Canadian Pacific Railway Ownership
On November 13, 1911, the DAR and all of its subsidiaries was leased by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The move gave the CPR access to the port of Halifax. The new owners allowed the DAR to retain its independence in operations and corporate identity for many decades, making it "the most famous railway in the province". George Graham, a rising CPR superintendent, was appointed General Manager in 1915 to upgrade and expand the DAR. Major new investments were made in locomotives and service facilities. Graham built the Grand Pre Park and built a chain of DAR railway hotels including the Digby Pines Resort, the "Cornwallis Inn" in Kentville and the Lord Nelson Hotel in Halifax. With its own steamships, hotels and branchlines, the DAR was regarded by some as a "Canadian Pacific in miniature".
Throughout the First World War the DAR played an important wartime role. It shipped large numbers of troops from the major Canadian Army training base near Kentville (Aldershot Military Camp). A DAR relief train was one of the first trains to rush with help after the Halifax Explosion in 1917.
The DAR's importance increased in the Second World War as it was the sole railway serving HMCS Cornwallis, a Royal Canadian Navy training and operations base on Annapolis Basin, RCAF Station Greenwood at Greenwood and RCAF Station Stanley at Stanley, as well as the Aldershot Military Camp. HMCS Cornwallis, Digby and Yarmouth were also important RCN operating ports.
Read more about this topic: Dominion Atlantic Railway
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