Building a railroad. Courtesy of Antigonish Heritage Museum. Restoration: Wayne Ezekiel
No one has identified the exact location of this photo. “In December 1880, the Eastern Extension Railway opened its line from new Glasgow to the Strait of Canso. There followed a flurry of station-building at various locations, including James River, Brierly Brook, Antigonish, South River, Taylor Road, Pomquet, Heatherton, Afton, Tracadie, Giroirs, Little Tracadie and havre Boucher (Frankville)” (Stanley-Blackwell & MacLean, 2004, p. 71).
The water tower was a distinctive feature at each railway station and usually located near a pond at ten-mile (sixteen-kilometre) intervals. “Here the train would stop and the firemen, nimbly handling the hinged iron spout, would refill the tank behind the locomotive.”