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Midland Railway

By John R. Cameron

The Midland Railway was a sport that ended up being finished and in operation. The euphoria of their first success so inflamed the directors that they proposed follow-up branches covering half of Nova Scotia. Then the Dominion Atlantic bought it out and it settled down to be an ordinary branch line for over fifty years.

The first evidence of the Midland proposal (Windsor to Truro through the centre of Hants County) was the 1887 proposal for the Hants Central Railway (c.54). (1887 was a very good year for railway proposals.) The Hants Central proposed a line from the Intercolonial near Truro westerly through Colchester and Hants Counties to the Windsor branch, crossing the Shubenacadie River near Maitland. The land between the Shubenacadie River and Windsor is rough and sparsely settled, but the major obstacle was the Shubenacadie River near its mouth. This is the scene of what are now claimed to be the highest tides in the world, and a tidal bore is a daily occurrence. The unheralded Shubenacadie River bridge was a major undertaking. The piers are still evident today from the highway bridge, only completed in the 1980s.

The Hants Central legislation was amended in 1890 (c.74) to put the head office in Truro, allow additional tolls if a bridge was over 200 feet long (which the Shubenacadie crossing would be) and ratify a bond issue. With matters apparently well on the way and in hand, this railway disappeared.

The Midland Railway was incorporated in 1896 (c.85) to run from Windsor to Maitland and then to a point on the Intercolonial between Truro and Stewiacke. The legislation seemed to show an intention to run to Truro via Clifton and from the Intercolonial to Eastville, with an extension to the coal and iron fields in Pictou County. This route repeated the likely route of the Stewiacke and Lansdowne. The railway was also authorized to run branch lines to ports on the Atlantic and the Gulf of St Lawrence. It was an ambitious proposal.

By 1899, there is strong evidence of a successful railway venture. The town of Truro was authorized to borrow $30,000 to pay a bonus to the railway if the line between Windsor and Truro was completed. West Hants (c.98) was authorized to borrow $11,000 for the right of way, Windsor also obtained borrowing and appraisal legislation (c.101) and East Hants got borrowing authority (c.102) and a new appraisal. The appraisal set aside totalled $8,547.00. The railway's own powers were extended to include a dock at Windsor, branch lines to the antimony mines near West Gore (in Hants County) and lines to New Germany, Chester and a point on the railway between Shelburne and Halifax, and from the Intercolonial railway between Truro and Londonderry to Parrsboro (c.130). It also extended the time to complete the line from Windsor to Truro.

The terms of the town of Truro's borrowing and expropriation were amended slightly in 1901 (c.91), demonstrating that it was getting close to bonus time.

In 1902, the company raised its sights again. New routes were authorized (c.175): west from Windsor to the Halifax and South Western, and to the Nova Scotia Central or Middleton (in direct competition with the DAR) and from Truro along the Bay Shore to Parrsboro. The line to Eastville is raised again, suggesting it might not be possible to actually reach the settlement. New routes were also the main focus in 1903. The county of Colchester obtained authority to borrow money to buy the right of way for the proposed line from Truro to Tatamagouche or Brule. The legislation dealing with the settlement of land claims in Windsor was amended (c.129), with similar changes for West Hants (c.132) and East Hants (c.133). The company changed its charter to allow for a railway from Truro to the Northumberland Strait (c.233).

Then, in 1905, the railway was sold to the Dominion Atlantic (c.130). The authorizing statute recited the completion of the railway from Windsor to Truro and the agreement of the shareholders to sell. The Dominion Atlantic was authorized to run from Truro to the Northumberland Strait, but was not given (or chose not to attempt) the balance of the Midland's wide-ranging network. The acquisition of the Midland gave the DAR a fairly level shortcut to Truro and the continental network, avoiding the Windsor Branch (if necessary) and the years of litigation it engendered.

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

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