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Coast Railway

By John R. Cameron

The Halifax and South Western finally completed the south shore railway between Halifax and Yarmouth. It was part of the Canadian Northern Empire of Mackenzie and Mann, and fell with it to become a part of Canadian National Railways. Along the way, it acquired the Nova Scotia Central, the Middleton and Victoria Beach and the Liverpool and Milton railways. The last of its lines was abandoned in the 1980s.

The legislative history of the H&SW is extremely complex, as befits a railway heavily dependent on government support throughout its brief life. It starts with its predecessors on the province's north shore.

Railways to Yarmouth, Shelburne and Liverpool had been promised for decades, but the inhospitable terrain and the relatively small population deterred railway building. An early entrant was the South Shore Railway, chartered in 1892 (c.130), to connect Yarmouth with Shelburne, via Barrington.

The next year, the Coast Railway was chartered (1893, c.154). It had a complex history and there is some thought that it was created to be bought out. This was originally planned as a narrow gauge railway, which would be cheaper to build, virtually the only narrow gauge public carrier the legislature ever authorized. The original plan was to connect Yarmouth via East Pubnico, Wood's Harbour, Barrington Passage and Shelburne to Lockeport. Soon (1894, c.102), the company was active and extended its plans to include branches from Tusket to Carleton and Kempt (inland in Yarmouth County) and from Pubnico Head to West Pubnico (down the west side of Pubnico Harbour). Another branch would run from Barrington Passage to Port LaTour. additional powers were granted in 1895 (c.124), the most important of which was the authority to change to standard gauge. The 1896 statute (c.103) dealt with the acquisition of land and materials, authorized the extension from Lockeport to Bridgewater via Liverpool, and extended its time. The extension to Liverpool as authorized subject to the Nova Scotia Southern's right to build it first, another example of the legislative pressure put on that company to do what it had undertaken to do.

The next of the annual statutes (1897, c.84) records that the Coast (not the Nova Scotia Southern) now had the authority to connect Lockeport and Liverpool, and the company could extend its line from Bridgewater into Halifax. It could also carry on the business of an express company (c.85). By 1898, c.128, its time was extended (under tight conditions) and the line was changed to connect with the Nova Scotia Central. A branch from the north end of the Liverpool and Milton to Caledonia was approved.

Then, in 1899, a new appraisal was ordered in Barrington (c.123, at the Coast's cost). More significant was a thorough revision of the company's statutory authority (c.128) which changed the company's name to the Halifax and Yarmouth, reflecting its current pretensions. Bonds of up to $5,000,000 were ratified. The whole was subject to proclamation, an unusual attribute of railway legislation.

The new appraisal was validated (1900, c.105). Barrington paid for some of the right of way (1903, c.45), suggesting that construction was very slow to proceed. That line had been authorized ten years before. A new branch was authorized, from Arcadia and Salmon River to Tusket Wedge (Wedgeport) (1903-04, c.136).

Then came the takeover (1905, c.1), where the H&SW bought the Halifax and Yarmouth with provincial funding of $13,500 per mile. The last mention (1906, c.128) was to settle land claims in Argyle.

The Coast (Halifax and Yarmouth) was constructed as far as it got with virtually no public money, unlike its successor.

[SOURCE: A Legislative History of Nova Scotia Railways, by John R. Cameron, 1999.]

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