(Originally published in TOURISM)
Every small Canadian community has a museum dedicated to preserving its past, and just about anyone can have a model railroad these days; but when your museum features a model railroad, something special has to happen. Duane Porter is curator and owner of the Halifax & Southwestern Railway Museum, where he is working to recreate the line built by Canadian railway barons William Mackenzie and Donald Mann at the turn of the twentieth century, which was intended to be the final link of their grand scheme to build a third national transcontinental railway.
Based in the historic Nova Scotia town of Lunenburg, a community designated as a world heritage site by the United Nations, Porter knows how important even the smallest detail will be. "The people in this community know every inch of (the old) tracks, even though they are long gone, and they’ll point out any inaccuracy to you. And, people come from around the world to see the home of the Bluenose,” he says of the famous fishing schooner featured on the Canadian dime, “so we can’t afford to be seen as a second rate side‑show.”
The museum relocated to Lunenburg from nearby Bridgewater in May of 2003 after the shopping mall in which the museum was housed announced it was expanding its commercial space. The move obliged the museum to close for almost a full year, re‑opening in April of 2004.
“In one sense we lost some of our historical validity, because Bridgewater had always been the division point for the railway,” Porter recalls, “and we lost a lot of our traffic since so much of it was a spin‑off from the mall.” Porter and his band of volunteer modellers and tour guides rose to the challenge, and Lunenburg has become a perfect location by virtue of its own unique historic status.
The new location, in a 3,500 square foot warehouse setting, houses the 750 lineal feet of HO (1:87 scale) and S scale (1:64 scale) railway, which in turn is situated above cabinets that hold hundreds of exhibits from the Halifax and Southwestern and the two railways with which it interchanged, the fabled Dominion Atlantic, and the Intercolonial (later Canadian National) Railway. With space to expand, Porter has many plans for new development, including interactive displays for younger patrons, a meeting facility and kitchen, and one day perhaps even some outdoor exhibits of rolling stock.
Like most heritage sites, including publicly funded museums, the Halifax and Southwestern finds a lack of money to be a challenge. So closely linked to the tourist traffic, the success of a single year can hinge upon something as remote as the price of gasoline, a war in the Middle East, or any number of economic factors that oblige people to stay at home for a vacation. “The challenge is to find something fresh each year to bring old visitors back,” Porter said, “and we are finding many who return are pleased to see how our reconstruction of the line in miniature is advancing.”
Sometimes they may have to look very closely, for the towns of Lunenburg, Bridgewater, Liverpool, and Mahone Bay are being rebuilt to painstaking detail. It’s only part of the attraction of the museum, which hopes to bring to life the human drama of a railway that was built with high expectations of wealth by two men who were accustomed to business success. The same two men were devastated when their transcontinental railway plan came crashing down around them, only to be absorbed by the federal government into Canadian National Railways in the 1920s.
“We want to be able so show why this railway, which at 581 kilometres (361 miles) wasn’t very long, should not be overlooked in Canadian history," Porter emphasizes. “For example, it was built through difficult terrain largely dominated by solid granite, and was hand carved by men with dynamite, picks and shovels; and moved by mule and wagon as it inched closer and closer toward Halifax.”
The line also has a strong tie to the community’s fishing heritage. “Moving fish to market was of prime importance to the fishermen in Lunenburg,” Porter continues, “and when the H&SW offered refrigerated box car service, new markets opened up almost overnight.”
Jay Underwood is an author and former newspaper editor and publisher living in Elmsdale, NS. He is president of the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society.
Based in the historic Nova Scotia town of Lunenburg, a community designated as a world heritage site by the United Nations, Porter knows how important even the smallest detail will be. "The people in this community know every inch of (the old) tracks, even though they are long gone, and they’ll point out any inaccuracy to you. And, people come from around the world to see the home of the Bluenose,” he says of the famous fishing schooner featured on the Canadian dime, “so we can’t afford to be seen as a second rate side‑show.”
The museum relocated to Lunenburg from nearby Bridgewater in May of 2003 after the shopping mall in which the museum was housed announced it was expanding its commercial space. The move obliged the museum to close for almost a full year, re‑opening in April of 2004.
“In one sense we lost some of our historical validity, because Bridgewater had always been the division point for the railway,” Porter recalls, “and we lost a lot of our traffic since so much of it was a spin‑off from the mall.” Porter and his band of volunteer modellers and tour guides rose to the challenge, and Lunenburg has become a perfect location by virtue of its own unique historic status.
The new location, in a 3,500 square foot warehouse setting, houses the 750 lineal feet of HO (1:87 scale) and S scale (1:64 scale) railway, which in turn is situated above cabinets that hold hundreds of exhibits from the Halifax and Southwestern and the two railways with which it interchanged, the fabled Dominion Atlantic, and the Intercolonial (later Canadian National) Railway. With space to expand, Porter has many plans for new development, including interactive displays for younger patrons, a meeting facility and kitchen, and one day perhaps even some outdoor exhibits of rolling stock.
Like most heritage sites, including publicly funded museums, the Halifax and Southwestern finds a lack of money to be a challenge. So closely linked to the tourist traffic, the success of a single year can hinge upon something as remote as the price of gasoline, a war in the Middle East, or any number of economic factors that oblige people to stay at home for a vacation. “The challenge is to find something fresh each year to bring old visitors back,” Porter said, “and we are finding many who return are pleased to see how our reconstruction of the line in miniature is advancing.”
Sometimes they may have to look very closely, for the towns of Lunenburg, Bridgewater, Liverpool, and Mahone Bay are being rebuilt to painstaking detail. It’s only part of the attraction of the museum, which hopes to bring to life the human drama of a railway that was built with high expectations of wealth by two men who were accustomed to business success. The same two men were devastated when their transcontinental railway plan came crashing down around them, only to be absorbed by the federal government into Canadian National Railways in the 1920s.
“We want to be able so show why this railway, which at 581 kilometres (361 miles) wasn’t very long, should not be overlooked in Canadian history," Porter emphasizes. “For example, it was built through difficult terrain largely dominated by solid granite, and was hand carved by men with dynamite, picks and shovels; and moved by mule and wagon as it inched closer and closer toward Halifax.”
The line also has a strong tie to the community’s fishing heritage. “Moving fish to market was of prime importance to the fishermen in Lunenburg,” Porter continues, “and when the H&SW offered refrigerated box car service, new markets opened up almost overnight.”
Jay Underwood is an author and former newspaper editor and publisher living in Elmsdale, NS. He is president of the Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society.
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