The Sackville Railway Station, an inter-city train station in Sackville, is managed by Via Rail. Though the station building has been closed since October 2012, Via Rail passenger trains still make stops there, with checked baggage services now provided by on-board staff.
The Intercolonial Railway (ICR) was inaugurated between Truro and Moncton on November 9, 1872. Initially, ICR passengers in Sackville were served by a wooden station situated close to the current station’s location, near the Sackville Harbour turning basin and shipping wharves.
The ICR project prompted the establishment of various industrial businesses in Sackville, including the Dominion Foundry Company in 1872. Located near the railway station, this company produced stoves and later changed ownership in 1888, becoming the Enterprise Foundry Company.
On April 8, 1874, the New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island Railway Company commenced the construction of a line from Sackville to Cape Tormentine. After a temporary halt, construction resumed in 1878, and the line opened in 1887, connecting with the ICR mainline east of the station. The Sackville railway junction gained significance when the federal government launched a train ferry service from Cape Tormentine to Port Borden on October 15, 1917.
In 1905, the ICR began constructing a replacement station, which opened in 1907. This 1½-storey station was built with locally quarried plum and olive-colored sandstone and situated near the original wooden ICR station, offering views of the Tantramar Marshes and Sackville Harbour.
The new Sackville Railway Station features a long, low rectangular shape with a bell-cast hip roof, bay windows on both track and Lorne Street sides, exposed wood brackets and tongue-and-groove boarding under the eaves, a gabled dormer, and round-arched windows with stone voussoir above each bay window.
On July 29, 1908, a fire erupted on the Enterprise Foundry property, devastating the foundry plant, the Intercolonial Railway Hotel, and the original Intercolonial Railway Station. The new station suffered minor damages but remained intact.
The ICR merged with the newly formed federal Crown corporation Canadian National Railways (CNR) in 1918. In 1978, CN shifted responsibility for its passenger rail services to another federal Crown corporation, Via Rail.
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This is a very interesting blog and I like the photography. Mike Saunders