Victoria Junction is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
It is located approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Sydney on the east side of Grand Lake.
The community developed as a result of a railway junction established in the 1870s by two different coal mining companies. The Victoria Company built a railway from its coal mines on the exposed coastline at New Victoria north of Grand Lake to a wharf on the more sheltered waters of Sydney Harbour at what was named Victoria Pier. The International Company built a railway from its coal mines in the Bridgeport district of Glace Bay east of Grand Lake to a wharf on Sydney Harbour adjacent to the Victoria Company's Victoria Pier; the International Company's wharf was called the International Pier and its rail line paralleled the Victoria Company's rail line between Grand Lake and Sydney Harbour. [1]
On 1 February 1893 all of the various independent coal companies on the south side of Sydney Harbour were merged to form the Dominion Coal Company (DOMCO). In 1894 DOMCO began rationalizing duplicate trackage amongst its rail lines, beginning with the former Victoria and International companies' tracks between Grand Lake and Sydney Harbour. DOMCO rail lines were eventually organized into what became known as the Sydney and Louisburg Railway (S&L) and Victoria Junction continued to exist as a railway junction between the branch line to New Victoria and New Waterford from the S&L's mainline between Sydney and Glace Bay and Louisbourg. [2]
In 1968 the coal and railway assets of the S&L's parent company Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) were nationalized by the Government of Canada and were placed in the control of a federal Crown corporation called Cape Breton Development Corporation (DEVCO). The newly formed Devco Railway continued similar operations on the former S&L rail lines. In the 1970s new coal mines and the Lingan Generating Station were opened east of New Waterford in Lingan resulting in a dramatic increase in rail traffic on the New Waterford branch. At the same time DEVCO also constructed a large coal preparation plant at Victoria Junction where coal was transported by trains from various DEVCO mines in the Glace Bay and New Waterford areas, then graded and mixed and stored before being transported to electrical generating stations. Railway operations east of Glace Bay to Louisbourg were abandoned by the 1980s. DEVCO constructed an integrated railway locomotive shop and rail car repair complex at Victoria Junction which opened on 10 June 1983; the facility was called the Devco Transportation Centre. The opening of the Victoria Junction shops resulted in the closure and demolition of the former S & L shops in downtown Glace Bay; this site is now an undeveloped brownfield site bordered by Official Row and Union Street.
In November 2001 DEVCO ceased coal mining and the following month sold the Devco Railway's assets to a subsidiary of Emera, the holding company for Nova Scotia Power; Emera has contracted operation of the rail assets to the Sydney Coal Railway (SCR) which operates trains from the International Piers to the Lingan Generating Station. The former main line east of Victoria Junction to Glace Bay has been abandoned since the early 2000s, thus Victoria Junction is no longer a true railway junction and is instead the midpoint of the SCR's line between Sydney Harbour and Lingan.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic heart of Cape Breton Island. As of 2016 the municipality has a population of 94,285. The municipality was created in 1995 through the amalgamation of eight municipalities located in Cape Breton County.
Glace Bay is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton.
The Société des chemins de fer du Québec (SCFQ), or Quebec Railway Corporation in English, is a former Canadian railway holding company that owned several short line railways in the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The Sydney and Louisburg Railway (S&L) was a Canadian railway. Built to transport coal from various mines to the ports of Sydney and Louisbourg, the S&L operated in the eastern part of Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia. The railway uses a slightly different spelling for the town of "Louisbourg".
The Devco Railway was a Canadian railway. Devco Railway operated as an unincorporated department within the Coal Division of the Cape Breton Development Corporation, also known as DEVCO; as such there is no formally incorporated entity named "Devco Railway". Devco Railway took over the operations of the Sydney and Louisburg Railway on March 30, 1968 when DEVCO expropriated the S&L as part of the assets of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, or DOSCO.
The Cape Breton Development Corporation, or DEVCO, was a Government of Canada Crown corporation. It ceased operation on December 31, 2009, after being amalgamated with Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation (ECBC).
The Sydney Coal Railway is a Canadian short-line railway operating in the eastern part of Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia.
Sydney Steel Corporation (SYSCO) was a Crown corporation in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It owned and operated a steel mill in Sydney.
Industrial Cape Breton is a geographic region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It refers to the eastern portion of Cape Breton County fronting the Atlantic Ocean on the southeastern part of Cape Breton Island.
Dominion is an unincorporated community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. It is located immediately west of the larger centre of Glace Bay.
Trunk 28 is part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's system of trunk highways. The route runs from Sydney to Glace Bay, a distance of 36 kilometres (22 mi).
The Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation was a Canadian coal mining and steel manufacturing company.
Whitney Pier is an urban neighbourhood in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to the 20th century, this area was known as “Eastmount” or “South Sydney Harbour,” and had long been a fishing and farming district. It is a triangle-shaped area North of the Muggah Creek estuary running along the Eastern shore of Sydney Harbour.
The Cumberland Railway and Coal Company is a defunct Canadian industrial company with interests in coal mines in Springhill, Nova Scotia, and a railway that operated from Springhill Junction to Parrsboro.
Lingan is a Canadian suburban community in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
The Lingan Generating Station is a 620 MW Canadian coal-fired electrical generating station located in the community of Lingan in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Lingan is operated by Nova Scotia Power Inc. and is their largest generating station.
The Trenton Generating Station or Trenton GS is a 310 MW Canadian thermal generating station located in the town of Trenton, Nova Scotia.
Victoria Mines is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality on Cape Breton Island.
The Point Aconi Generating Station is a 165 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Point Aconi, Nova Scotia, a rural community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. A thermal generating station, the Point Aconi Generating Station is owned and operated by Nova Scotia Power Corporation. It opened on August 13, 1994 following four years of construction.
The Point Tupper Generating Station is a 150 MW Canadian electrical generating station located in the community of Point Tupper in Richmond County, Nova Scotia.