waterfront park in

Wolfville Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax Regional Municipality, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School. The tow ...

in 2013.

References

{{reflist * Gary Ness ''Canadian Pacific's Dominion Atlantic Railway (Vol. I)'', page 1 and (Vol. II), page 13. * Marguerite Woodworth, ''History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway'', 1937, p. 51-87.

External links

"Windsor and Annapolis Railway" ''Canada By Train'' - Virtual Exhibit Library and Archives of Canada

* ttp://dardpi.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Windsor_and_Annapolis_Railway "Windsor and Annapolis Railway" ''Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Institute''
"Windsor and Annapolis Line" New York Times February 11, 1894, Wednesday, p. 2

Transport in Hants County, Nova Scotia Transport in Kings County, Nova Scotia Transport in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia Transport in Halifax, Nova Scotia Defunct Nova Scotia railways Rail transport in Nova Scotia