Old Halifax

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

It’s easy to see why the railway would need to expand elsewhere. That was a pretty crowded terminal. I’ve always been curious exactly where the original station was and whether it was repurposed after North Street Station opened. But it’s not clear to me from that map. I’ve only seen I think two (very poor) photos of the first Halifax station.

I'm curious about the original station as well, and think it must appear on that atlas map, as 1878 (atlas date) was the year the new North Street station opened. Thus the old station would still be in existence.

On the wikipedia page for the North St station, the old station is described as follows:

The first railway station in Halifax was built by the Nova Scotia Railway in 1854 at Richmond, Nova Scotia. A large wooden structure, it consisted of an enclosed train shed covering one track and platforms with series of wings for the ticket offices, waiting rooms and a lunch room and saloon. The station was functional and without ornamentation as well as inconveniently located two miles from downtown Halifax, connected by a horse-drawn street railway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_...tion_(Halifax)

Therefore, from the atlas posted, I would think the old station is the unlabeled building that shows one track going inside (or beside, under an awning type affair) the building halfway, and is located nearest the roadway for connection to the street railway. The building nearest Mulgrave Park seems to fit that description.

Unfortunately, the street railway is not shown on those maps though probably not necessary for this purpose.

Incidentally, in a description of the Halifax Explosion damage found on NS Archives, they described Richmond Yard Station as being "blown to atoms"...

https://novascotia.ca/archives/MacMe...ives.asp?ID=35

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I'm curious about the original station as well, and think it must appear on that atlas map, as 1878 (atlas date) was the year the new North Street station opened. Thus the old station would still be in existence.

Therefore, from the atlas posted, I would think the old station is the unlabeled building that shows one track going inside (or beside, under an awning type affair) the building halfway, and is located nearest the roadway for connection to the street railway. The building nearest Mulgrave Park seems to fit that description.

Thanks for that link. An interesting article to be sure.

I've assumed that the dispatcher's office where Vincent Coleman worked (and died) was located in the old station building, although not all sources are clear on that point. Douglas Smith's definitive account in Canadian Rail in 1992 does not say explicitly where the telegraph office was located; several accounts describe it as being "surrounded" by the rail yards.

The most common image of the original 1854 station is this badly hand-tinted view, dated 1860:


Source: NS Archives

It's not very clear but on the right side of the image you can see a steam locomotive entering the train shed. The street in the foreground, with the traffic jam of carriages, is presumably Campbell Road (now part of Barrington Street).

Janet Kitz and Joan Payzant in their 2006 book December 1917: Revisiting the Halifax Explosion include an undated image of the station, also attributed to NSARM, but it appears to be taken much later and is, frankly, hard to reconcile with the image above.

Smith's article includes a couple of photos of the badly damaged Willow Park roundhouse, post-explosion. The reproduction is poor but another source says the photo on the right is in the MMA collection:


Source: Canadian Rail 431.

Incidentally, in doing a bit more digging I found in the NSARM archive an extract of a map from 1939 which clearly shows the Willow Park turntable and roundhouse still extant.

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Unfortunately, the street railway is not shown on those maps though probably not necessary for this purpose.

Here is a map of the original Halifax City Railroad Company, 1866-1876, showing its connection with Richmond Station.


Source: Canadian Rail 17

The move of the station to North Street resulted in the temporary demise of the street railway. Construction of the new rail lines meant the tram tracks on Lower Water Street would have to be removed and, so the story goes, owner William O'Brien refused to consider it, even though the Intercolonial would cover the cost. Likely his operation was already marginal and with the move of the station two miles closer to the city centre he concluded it would no longer be viable. New owners revived the street railway in 1886.

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

.....Directly behind the most distant group of RDCs is the massive coaling tower, unused since CN retired its last steam locos circa 1960.

Haha, I'm glad you identified that tower. It was the first thing my eyes went to wondering what it was.

So guys, I've really enjoyed the last few posts. Based on the map posted by ns_kid it looks like our mystery building is the Freight Car Repair Shop, eh? Pretty cool to have officially identified what it's purpose was. That's actually the first time I've seen that map so thanks for posting that! Going to be a good resource for future "spelunking". I'd like to be able to chime in with some info here but you guys are far more knowledgeable on this subject than I am. I did however find some interesting photos:

OLD NORTH END
I found this little snippit from the "Old North End" blog which accompanied the photo below. I'm thinking ns_kid this is probably one of the photos you had seen that were poor quality:


Source: Old North End blog - https://oldnorthend.files.wordpress....m200700525.jpg

"The above photo from the Tom Connors collection held at the Nova Scotia Archives shows the Richmond train/freight station ca. 1860. The shabby conditions of the Richmond station led to the train station being moved in 1878 to the foot of North Street. However, the train terminus was one of the main reasons for the settlement on this part of peninsula.

