The Railways of Canada Archives -- Musquodoboit Railway

Musquodoboit Railway

The first effort towards bringing railway service to the area east of Halifax was in 1884. In that year a first railway bridge was completed by the Intercolonial Railway from Halifax to Dartmouth, across the Narrows of Halifax Harbour.

Near the Dartmouth shore a stone pier was constructed in about 35 feet of water and this pier provided a support for the swing section of the bridge. The wooden trestle-work of the bridge rested on, and was secured to, stone filled cribs spaced every ten feet on the harbour bottom. The bridge was 1500 feet long and was curved with its convex side facing towards the Bedford Basin.

In the summer of 1891 the government was made aware of the extremely weak condition of the bridge. On 7 September 1891, before improvements could be made, a mighty storm ripped two-thirds of the bridge from its footings.

The government rejected suggestions that a land route around the Bedford Basin was preferable. and so a second bridge was completed in 1892. This bridge, like the first was poorly constructed and not braced. It lasted just over a year. About 2 am on 23 July 1893 almost two-thirds of the bridge slipped into the water and floated up into the Bedford Basin. 34 freight cars were left stranded on the Dartmouth side of the harbour.

No further railway bridges were built across the harbour. Instead, in 1896, the Intercolonial branch line from Windsor Junction to Dartmouth was opened, a distance of 12.5 miles. In the same year the Halifax and Guysborough Railway Company Inc. was formed to build a railway from Halifax to Guysborough via the Musquodoboit Valley but no work was done.

In March 1898 the Musquodoboit Railway Company was incorporated under Nova Scotia statutes to construct a line from Dartmouth to Dean’s Settlement, Guysborough County. Despite extensions of the charter no work was done.

Then, in 1901 the Nova Scotia Eastern Company was incorporated to construct a line from Halifax and New Glasgow to Country Harbour and on to Guysborough town. The following year the Musquodoboit Railway Company and the Nova Scotia Eastern Company amalgamated under the latter name but still no work was done.

In 1903 the provincial government contracted the Nova Scotia Eastern Railway Company to construct a railway from Dartmouth to Country Harbour but English financiers refused to back the company and work still didn’t get started. The charter was extended and by 1904 a short section of track was built but then the company director died and construction ceased.

Sir Montague Allan and the Acadian Coal Company incorporated the Halifax and Eastern Railway Company in 1906 to build a line from Halifax-Dartmouth to Dean’s Settlement and from Sunny Brae to Guysborough town (for exporting coal). The provincial government paid for a survey which was completed in 1907. However a disagreement over the route caused Sir Allan & the Acadia Coal Company to withdraw their support and the plans died.

In 1908 the provincial government set up negotiations with J B Bartram of Toronto and Bartram began to raise the capital needed to build the railway. By 1910 the survey was completed and the route agreed upon. It was to be 216 miles from Dartmouth to Guysborough via Dean’s Settlement and from near New Glasgow to Country Harbour where there was deep water. Again no work was carried out.

In Fall 1911 the Dominion Government through the ICR purchased the Halifax and Eastern Railway plans and all rights. The contractors started work in 1912 using recycled rail and poor quality ballast and cinders. As work progressed problems arose, mainly with poor drainage especially in the Spring and Fall. At Cole Harbour a railway causeway was built and at the Three Fathom Harbour a canal had to be cut to keep Porter’s Lake properly drained.

By 1915 the line was graded close to Dean’s Settlement with track laid for three quarters of the distance. Few of the bridges were completed as some were being manufactured out of steel in Ontario and Quebec. Railway stations were constructed a little later. Despite this, a 14 car passenger train of Masons made an excursion up the line on 1 July 1915 .

A year later, on 1 July 1916 the line was officially opened to Upper Musquodoboit (66.63 miles from Woodside near Dartmouth), although the first train travelled the route on January 3rd. Once completed the line became part of Canadian Government Railways. The line was never built beyond Upper Musquodoboit.

There were many stations along the route with larger stations located at Dartmouth, Musquodoboit Harbour (which now houses the Musquodoboit Harbour Railway museum), Middle Musquodoboit and Upper Musquodoboit. Freight carried included lumber, pulp wood, beach gravel, bulk oil, barrel staves, boxes, limestone (from Mosher’s plant at Upper Musquodoboit) and general merchandise.

In the mid-1950s diesel engines began to replace steam locomotives. The last steam engine reported to have used the line was Canadian National 3409.

In 1959 the timetable was changed so that passenger travel into Dartmouth was less convenient and in 1960 passenger service ended. At this time freight traffic was also on the decline and it was only a matter of time before the line was closed. About 1975 Canadian National applied to discontinue operations. Hearings were held in 1980. Freight traffic continued until 1982 and the track was finally lifted in 1985 leaving only a spur to serve the refineries and Autoport in Dartmouth.

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