Halifax and Southwestern Railway
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| Halifax and Southwestern Railway | |
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| Locale | Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Dates of operation | 1901– |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge) |
| Headquarters | Bridgewater, Nova Scotia |
The Halifax and Southwestern Railway (H&SW) was a historic Canadian railway operating in the province of Nova Scotia.
The H&SW was created in spring 1901 when William Mackenzie and Donald Mann approached the provincial government with plans to finish the abortive plans for a railway from Halifax to Yarmouth along the province's South Shore.
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[edit] Predecessors
The H&SW wasn't the first railway to build on the South Shore of Nova Scotia as various charters for railway companies had preceded it.
The Nova Scotia Central Railway (NSCR) had opened its line between Middleton in the Annapolis Valley and Lunenburg, by way of Bridgewater, on December 23, 1889.
In 1893, the Coast Railway Company of Nova Scotia was incorporated under a charter to build a narrow gauge line between Yarmouth and Lockeport, by way of Barrington and Shelburne. Construction took place very slowly and what little trackage had been already built was converted to standard gauge in 1895. In 1899 the company was renamed the Halifax and Yarmouth Railway (H&YR) and received a new charter to build east from Lockeport to Liverpool, Bridgewater and Halifax. By 1903 the line had barely reached Barrington.
The Liverpool and Milton Tramway also built a short railway up the Mersey River valley between Liverpool and a pulp mill near Milton in Queens County in 1896, opening on February 1, 1897. It was renamed the Liverpool and Milton Railway (L&MR) in 1900.
[edit] Mergers and construction
On July 1, 1902, the H&SW purchased the NSCR with its line from Mahone Bay to Bridgewater forming part of the new mainline between Bridgewater and Halifax. The new construction between Halifax and Mahone Bay was completed by 1904.
On April 11, 1903, the H&SW purchased the Nova Scotia Southern Railway (NSSR). The NSSR had no trackage constructed, however it did have a charter to build from the NSCR at New Germany to Caledonia in what was rich timber territory. Upon acquiring the NSSR charter, the H&SW built the 22 miles of track over the following months, with the first train reaching Caledonia on July 1, 1904.
In April 1905, the H&SW purchased the L&MR, with a short section of that line forming part of the main line between Bridgewater and Barrington. The new construction between Bridgewater and Barrington was completed later that year. In 1905, the H&SW also purchased the H&YR with major upgrades being done to this line between Barrington and Yarmouth over the next year.
Also in 1905, the H&SW purchased the charter for the unbuilt Middleton and Victoria Beach Railway (M&VBR) in the western Annapolis Valley. The 40 mile M&VBR line was opened by the H&SW to connect an iron ore mine at Torbrook, near Middleton on the NSCR, with port facilities at Port Wade on Annapolis Basin.
[edit] Canadian Northern
On December 19, 1906 the first H&SW through train reached Yarmouth from Halifax. At some point during the period following completion of the H&SW in 1906, the system was merged into Mackenze and Mann's Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) transcontinental system. The H&SW, along with the Inverness Railway, were isolated from the rest of CNoR's trackage which ran from Montreal to Vancouver, not unlike rival Canadian Pacific Railway's Dominion Atlantic Railway.
CNoR, along with several other railway lines in Canada, entered financial difficulties during the First World War. Encumbered by construction debts and low traffic, the CNoR was bankrupt and requested financial aid from the federal government in 1918. On September 6, 1918, CNoR was nationalized and placed under a Board of Management by the Department of Railways and Canals. On December 20, 1918, CNoR, along with the Canadian Government Railways were placed under a new company named Canadian National Railways (CNR).
[edit] Canadian National
Under CNR, the H&SW trackage saw significant infrastructure improvements to ballast, drainage, sleeper ties, rails, switches and bridges. The line still had significant curvature throughout, a result of the rugged local topography on the South Shore (locals called the H&SW the "Hellish Slow & Wobbly"), but the improvements brought respectable track speeds and service improvements.
In the years before the domination of publicly funded highways, the H&SW formed a critical transportation link between the various communities, as well as steam ship connections at Yarmouth (to Boston and New York) and Halifax (to Europe).
In the 1920s, the former M&VBR line was proving uneconomic after the closure of iron ore mines at Torbrook and the port at Port Wade. CNR applied in 1925 to abandon west of Middleton, however permission was only given to abandon west of Bridgetown. By 1928, bridges were removed and trackage would be removed in the following years.
The construction of a major pulp and paper mill by Bowater Mersey in 1929 led to more traffic from Liverpool. Shipyards in Liverpool and Shelburne lent some traffic, as did various saw mills and logging operations at various locations between Yarmouth and Halifax and between Bridgewater and Middleton/Bridgetown and New Germany to Caledonia. A naval base opened on Shelburne Harbour during the Second World War, requiring construction of a short 1 mile spur. Heating oil and gasoline distribution terminals operated by various oil companies in communities along the lines. A distillery in Bridgetown generated some traffic, as did a forest products plant in East River. In the early 1980s a large Michelin tire factory opened in Bridgewater and required rail service.
CN (name/acronym change in 1960) passenger service ended on the South Shore on Saturday October 25, 1969 and its stations fell into disuse. In a December 22, 1982 fire, the historic H&SW passenger station in Bridgewater fell victim to an unexplained fire.
CN's former H&SW lines on Nova Scotia's South Shore and in the Annapolis Valley were proving uneconomic by the early 1980s, even for freight service. In 1982, permission was given to abandon the former NSCR line between Bridgewater and Bridgetown via Middleton, as well as the New Germany to Caledonia line and the line between Liverpool and Yarmouth. Reduced to a line running from Halifax to Liverpool, CN depended on the Bowater paper mill and the Michelin tire plant, however even these customers were unable to keep the line generating positive income.
By the late 1980s, CN was given permission to abandon the remaining line from Bridgewater to Liverpool as Bowater shifted its transportation to ocean shipping and trucks. At Bridgewater, CN built a small yard on the east side of the Lahave River and sold its extensive former yard property to a shopping mall developer. In the early 1990s even this trackage was eliminated as Michelin began to use trucks to service its plant and CN's last remaining customer in Lunenburg County was the forest products company at East River. In 1993 the remainder of the former H&SW trackage was abandoned west of Halifax's Lakeside Industrial Park, leaving only a 7 mile spur as the last reminder of this once important railway network in southern Nova Scotia. In 2006, as part of its Three-Year Rail Network Plan, CN declared its intention to discontinue service on all remaining trackage west of Southwestern Jct. However, trains were still occasionally running in 2007.