PIER21

Pier 21 has an interesting write up on their web site which mentions the Richmond Station. In regards to providing proper accommodations for immigrants after the Deep Water Terminal burnt:

"The work to establish proper reception facilities was undone by fire in February of 1895. Much of the infrastructure at the Deep Water Terminus burned, including the immigration quarters.[6] In the absence of proper landing facilities, passengers were landed at Cunard’s wharf (just south of Pier 2) and examined at the North End railway station.[7] The Intercolonial Railway moved quickly to rebuild, and had plans in place by the end of the next month.[8] However, the search for replacement accommodation became even more pressing in the spring, as a blaze took the Intercolonial Railway’s Richmond terminal (in the North End of Halifax, near the foot of Richmond Street) in May of 1895. Although a bit further from the railway station, the pier and shed at Richmond had been used at times to assist in clearing immigrants after the February fire."

Source: Peir21.ca - https://pier21.ca/research/immigrati...before-pier-21

Maritime Museum had a few images on their site speaking of train dispatcher Vincent Coleman/Richmond & the Halifax Explosion. I'm wondering if the buildings in the middle of the photo are the same ones as the first image posted above?


Source: Maritime Museum - https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca...ifax-explosion


Source: Maritime Museum - https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca...ifax-explosion

NS ARCHIVES
The images below were taken from a newspaper article which is the same one OldDartmouthMark came across the "blown to atoms" quote. I'm not sure if the map will come in handy or not but I thought I'd post anyway as it shows the Willow Park Roundhouse & Shops. The legend shows them in the damaged area which supports everyone's theory that they were damaged in the Explosion.


Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/MacMe...Page=201761293


Source: NS Archives - https://novascotia.ca/archives/MacMe...Page=201761292

Lastly, I came across this little gem on the Fairview Historical Society site. The quality of the image wasn't that great on their site but it's a fantastic shot of the roundhouse, eh? The caption reads:

"Fairview Cove Roundhouse - 1960
The Canadian National Railway's Locomotive Deposit in Fairview Cove area of Bedford Basin. The Roundhouse and Switching Yard services both freight and passenger trains".


Source: Fairview Historical Society - http://fairviewhistoricalsociety.ca/...-and-fairview/

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

....The most common image of the original 1854 station is this badly hand-tinted view, dated 1860

Noooooo....ya beat me to the punch, lol! And by only a few minutes! Those are great photos you found man! Especially the Willow Park Images. Nice one!

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by K-Man

Lastly, I came across this little gem on the Fairview Historical Society site. The quality of the image wasn't that great on their site but it's a fantastic shot of the roundhouse, eh? The caption reads:

"Fairview Cove Roundhouse - 1960
The Canadian National Railway's Locomotive Deposit in Fairview Cove area of Bedford Basin. The Roundhouse and Switching Yard services both freight and passenger trains".


Source: Fairview Historical Society - http://fairviewhistoricalsociety.ca/...-and-fairview/

I'm thinking that photo must be dated incorrectly. The office building near the Fairview overpass wouldn't have been there in 1960 or '62, nor would the tall apartment block near the roundhouse itself. I'm thinking this is a late 1970s photo at the earliest.

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by K-Man

Noooooo....ya beat me to the punch, lol! And by only a few minutes! Those are great photos you found man! Especially the Willow Park Images. Nice one!

Lol...that's happened to me more than once! Thanks for the your images and your detective work. There are some interesting stories on that Fairview Historical Society page. I'd love to find the original of that great aerial photo of the Fairview yards.

I did a bit more digging and found a reference to a book by the late David Othen on the Halifax and Southwestern Railway which dates construction of the Fairview facilities to 1922. If that's so, it seems surprising the railway would have maintained extensive facilities at both Fairview and Willow Park but that's what the 1939 map suggests.

(The H&SW was the South Shore line that later became part of CN. It diverged from the CN mainline at Fairview just south of the roundhouse, a place called Southwestern Junction. In the aerial photo you can see it curving away just above the roundhouse; from there it crossed Howe Avenue and ran parallel to Howe before heading west, through what's now Bayers Lake, and on to Bridgewater and Yarmouth.)

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by K-Man

PIER21

Pier 21 has an interesting write up on their web site which mentions the Richmond Station. In regards to providing proper accommodations for immigrants after the Deep Water Terminal burnt:

"The work to establish proper reception facilities was undone by fire in February of 1895. Much of the infrastructure at the Deep Water Terminus burned, including the immigration quarters.[6] In the absence of proper landing facilities, passengers were landed at Cunard’s wharf (just south of Pier 2) and examined at the North End railway station.[7] The Intercolonial Railway moved quickly to rebuild, and had plans in place by the end of the next month.[8] However, the search for replacement accommodation became even more pressing in the spring, as a blaze took the Intercolonial Railway’s Richmond terminal (in the North End of Halifax, near the foot of Richmond Street) in May of 1895. Although a bit further from the railway station, the pier and shed at Richmond had been used at times to assist in clearing immigrants after the February fire."

Thanks for that, K-Man. You may find some earlier discussion from this thread about Pier 2 to be of interest. Included is an interesting history of the facility by Craig Dodge.

Link to page

[OldDartmouthMark]

Wow! Really enjoying this discussion!

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I'm thinking that photo must be dated incorrectly. The office building near the Fairview overpass wouldn't have been there in 1960 or '62, nor would the tall apartment block near the roundhouse itself. I'm thinking this is a late 1970s photo at the earliest.

Hmmm, I believe Keith you are very correct. A little coach spelunking on Google Maps shows those apartments to be 6967 Bayers Rd. Apartments 2 owned by Universal Realty Group. I thought finding a possible construction date might help more accurately date the image but there was no info on their site with a date. A google search didn't turn up much so as a last resort I "AskedJeeves" but he didn't know anything either.

*ahem*

Anyway, I thought an aerial shot might lend a clue and found this one on the HRM Archives site. The image is of the Bicentennial Hwy construction and is dated April 26, 1963. If you look in the background the Bayers Apartments have not yet been built. So the date of 1960 on the photo above is indeed incorrect. Nice catch!

Just for kicks I lined the image up with Google Maps using the building highlighted in yellow to see whereabouts the apartments would sit in the 1963 photo. They are highlighted in red. To state the obvious I have over analysed this but would anyone maybe have a construction date for the Bayers Apartments 2? That may help more accurately date the incorrectly labeled "1960" photo in question here and I can't identify any other buildings in the image.


Source: HRM Archives -
https://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com...es=KEY_5014980

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

....it seems surprising the railway would have maintained extensive facilities at both Fairview and Willow Park but that's what the 1939 map suggests.

I wonder ns_kid, and I have little knowledge of the railways, but with Willow Park being owned by the DND would they be separately responsible for building and maintaining those buildings? Do you think because it was DND owned that maybe they would have ensured it's continued operation for military supply/transportation purposes? Or would that still be the responsibility of the Canadian National Railway?

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by K-Man

I wonder ns_kid, and I have little knowledge of the railways, but with Willow Park being owned by the DND would they be separately responsible for building and maintaining those buildings? Do you think because it was DND owned that maybe they would have ensured it's continued operation for military supply/transportation purposes? Or would that still be the responsibility of the Canadian National Railway?

It’s a good question, K-Man, and I don’t have a certain answer. But, if I had to make a guess, I might suggest the property was taken by DND during WWII. Certainly there’s no indication on those earlier maps that the property was anything but railway lands. Of course CNR was a Crown corp at the time so transferring it to military use would be no problem. And we know there are precedents. The railway lands off North Street, site of the former station, and Pier 2 as per that Craig Dodge story, were transferred to DND during the war. Just a guess, like I said, but plausible I suppose...

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by K-Man

I wonder ns_kid, and I have little knowledge of the railways, but with Willow Park being owned by the DND would they be separately responsible for building and maintaining those buildings? Do you think because it was DND owned that maybe they would have ensured it's continued operation for military supply/transportation purposes? Or would that still be the responsibility of the Canadian National Railway?

