Windsor Junction is a

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

community in

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located approximately north west of

Downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto central business di ...

and approximately north of the

Bedford Basin Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast. It is named in honour of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford. Geography Geographically, the basin is situated entirely within th ...

near the communities of Fall River,

Lower Sackville Lower Sackville is a suburban community of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. History Before European colonization in 1749, the Mi'kmaq lived in this area for thousands of years. In August 1749, Captain John Gorham, act ...

, and Waverley.

Railway history

The name of the community was established by the

Nova Scotia Railway The Nova Scotia Railway is a historic Canadian railway. It was composed of two lines, one connecting Richmond (immediately north of Halifax) with Windsor, the other connecting Richmond with Pictou Landing via Truro. The railway was incorpor ...

(NSR) in 1858 after a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. The physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge) is provided by turnouts (US: switc ...

was located between Second and Third Lakes, north of the

. This junction was where the line from Halifax split into lines to

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

and

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

. Another railway line was built from Dartmouth to Windsor Junction in 1896. The NSR and its railway stations were primarily built by Irish and German settlers in the area. With Nova Scotia's entry into

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

in 1867, ownership of the NSR passed from the provincial government to the federal government, which folded it into the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

(ICR). The line to Windsor was leased in 1871 to the Windsor & Annapolis Railway, which became part of 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 (DAR) was unusually divers ...

(DAR) in 1894. The ICR built the railway line from Windsor Junction to Dartmouth in 1896 and the ICR became part of

Canadian Government Railways Canadian Government Railways was the legal name used between 1915–1918 for all federal government-owned railways in Canada. The principal component companies were the Intercolonial Railway of Canada (IRC), the National Transcontinental ...

in 1915, which was then folded into the

Canadian National Railways The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue an ...

(CNR) in 1918. In 1912 the DAR was purchased by

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , 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 Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

(CPR). Windsor Junction was served by two stations in its history, the first built in 1857, which included a saloon. It was replaced in 1882 by an Intercolonial Railway style station, noted for its station gardens, which was staffed until 1978 and then demolished in 1984."Windsor Junction Station", ''Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Institute''
/ref> In 1994, CPR sold the DAR and the line from Windsor Junction to Windsor became part of the Windsor and Hantsport Railway (WHR). CN's mainline from Halifax-Truro and its branch from Windsor Junction to Dartmouth are still used by 8 to 10 freight trains daily, while the WHR used the line from Windsor Junction to Windsor on a less-frequent schedule, until about 2012 when it closed. The CN mainline at Windsor Junction still carries heavy freight service, mostly container trains, while

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

's ''

Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

'' passenger service passes through the community 6 days per week.

References

Windsor Junction - from "Destination Nova Scotia"

External links

* ttps://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Windsor+Junction,+NS&ie=UTF8&z=15&ll=44.789328,-63.642855&spn=0.018883,0.053902&om=1 Windsor Junction on Google Mapsbr>Satellite image of Windsor Junction
{{Communities_of_Bedford/Sackville Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia