“The first anniversary of the opening of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway was celebrated on Thursday last in Waterville,” reported the Daily British Colonist in its issue of August 23, 1870.

Upward of 400 employees and guests participated in the celebration in Waterville, the paper reported, the “demonstration” culminating in a supper at the Kentville Hotel where general manager Vernon Smith “entertained a number of gentlemen.”

“The Kentville Star contains an interesting description of the (railway) buildings and equipment,” the Colonist further reported, “which we shall publish in our next issue.”

The Star’s report on the anniversary, duly published later in the Colonist, was much more than “an interesting description” of the railway. The Star went all out, interviewing railway staff and describing the W & A’s rolling stock and railyard buildings at the headquarters in Kentville.

There’s no doubt that historians will find this detailed examination of the W & A an invaluable resource, to say the least. And for anyone simply interested in railways, the trivia in the Star’s report will provide more than enough satisfactory reading.

For starters, here’s the preamble to the report: “One year ago yesterday the Windsor and Annapolis Railway was open for traffic. Many were the speculations of the inhabitants of the beautiful valley when the Iron Horse came thundering along with its long train of human freight. Some scarcely believed their eyes when the locomotive Evangeline gave its first screams in their hearing.

“This past year’s experiences in this enterprise has been one of success and discouragement. No sooner was the line well started when the Saxby Gale of October hit and destroyed all the dykes which for a hundred years had protected the lands over which the railway runs. But prosperity dawned as the break was repaired and nothing further occurred to bar its progress or usefulness.”

Further along, the Star reported that beginning with Windsor, all towns and villages along the line experienced rapid growth after the railway opened. “Business has improved along the line and the villages through which the railway passes show new life and animation.” Kentville was singled out as showing exceptional growth, the Star exclaiming that while it has “stood still for many years, now what do you see? Buildings, many of them large and tastefully finished, have arisen to our view, and others are still going up.”

At the time of its anniversary, the W & A Railway was operating with “six first class and three old locomotives, the Evangeline, Gabriel, Gaspereaux, Grand Pre, Hiawatha, Minnehaha, Sir Gaspard, Joe Howe and St. Lawrence.” Included in the rolling stock are “seven first-class passenger cars (and) 20 freight cars, 80 flat cars and a post office car.”

The Star’s report noted that the line was served by 23 stations that are “attended by 19 agents and four telegraph clerks.” A list of warehouses, freight sheds, machine shops and a detailed description of the Kentville “station house” are included in the report, all of which is grist for the trivia buff’s mill.

Then there’s the optimistic prediction – which is exactly what occurred – that the railway will bring unbounded prosperity to the Annapolis Valley. And the prescient prediction that “we may expect great achievements as the railway aids us in harvesting the Valley’s agricultural resources,” was right on.