Accommodations Nova Scotia
Your Guide To Accommodations In Nova Scotia
Orangedale, Nova Scotia
Orangedale is a destination for
train lovers. This small village is a
short distance off the Trans Canada
(Route 105) by taking Exit 4. It has
dedicated itself to remembering the
history of railroading, and a time
when Orangedale was a vital link
along the rail line. So if you love
trains, you will love Orangedale.
The village became a
household name when the Rankin
Family immortalized its history in
Jimmy Rankin’s award-winning
song, Orangedale Whistle, inspired
by the way community volunteers
transformed the Orangedale Station
into a museum.
That organization has also
dedicated two days to specifically
celebrate the era of train travel with
Model Train Day, when model trains
operate through a maze of routes
within the station building, and with
the annual Orangedale Railway
Station Museum Open House.
Named Orangedale for the
once prominent Orangemen’s Hall
that stood in this valley, the early
residents of Orangedale for years
reported the fore-runners of huge
machines, and many continue to
believe those eerie experiences
of hearing whistles and sounds of
engines were the foretelling of the
arrival of the railway which was built
through the area in the 1880s.
The present museum, when it
served as a station, was famous for
the hospitality extended by Station
Master Jim MacFarlane and his
wife, Maggie, who lived with their
family in the upstairs apartment. It
was this couple who are celebrated
in the Jimmy Rankin song.
The restored station proudly
shows off the second floor
apartment where dignitaries such
as Alexander Graham Bell were
greeted, and shares with all visitors
the memorabilia and artifacts of
railroading displayed on the ground
floor.
The Orangedale Station had
seen quite a number of changes
since it opened for business under
the Intercolonial Railway in the fall
of 1886. Canadian National and Via
Rail also ran passenger rail services
until they were disbanded in 1990;
then the site became the museum
run by the Orangedale Station
Association.
In 2005, construction was
completed on the new MacFarlane
building with the intention of
showcasing much of the material and
artifacts from the Orangedale Station
collection. A tremendous amount of
work has been done recently under
the leadership of Martin Boston,
David Gunn and other volunteers
on displaying and showcasing the
museum’s extensive collection of
artifacts inside the buildings.
The
Orangedale Station is also home to
a significant permanent collection
of rolling stock which includes a
caboose, a boxcar, a locomotive, a
snowplow, flatcar and motorcar.