I'm finding this question fascinating. I took a look at later maps -- a 1950 map by John Inglis and the 1964 civic re-addressing map -- and both show the Willow Park lands still substantially occupied by rail yards (sans roundhouse). Both are labelled as Crown lands (H.M. the King in 1950; H.M. the Queen in '64). Neither identifies any military purpose. I found an essay by James White that pins the opening of Windsor Park (on the west side of Windsor Street) at 1944, but I haven't found any mention of when military use began on the east side (Willow Park).

Here's an extract from the 1950 map, showing both the Willow Park and Fairview rail yards:


Source: University of Toronto

(As an aside, we know not all of that land was in Crown use: Nova Scotia Light and Power built its massive transit garage on the north side of Young, roughly where the Superstore is now, in 1949.)

---
This has been an interesting discussion, and a useful one too. This is an important part of Halifax’s commercial and social history; it’s all about how our goods and people moved in and out of the city from the middle of 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Thanks to K-Man for opening the door.

If I can sum up what we know, or reasonably can assume:

• In 1854 the Nova Scotia Railway built its terminus in Richmond, between Campbell Road (Barrington Street) and the harbour. The first utilitarian passenger depot was at Mulgrave Park, at the foot of Duffus Street; the railway shops and roundhouse were below Bridge Street, which no longer exists but would roughly be in the vicinity of present-day Glebe Street.
  
  
• In 1866 the Halifax City Railroad began horse-drawn street railway service to the station; its car barn was located on the southeast corner of Hanover and Campbell.
  
  
• Within 20 years it was clear the railroad, hemmed in by geography and the naval dockyard, had outgrown its location; the Intercolonial Railway opened its grand new Gothic station on North Street in August of 1877. (Incidentally, at almost 37,000 square feet this was the second largest station in Canada at the time, after Toronto.)
  
  
• In 1905-1906, the railroad built new freight yards and shops, including a massive roundhouse, on a former farm called Willow Park, bounded by Windsor Street, Young Street and Kempt Road. This was accessed by track that curved westward out of Richmond. (The old plate girder bridges that still span Massachussets Avenue and Kempt Road are remnants of this line.)
  
  
• Within 30 years the railroad (and civilian shipping) had again outgrown the available space and planning began for a massive new south end ocean terminal. Excavation started in 1913 for a new rail cut around the southwestern side of the peninsula.
  
  
• The 1917 Halifax Explosion destroyed or badly damaged north-end railway facilities including North Street Station and the Willow Park shops.
  
  
• In 1919 the new rail bypass opened with an interim station on Hollis Street; the current Beaux-Art station opened in 1928.
  
  
• The railway (now CNR) opened freight yards and shops off the new rail line in Fairview; according to David Othen this occurred in 1922.
  
  
• It’s unclear when the Willow Park shops closed, but it would be fair to say it would not be typical for the railroad to maintain two large maintenance facilities in such close proximity. I believe it is reasonable to assume the Willow Park facility would have been phased out in the 1920s; while the structures appear in later maps and photos it is quite possible they remained standing although out of service.
  
  
• In 1940, the Department of National Defence acquired the site of the former shops for an engineering yard to service its growing wartime fleet of motor vehicles. The Willow Park rail yards remained in service with some tracks in use until at least the 1980s.

[K-Man]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

....But, if I had to make a guess, I might suggest the property was taken by DND during WWII. Certainly there’s no indication on those earlier maps that the property was anything but railway lands.

That's a a really good point 'ns_kid' as I've been operating under the assumption that this was DND owned the whole time. As you had stated with this being Crown land and the DND acquiring possession of Pier 2 I think it's a very sound theory that the military acquired it at some point - especially if Windsor Park opened in 1944 right across the street. I did a little digging around myself and although I haven't found a possible "take over" date I did find two very interesting posts from some users over on Ancestry.ca.

The first post below by user 'russ_anstey' supports the theory of the military acquiring the land and has a few other interesting points of info.The second post below though is what REALLY caught my attention. User 'honoluluhoney' states that the reason the lot on the corner of Young and Windsor St. has been vacant for so long may be due to the fact that batteries were stored there for years and leaked into the soil contaminating it. Has anyone heard this? In a previous post I had jokingly stated that I can't understand why the lot has been empty for near 80 years. I wonder if contamination is the issue? And that makes me wonder if a developer would be responsible for the cleanup which is why it's been avoided for so long?

