Railway stations in Cape Breton
which are now museums:

Sydney and Louisburg Railway Museum

In 1895, the Sydney & Louisburg Railway was one of the most modern lines in Canada.
By the 1950s the S & L had 31 steam locomotives operating. It employed 400 men and hauled 4,000,000 tons of freight annually, chiefly coal.
The number of passengers reached a peak of 176,000 in 1913. The coming of automobiles reduced this traffic until passenger trains were eliminated after World War II, although mixed trains continued to run daily.
The railroad ran picnic excursions and "blueberry specials".
During both world wars, the ports of Sydney and Louisbourg were staging areas for Atlantic convoys, and the S & L was a vital link in the supply of fuel and steel manufacture. Until the advent of regular air service to Newfoundland both ports were a terminus for rail and passenger traffic between Newfoundland and the rest of Canada.
The demise of the railroad resulted from the crises affecting Cape Breton's coal industry in the 1960s...
(Excerpts from the S & L Ry brochure)

WE SAVED OUR RAILWAY!

(operated by Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway, or CBCNS)

One rail carload is equivalent to
roughly three truckloads.
One truckload = same amount of damage to our roads as 10,000 cars.
Railroads are vital links.

Preserving train stations and cars "from another era" is a fine, most commendable endeavour from citizens' groups.
Nothing, however, can replace a working rail line and train service.
No museum, no old picture, artifacts or memories could ever revive the real thing once it is gone.
So let's save our railway while we still can, for now and for our future.
Everything in a community's physical infrastructure has either a building up effect, or a domino effect - this is what recent history shows to us. Take away the coal, take away the steel, take away rail passenger service, and so on...
That downwards movement has to stop, right?

Orangedale Railway Station Museum

"Built in 1886 by the Intercolonial Railway of Canada, later operated by Canadian National and Via Rail (Canadian Passenger Service) until the passenger service was discontinued in 1990, the station was closed and slated for possible demolition until a group of concerned citizens stepped in. Calling themselves the Orangedale Station Association they began a long battle to restore the station to its former splendor..." (from the Louisbourg Institute)

The Sydney Mines Community Heritage Museum

Railway heritage sites on Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia Railway Heritage Society)