The Nova Scotia Eastern Railway

Dartmouth itself was initially connected to Halifax via a train bridge across the Narrows built in 1884. In 1891 a storm destroyed the bridge. It was rebuilt in 1892 and collapsed in 1893. Finally, in 1896 the Intercolonial built 12 miles of track from Windsor Junction to Dartmouth. This line is still in place as part of the Dartmouth Subdivision.

There were several charters granted to companies planning to build railways in the northeast portion of mainland Nova Scotia, including the Halifax & North Eastern and the Halifax & Guysborough. This document does not attempt to list all of the companies involved; for a more thorough treatment of this period in time, see this link. The Musquodoboit Railway was incorporated in 1898, and merged with the Nova Scotia Eastern in 1902 with the intent to build a line from Dartmouth to Guysborough and on to the Strait of Canso. Several attempts later, the Halifax and Eastern was purchased by the Intercolonial and work was begun on the rail line in 1912. The line was opened to Upper Musquodoboit on July 1, 1916. Upper Musquodoboit ended up being the end of the line. The line came under the ownership of the Canadian National Railway when it was formed.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, CN began abandoning or transferring trackage in the Atlantic Provinces with the seeming intent of becoming strictly a mainline railway in the East. Some examples:

• CN transferred the Hopewell and Sydney subdivisions to the newly created Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia (CB&CNS, owned by RailAmerica) in October 1993 (see Canadian Transportation Agency ruling).
• The entire Prince Edward Island railway network was abandoned in December 1989 (see Canadian Transportation Agency ruling).
• The Newfoundland rail system was abandoned in 1988 in exchange for a cash payout to improve the highway system (see Heritage Newfoundland's site).
• The former Halifax & Southwestern line from Halifax to Yarmouth was abandoned in stages through the 1980s.

In 1975, CN applied to abandon most of the Dartmouth Subdivision, from Eastern Passage outside Darmouth to the end of the line at Middle Musquodoboit.

At the time, traffic had reached a very low level. Passenger service had ended in 1960 and there were no scheduled freight trains running on that portion of the line. The only traffic was the occasional carload of wood or limestone. CN argued that the cost to maintain the trackage far exceeded the revenues from the traffic.

The hearings were held in 1980. Various parties appeared before the CTA to fight the abandonment. There were plans in the works for an industrial park in the Musquodoboit area, and the local residents and businesspeople wished to retain the line to service it. As well, current shippers such as F.W. Taylor Lumber Co. in Middle Musquodoboit and the Mosher Limestone Company in Upper Musquodoboit wished to retain their rail access. CN argued that they were losing money on the line and possible future business did not justify retention of the line.

In the end the CTA authorized the abandonment of the trackage, and freight traffic ceased by 1982. It appeared that the fight was lost and CN prepared to remove the trackage in 1985. However, a white knight appeared in the form of the Nova Scotia provincial government. Led by a farsighted Transportation Minister, the government offered to pay salvage value for the track, ties, etc. and "railbank" the trackage against a possible future use. After some negotiation, CN agreed to the province's offer. CN's portion of the line ended in Eastern Passage outside Dartmouth, and the remainder was left without maintenance.

The 1990s were the decade of the shortlines in Canada. A Western rail management company, CanRail Management Inc., looked at the Nova Scotia market as an opportunity to expand. They met with CN, who was still anxious to sell off spur lines to become strictly a mainline railroad. In the end, an agreement was reached to sell the remainder of the Dartmouth Subdivision to CanRail in exchange for an undisclosed sum. CN would retain running rights on the subdivision from Windsor Junction to the Canada Gypsum spur in the Burnside area to allow the scheduled gypsum trains to run in without having to change power. CanRail promptly named the new railroad the Nova Scotia Eastern Railway and began operations on the line on January 6, 1997.

Initially the NSER leased CN power to provide service to the existing customers in the Dartmouth area. In time various units were acquired and the CN power was returned.

The NSER and the other shortlines in Nova Scotia, the CB&CNS and the Windsor and Hantsport, formed an association (Nova Scotia Shortlines) to facilitate cooperation and car exchanges between the shortlines. The CB&CNS and the NSE in particular are very close together (they both terminate in Windsor Junction) and wished to exchange cars without CN's involvement. After some negotiations and the involvement of the federal Transport Minister, they gained running rights over a short portion of track in Windsor Junction to allow them to interchange traffic.

In 1995 the provincial government was approached by a tourism operator, Scotia Tours, interested in operating excursion trains over the abandoned trackage to Musquodoboit. Some negotiations took place but CN was not interested in providing access to their portion of the Dartmouth Subdivision. Once CanRail took possession of the subdivision, negotiations were reopened. CanRail and the province agreed to allow Scotia Tours to operate a daily excursion train over their trackage, and the province invested approximately half a million dollars to upgrade the line, replace signals and crossings, etc. to permit safe operation on the line. Scotia Tours acquired a steam locomotive, CN 6043 (see the history of this locomotive), from Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg and a few former CN passenger cars. It leased a portion of CanRail's Dartmouth yard to house the engine and cars, and began tours in May 1998.

In 2001 the Campbell Forestry company (owners of forest land, pulp and paper mills in New Brunswick and Maine) decided to make an investment in the Nova Scotia forestry market. They purchased the MacTara lumber mill in Upper Musquodoboit. CanRail approached Campbell Forestry to provide transportation for their wood products from Musquodoboit to Dartmouth, with CN taking the shipment from there to Saint John, NB for shipment to the United States on the NB Southern Railway. CanRail leased the trackage from the province for a period of 20 years, and began operations on the line in late 2001. The majority of the traffic is either cut wood (to the mill) or finished lumber (from the mill), with the occasional boxcar or gondola for other industries in the area.

Traffic on the NSER is typical of many shortlines. The industries located on its line (the Imperial Oil refinery, the autoport, the Campbell mill, and several smaller industries) provide the bulk of traffic that is interchanged with CN at Windsor Junction. Two or three times daily, a unit train runs from Windsor Junction to Burnside under CN control to deliver gypsum to waiting ships. As well, a train is infrequently run from Dartmouth to Windsor Junction to interchange with the Windsor & Hantsport. Scotia Tours' excursion train provides a glimpse of yesteryear with its imposing steam engine and passenger cars.

The future of the NSER seems assured. Its current customers are solid and well-respected, and there is the possibility of gaining additional customers along the line. One expansion idea that has been floated about seems new but is in fact over a hundred years old. Some groups are advocating an extension of the line from Upper Musquodoboit to the Strait of Canso to link up with the CB&CNS. This would provide a good transportation link between the Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton, something that has been lacking for quite some time. It would also allow the exchange of containers between Sydney (where they arrive from Newfoundland) and Halifax without trucking. So far nothing has come of this idea beyond talk. Perhaps it awaits the intervention of a rail-friendly Transport Minister?...