Also, that was a fantastic summary 'ns_kid'. I've always been kind of a "building" guy when it came to Halifax history but this discussion on the rail system has definitely peaked a new area of interest.


Source: Ancestry.ca - https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/local...3143.4/mb.ashx
User: russ_anstey


Source: Ancestry.ca - https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/local...3143.3/mb.ashx
User: honoluluhoney

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

I'm finding this question fascinating. I took a look at later maps -- a 1950 map by John Inglis and the 1964 civic re-addressing map -- and both show the Willow Park lands still substantially occupied by rail yards (sans roundhouse). Both are labelled as Crown lands (H.M. the King in 1950; H.M. the Queen in '64). Neither identifies any military purpose. I found an essay by James White that pins the opening of Windsor Park (on the west side of Windsor Street) at 1944, but I haven't found any mention of when military use began on the east side (Willow Park).

Here's an extract from the 1950 map, showing both the Willow Park and Fairview rail yards:


Source: University of Toronto

(As an aside, we know not all of that land was in Crown use: Nova Scotia Light and Power built its massive transit garage on the north side of Young, roughly where the Superstore is now, in 1949.)

That is an interesting map. It shows several streets that were eliminated at some point in whole or in part (Oxford north of Edgewood, Chester, Regent and Maxwell) plus Claremont St being picked up and relocated/reorietented well north of its previous location. I wonder if there was very much there that needed to be demolished? I assume so since it seems unlikely that streets would be constructed without having any buildings.

As an aside, in looking at the area on Streetview, since it is not an area I was at all familiar with, I am struck by the large number of either current or former military apartment buildings still standing in the area. They are of very similar design to what was recently demolished in Shannon Park. There do not seem to be any signs indicating they are for rent or under private management so I assume they are still in govt hands.

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by K-Man

That's a a really good point 'ns_kid' as I've been operating under the assumption that this was DND owned the whole time. As you had stated with this being Crown land and the DND acquiring possession of Pier 2 I think it's a very sound theory that the military acquired it at some point - especially if Windsor Park opened in 1944 right across the street. I did a little digging around myself and although I haven't found a possible "take over" date I did find two very interesting posts from some users over on Ancestry.ca.

The first post below by user 'russ_anstey' supports the theory of the military acquiring the land and has a few other interesting points of info.The second post below though is what REALLY caught my attention. User 'honoluluhoney' states that the reason the lot on the corner of Young and Windsor St. has been vacant for so long may be due to the fact that batteries were stored there for years and leaked into the soil contaminating it. Has anyone heard this? In a previous post I had jokingly stated that I can't understand why the lot has been empty for near 80 years. I wonder if contamination is the issue? And that makes me wonder if a developer would be responsible for the cleanup which is why it's been avoided for so long?

Also, that was a fantastic summary 'ns_kid'. I've always been kind of a "building" guy when it came to Halifax history but this discussion on the rail system has definitely peaked a new area of interest.

Thanks for that, K-Man. Those are interesting posts. I wouldn't be at all surprised that there is contamination on those lands. I expect Mr. Anstey may be conflating a couple of things. The "merry-go-round" he refers to is likely the former railway turntable. The transit terminal on Young St. was for the NSLP trolley coaches. (The old street railway trams never operated there.) The trolley coaches turned on a loop of overhead wire that circled the garage.

[K-Man]

MYSTERY BRICKS - POSSIBLE REMNANTS OF THE ORIGINAL NORTH STREET STATION RETAINING WALL?

So I've overthought this. But, with all the railway discussion lately I thought I'd throw these up just for a fun post. Over the summer I was down at "ground zero" where the North Street Station once stood. The whole area is now just a parking lot with a cement retaining wall along Barrington St. but halfway down there is a natural outcrop of ironstone rock that pops out. And within that section of rock are the remnants of what appear to be an old brick wall. The small patch of cement and rock are very reminiscent of the "old Halifax" style of building using random course ironstone. In the 'zoomed in' image below of the station you can see how the original retaining wall looks like it was built on top of the natural rock much like the small patch of brick work in question.


