 Nova Scotia,
on Canada's Atlantic Coast, is also called "Canada's Ocean Playground". The
Province is steeped in a rich and varied history, as its original Mi'kmaq people were
joined by French Acadian settlers, British Loyalists, Scottish Highlanders, German and
French Protestants, Irish peasants fleeing famine and later by Italian and Polish miners.
The Province boasts many firsts, including the first responsible government (as opposed to
British colonial government) in Canada, the first free press in Canada and the oldest
university outside Britain in the former British Empire. Nova Scotians have a rich
maritime history having built the world's largest wooden ship and the North Atlantic's
fastest fishing schooner. Samuel Cunard, founder of the Cunard Steamship Company was born
in Halifax. Fortress Louisburg and the Halifax Citadel are excellent restorations which
portray life two hundred, or more, years ago.
Nova Scotia also has a rich and varied railway history, boasting one of the earliest
railways in Canada to use steam locomotives (at the Albion Mines in Pictou County) and
what was once North America's most intensively worked coal railway (the Sydney and
Louisburg RR). "The Ocean Limited" was introduced in 1904 by the Intercolonial
Railway to provide first-class passenger service between Halifax and Montreal. Remarkably,
history can still be experienced today in Nova Scotia. Now thoroughly modernized, VIA
Rail's "Ocean" continues to provide this service and is perhaps unique in being
a named passenger train that has run for over a
century.
The Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society is delighted to help introduce you to some of the
railway history of Nova Scotia and to some of the museums in which you can relive past
railway glories of one of Canada's most history-rich provinces. Kindly browse through the
remainder of this site to learn about these museums.
|

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
We are proud to announce that the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society's website was
the winner of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association's 2005 Media Award.
RAILWAY HERITAGE
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Q: WHO BUILT NOVA SCOTIA'S
FIRST MAIN LINE
RAILWAY?
ANSWER
& MORE QUESTIONS
SUBMIT
A QUESTION
~~ SAFETY FIRST AT
ALL TIMES ~~
� We cannot assume responsibility
for your safety. |