Built in 1905 by the Halifax and Southwestern Railway Company, this is a wood frame station with a large roof overhang all around which afforded protection for thousands of railway passengers through the years. The overhang is supported by heavy timber brackets with curved hypotenuses. Above, the roof was adorned with no less than eight dormers, three on each of the long sides and one on each end. They really add character to the building. Adjacent to the station is a small freight shed whose overall design follows that of the station, less the dormers.
This station would have been retired from service sometime between 1982 and 1993, when all service was suspended on the line. Since that time the town of Chester has taken over the station and repurposed it into their
Visitor Information Centre. Restored to some extent on the inside, they have left it essentially as it was as a railway station, retaining all of its original character.
Speaking of Character, this is the only railway station we've found with stained glass windows, a classy touch. On one wall of what was once the station's waiting room are two pairs of stained glass windows, small windows high on the wall. We known not from whence the windows came but each bears a different depiction of a cross.
Halifax and Southwestern Railway
The Halifax and Southwestern Railway (H&SW) was created by William Mackenzie and Donald Mann in their quest to expand the
Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR). It began in 1901, when the two men approached the provincial government with a plan to complete a line along the south shore from Yarmouth to Halifax. The company was provincially incorporated as the Halifax & South Western Railway but the railway was better known as the Halifax and Southwestern and known locally as the "Southwestern."
The H&SW was pieced together from a number of smaller railways and charters. They included the Nova Scotia Central Railway (NSCR), the Liverpool and Milton Railway (L&MR) and the Halifax and Yarmouth Railway (H&YR). Also included was the charter for the Nova Scotia Southern Railway (NSSR) which had no trackage and the Middleton and Victoria Beach Railway (M&VBR) which had been started but was still incomplete.
The H&SW was merged into the CNoR. That lasted until 1918 when the CNoR fell to bankruptcy. The CNoR, along with the IRC and several other government-owned railways, became part of the newly formed
Canadian National Railways (CN). Under CN ownership and operations, the H&SW began to see major improvements.
In 1925 CN abandoned a portion of the former M&VBR line between Granville Centre and Port Wade. The mines had closed and it was no longer economical to continue providing rail service. Abandonment of the railway continued gradually and in small stages. Passenger service between Bridgewater and Middleton ended in 1959. Passenger service on the south shore survived 10 years longer.
By the 1980s, rail service throughout the province was in a steep decline. In 1982 CN abandoned a portion of the mainline from Liverpool to Yarmouth and the former NSCR line. By 1993 all service on the South Shore had ended.
Today very little exists of the former H&SW. All that remains of CN's once extensive mainline is a section running south from New Brunswick through the centre of the province to Halifax. CN continues to maintain a large terminal in Halifax for ocean-bound and intermodal shipping. The Halifax station, now a designated heritage structure, remains in use by VIA Rail, as well as for bus service and other commercial ventures.
From Canada Rail
Chester Train Station
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
Built circa 1905, the Chester Train Station was a full service Mackenzie and Mann station that formed part of their Halifax and Southwestern Railway Company at the beginning of the twentieth century. Its wide roof overhangs provided shelter over the decking that at one time wrapped around the building and the roof supports' decorative design are matched in intricacy by the varying rooflines and numerous dormers adorning the building, making it an obvious landmark in the community. The Municipal Heritage Designation applies to the station, freight shed, and surrounding property.
HERITAGE VALUE
The Chester Train Station is valued for its age, original function, construction and continued use as a public building.
The Chester Train Station was built circa 1905 to service the Halifax and Southwestern Railway Company, built by William Mackenzie and Donald Mann who owned railway companies across Canada. The service this lined provided was an integral part of the transportation network between the rural Nova Scotian communities on the province’s south western shore.
The station, at its height of operations, included a wraparound loading deck, which continued across the yard to the additional freight shed common to full service stations. A water tower and coal shed were also once present at the site, but they were removed before the turn of the twenty-first century.
The station and freight shed share a similar wooden construction style with exceptionally wide eaves supported by large curved wooden braces, which include a decorative scroll pattern on their lower abutment. The major difference being that the freight shed is much simpler in design. It has an uninterrupted hipped roof and minimal window space, as the interior would have been illuminated by daylight when the large freight doors on both sides of the building were open.
In contrast, the station’s hipped roof features a second raised hipped roof in the centre of the building. This upper hipped roof features a steeply pitched gable with the gabled end facing the front and rear elevations respectively. In addition, this upper hipped roof is flanked by small gambrel roofed dormers on the front and rear elevations. The two side elevations of the main roof both feature a single gambrel roof dormer, consisting of the same size and style as those on the front and rear elevations.
In addition to the station's unique symmetrical roofline, the rest of the building’s exterior is also symmetrical across the axis of its length with the exception of an additional exterior door on the front elevation. One of the most noticeable features of this symmetrical design is the presence of a large double door freight entrance topped with a seven pane transom window on front and rear elevations of the station.
Although the tracks have been removed and the sound of the steam engine’s whistle no longer echoes through the station, it continues to be used as a public building in the community. It is now operated by the Chester Municipal Heritage Society and houses their office as well as the Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Visitor Information service for the area.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
The character-defining elements of the Chester Train Station relate to its original use and include:
- original form and massing;
- wide eaves supported by large curved wooden braces with a decorative scroll pattern on their lower abutment;
- hipped roof;
- second central raised hipped roof;
- steeply pitched gable in middle of raised hipped roof with gabled ends facing front and rear elevations;
- gambrel roofed dormers flanking raised hipped roof on front and rear elevations;
- single gambrel roofed dormers on side elevations of main hipped roof;
- large double door freight entrance with a seven-pane transom window on front and rear elevations;
- symmetrical design, with exception of an additional entrance on front elevation;
- wooden shingle construction.
The character-defining elements of the freight shed relate to its original use and include:
- wide eaves supported by large curved wooden braces with decorative scroll pattern;
- hipped roof;
- two large double freight doors;
- wooden construction;
- proximity to station building.
From Historic Places Canada