Source: My own image


Source: My own image


Source: My own image


Source: 400 Years Twitter - https://twitter.com/400years1/status...772160/photo/1

I wasn't sure how large the footprint of the North St. Station used to be so I placed google maps over plate 't' of "ol trusty" (Hopkins Atlas) lining up North & Barrington streets on both maps. Admittedly I was a little disappointed to see that the section of brick work was a lot farther away from the station than I had thought. In the first image below you can see the footprint of where the station once stood (red), where Upper Water St. used to end (orange), the location of the brick work (arrow), the Wellington Barracks magazine where Atlantic Fleetclub is today (red), and just for alignment/reference the Admiralty House & it's circular driveway (purple). I have to say that for a hand drawn map at a time when aerial photography was not available it's remarkable how accurately the streets/buildings on Hopkins map line up with the current day streets/buildings on google maps.


Source: Google Maps - https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Bar...!4d-63.5883149


Source: Google Earth - https://earth.google.com/web/@44.662...8.98718623t,0r


Source: https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3424h....,1.473,0.568,0

**The image above is a section of Albert Ruger's "Panaromic View of the City Map - 1879". I've discovered that this is an excellent "side kick" to use with Hopkins Atlas when you want a 3D image of the buildings from that time. Even though this map is also hand drawn it's amazing how accurately the buildings align with Hopkins map.

Anyway, this is most likely some recent patch work BUT I will say that the original railing along Barrington St. did manage to stay in place for years (even through bridge construction) so who knows, maybe it really is an original section of wall. I know the images below have been posted before in a thread that I can no longer find about the North St. Station but I thought they were just too cool to not re-post as they show the last remnants of the station.....or do they?

Date: 1975

Source: Noticed in Nova Scotia - https://halifaxbloggers.ca/noticedin...h-end-halifax/


Source: HRM Archives - http://gencat1.eloquent-systems.com/...OI1_1225%3D827

[OldDartmouthMark]

Those pics are from the Halifax Municipal Archives, and were posted on p44 of this thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...143037&page=44

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by ns_kid

[*] In 1866 the Halifax City Railroad began horse-drawn street railway service to the station; its car barn was located on the southeast corner of Hanover and Campbell (now 3204 Barrington Street).

https://novascotia.ca/archives/Halif...ves.asp?ID=118

"Manager James Adams and most of conductors, drivers, etc., with two open (summer) Horse Cars, Halifax Street Railway Co., Halifax, N.S., in front of the Company's Car Barn, S.E. corner of Campbell's Road & Hanover St., Richmond, Halifax, N.S.", ca. 1894

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

"Manager James Adams and most of conductors, drivers, etc., with two open (summer) Horse Cars, Halifax Street Railway Co., Halifax, N.S., in front of the Company's Car Barn, S.E. corner of Campbell's Road & Hanover St., Richmond, Halifax, N.S.", ca. 1894

Thanks for posting that great photo of the HCR car barn, Mark. But it did point out an error in my original post. As noted, William O'Brien's HCR property was on the southeast corner of the intersection. That would now be part of the Halifax Shipyard lands. The address (and map link) I provided is actually the southwest corner, so not really relevant. I've corrected the original post.

[ns_kid]

Eureka! In [obsessively] searching for solutions to a couple of unanswered questions, I fortuitously found the answers to both mysteries in one source. The late William Naftel, former Parks Canada senior historian, in his book Halifax at War: Searchlights, Squadrons and Submarines 1939-1945, puts the date of construction of the Intercolonial Railway's Willow Park roundhouse and shops at 1905-1906. And he says DND acquired the site in 1940 for the RCN and Army Service Corps "for an Engineering Yard to service the vast number of motor vehicles which provided transport for the Halifax Fortress." (Naftel, 2008, p.40)

I've updated the timeline, above.

As perhaps a final postscript to this saga, I came across the following story from the later life of the old Willow Park rail yard. According to a story by Bob Tennant, at about 5 in the afternoon on Saturday, 9 December 1972, five freight cars, including a gondola loaded with scrap metal, ran away, picking up speed on the hill. The cars managed to navigate the bridges over the MacKay Bridge approaches, curving toward Pier 2, a distance of more than three miles. The cars reached speeds of 40 mph, nearly causing an accident at one of four grade crossings.

Tennant continues, "At the bottom of the spur to the pier, the runaway crashed through eight transport trucks belonging to CN's subsidiary, Eastern Transport, collapsing them as if they were made of cardboard. The cars sliced off the sidewall of the trucking company's terminal building, killing two men and injuring two others. The runaway finally partially derailed and came to a stop amid a pile of wreckage. A CN spokesman said that the damage could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Railway and municipal police were charged with investigating the affair."