Description of Historic Place

The Canadian National Railways (Intercolonial Railway) Station is a one-and-a-half-storey, sandstone railway station, built in 1907-1908. It is located at the base of a gentle hill, on the edge of the Tantramar marshes, on the southern outskirts of the town of Sackville. The formal recognition is confined to the railway station building itself.

Heritage Value

The Canadian National Railways (Intercolonial Railway) Station at Sackville represents the brief, early-20th-century period of prosperity and expansion of the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), before its decline and absorption into the Canadian National Railways (CNR). The present station affirmed the key role of the ICR in Sackville’s economic development, and supported the community’s agricultural and manufacturing industries.

The Sackville station typifies turn-of-the-century ICR stations in its generous scale and stone construction. One of only three surviving stone stations in Nova Scotia, it is distinguished by its rich textures and colouration. Its use of local sandstone is consistent with local building practices.

The station retains is relationship with the rail yard and related structures, including: vestiges of a heavy, timber platform with double tongue-and-groove flooring along the street elevation; a wood-frame freight shed; the railway tracks; docks; and nearby industrial buildings.

Sources: Heritage Character Statement, Canadian National Railways Station, Sackville, New Brunswick, September 1993; Gwen Martin and Robert Power, Railway Station Report 158, Canadian National Railways/ Former Intercontinental Railway Station, Sackville, New Brunswick.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Canadian National Railways (Intercolonial Railway) Station at Sackville include but are not limited to:
-its massing, consisting of a long, low, one-and-a-half-storey, rectangular block; capped by a high, slightly bell-cast, hip roof; with projecting bays located off-centre on both track and street elevations
-its deep, overhanging eaves, with: tongue-and-groove boarding; exposed rafter tails; and chamfered wooden brackets resting on carved stone corbels
-the gabled dormer above each projecting bay, with a small round-arched window and stone voussoir
-its coursed, rock-faced ashlar masonry
-the small date stone between the sills of windows in the operator’s bay
-a second stone with Roman numerals near the water table on the north elevation
-the regular placement of door and window openings
-the exterior frames of door and window openings, finished with rounded brickmoulds
-materials which provide textural and colour contrast, including: olive, rock-faced sandstone walls; and plum-coloured sandstone for the base course, quoins, door and window surrounds, corbels, gables, and as a continuous belt course under the eaves
-its use of local plum and olive coloured sandstone
-surviving original doors
-surviving original interior finishes in the baggage room, including: elaborate door and window surrounds; and decorative tongue-and-groove ceiling panels
-vestiges of the timber platform at street side.