Passenger Service
The DAR exploited its steamship connections to develop a high level of passenger service not usually seen on regional railways. The DAR not only operated a busy schedule of mixed and express trains, but building on service first tried by its predecessor company, the W&A, the DAR launched several prominent named trains "The Flying Bluenose" and "the New Yorker" connecting with Boston and New York steamships in the summer. The railway bought the first Pullman parlour cars in all of Canada for this service.
Influenced by promotional themes from Yarmouth steamship companies, the DAR developed an identity as "The Land of Evangeline Route" exploiting interest in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about the Acadians. This promotion grew to include a whole series of posters, postcards, books, named locomotives and a prominent herald depicting Evangeline which was seen on all DAR publications and most locomotives. The DAR purchased land at Grand Pre in 1917 and built a large garden and replica church dedicated to the memory of the Acadians. It became not only a popular tourism destination but also evolved into a shrine to Acadian people.
The successful development of this market created a remarkable growth in DAR passenger traffic which soared to over 200,000 riders a year in its first five years and is regarded by historians as the introduction of mass tourism in Atlantic Canada.
Read more about this topic: Dominion Atlantic Railway
Famous quotes containing the words passenger and/or service:
“Every American travelling in England gets his own individual sport out of the toy passenger and freight trains and the tiny locomotives, with their faint, indignant, tiny whistle. Especially in western England one wonders how the business of a nation can possibly be carried on by means so insufficient.”
—Willa Cather (1876–1947)
“Our chief want in life, is, someone who shall make us do what we can. This is the service of a friend. With him we are easily great.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)