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(1800-1880)
Born in Amherst, Chandler rose to prominence as a New Brunswick lawyer and businessman,
and as a Father of Confederation helped plan the creation of the Intercolonial Railway. He
served as one of the first commissioners of the railway, and as such was responsible for
much of the patronage dispensed during its construction. He is responsible for the
construction of the “Dorchester Diversion” by which the railway was built miles
off a more direct line to go closer to his home in New Brunswick. |
(1876-1917)
A hero of the Dec. 6 1917 Halifax Explosion, Coleman was on duty at the yard in
Richmond near the point where the munitions ship Mont Blanc exploded. Staying at
his post, he telegraphed to stop the incoming No. 10 Train at Rockingham, saving many
lives, but losing his own life in the blast. Recent television portrayals show him
operating from large buildings, but his office was a wooden shed that was completely
destroyed. |
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(1784 or 1785—1856)
A trained engineer from Scotland, trained by the renowned engineer Thomas Telford,
Crerar is known as the man who laid out the six-mile course of the Albion Mines Railroad,
the first railway in Nova Scotia.
His biography is recounted by David Crerar (http://www.trainweb.org/canadianrailways/articles/BiographyOfPeterCrerar.html)
He was a leading surveyor of provincial roads, and one of his last projects was to
survey a route for the Nova Scotia Railway from Truro to Pictou, via Nuttby Mountain and
the Northumberland shore. |
Photograph courtesy Cumberland County Museum |
(1851-1931)
A partner with Nelson Admiral Rhodes, Curry was a prominent Amherst businessman who
served as the mayor of the town, and chief officer of Rhodes Curry Co. The firm began as a
construction business, and as such built all the stations on the Oxford short line. As a
rail car manufacturer Rhodes Curry had a capacity for the manufacture of 60 passenger cars
a year and 20 freight cars per day. It later became part of Canadian Car Foundry Co. Ltd.
of Montreal, with Curry as its first president. |
(Dates Unknown)
George Davidson is said to have been the first engineer to drive Samson, having come
with the three Hackworth locomotives from Shildon, UK in 1839, and operated Samson on the
first run from Albion Mines (Stellarton) to the loading grounds at Brown’s Point. It
is said that he put the locomotives together on arrival in Nova Scotia, and later returned
to England. He was still living in Pictou County ca. 1861, when he was interviewed by W.D.
Robb. |
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