Why a History in the first place?

The best model railroads I've seen have one thing in common -- they exist for a reason. And whether modeled after a real-world prototype, or completely fictional, you can read that reason for yourself. Known to modelers as a "history," it's a way to avoid the 'dumped toy box' appearance many railways fall victim to, particularly garden railroads. Here's mine.

The Daisy Beach Railway

The history of the DBR ~ as bumpy as its tracks

Early this century, when the village of Daisy Beach needed a new well, the local diviner said to drill on nearby Mount Holly. But instead of fresh water, a thick brine gurgled up.The Mount Holly Co-operative, a collection of local fishers, excitedly hacked a small tunnel into the hillside, and to their delight, hit a large vein of excellent quality salt. With an offer from the province's biggest salt processor to buy all they could get, the MHC bought some mining equipment, including ore cars, which were soon pulled by donkeys to new buildings where the salt was ground up and fed into sacks. The sacks were then loaded onto tiny flatcars for the mile or so trip to the CNR transfer yard on the edge of town. A small steam-locomotive was thrown together in a local machine shop, for this job.

In 1918 drillers broke through to a huge cave yards deep on the floor with guano from millions of bats. It was well known that when dried and ground with charcoal and sulfur, guano makes gun powder. With the war on, the Co-op contracted Anderson Black Powder to build a mill, and soon powder kegs stamped ABP were piling up at the CNR depot, brought there by modern, narrow-gauge locomotives and cars.

After the armistice, ABP's contract was not renewed, owing to an explosion that blew out most of the windows in town. The Co-op bought ABP's railway equipment, hoping to expand the salt operation, however, the explosion belatedly opened a sizable fissure deep in the hill, through which water poured in, making mining impossible.

With the salt and black powder forays behind it, fish became the Co-op's focus again, supplemented by berries, baked goods, bee-products, firewood, and block ice. Eventually the floodwater subsided enough to allow the Co-op to extract rock salt again -- enough at least to keep the local roads ice-free. Unexpectedly, the guano became a much-sought-after fertilizer for flower gardens.

Recently the Co-op realized the value in the picturesque little railway, which crisscrosses sparkling Anderson Brook ten times, meanders through outcroppings of lush growth, and sweeps around a small lake with a tiny island. Tourists will soon be able to enjoy the ride, explore the bat cave, and purchase products in the new Co-op store. The railway, which had always been called simply “the tracks”, has a name now: The Daisy Beach Railway, or DBR.

Happy Trailers, Wally
Somewhere in Atlantic Canada, 1952.