The ''Evangeline'' was a

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

operated from 1956 to 1990 by the

Dominion Atlantic Railway The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley. The Dominion Atlantic Railway was unusually diverse for a ...

and

Via Rail Canada Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

between

Yarmouth, Nova Scotia Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries. History Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...

and

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

Dominion Atlantic

The ''Evangeline Dayliner'' service was inaugurated by

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

's subsidiary the

in 1956 upon receipt of two

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adop ...

s, which replaced conventional trains. Canadian Pacific choose "Evangeline" as they wanted a prestige name for the new service drawing on the lore of Acadian history made famous by the poem ''

Evangeline ''Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie'' is an epic poem by the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written in English and published in 1847. The poem follows an Acadian girl named Evangeline and her search for her lost love Gabriel, set during t ...

'' by

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...

, a longtime travel theme of the DAR. The Evangeline followed the route of previous DAR trains such as the ''

Flying Bluenose The ''Flying Bluenose'' was a Canadian luxury passenger train operated by the Dominion Atlantic Railway between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia from 1891 to 1936. It was a boat train scheduled to connect with passenger steamships ...

''. "Evangeline" was the promotional name for the route, while "Dayliner" was the name for the RDC equipment. Despite being operated by the DAR, their schedules were integrated with the entire CPR passenger system and made connections with CPR passenger/vehicle ferry service from

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

at Digby, as well as CNR passenger service at Middleton and Halifax and DAR's mixed freight/passenger service at

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

. In the late 1960s, the "Evangeline" name became less promoted as Canadian Pacific lost interest in promoting passenger service. Users along the Annapolis Valley more commonly called the train "The Dayliner".

Via Rail

Via Rail Canada took over CPR passenger service in 1978 and fully integrated operations in 1979. Via continued to operate the RDC equipment on the Halifax-Yarmouth route and revived the name ''Evangeline'' in 1983.David Othen, ''Dominion Atlantic Railway The Final 25 Years'', p. 27. Ridership quickly increased and the service was successful for several years, helped by the era's record-high gasoline prices. Improvements to parallel

Highway 101 Highway 101 was an American country music band founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. The initial lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson (lead vocals), Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone (bass guitar, vocals), and Scott "Cactus" Moser (drums) ...

and competing bus service led to Via considering the abandonment of the ''Evangeline'' during the mid-1980s but changes in the federal government placed a moratorium on abandonment for several years. Via altered the schedule and improved connections, resulting in quadrupling of passenger counts. Train lengths expanded from 1 car to as many as 4 cars at peak service. Drastic cuts to Via Rail's funding in the 1989 federal budget saw

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

Benoît Bouchard Benoît Bouchard, (; born April 16, 1940) is a Canadian public official and former politician. Biography After a career as a professor and teacher, Bouchard was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as the Progressive Conservative Member o ...

authorize the abandonment of 55% of Via's service, including the ''Evangeline'', effective January 15, 1990. The Via train had been the only user of the DAR rails west of

Kentville Kentville is an incorporated town in Nova Scotia. It is the most populous town in the Annapolis Valley. As of 2021, the town's population was 6,630. Its census agglomeration is 26,929. History Kentville owes its location to the Cornwallis River ...

to Yarmouth and CPR promptly abandoned the trackage in March 1990.

References

External links

"Evangeline", Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Initiative
{{Via Rail Former Via Rail routes Canadian Pacific Railway passenger trains Named passenger trains of Canada Passenger rail transport in Nova Scotia Railway services introduced in 1956 Railway services discontinued in 1990