Halifax and Southwestern Railway (H&SW) at Yarmouth. The NSCR and M&VBR were both eventually purchased by the H&SW. The DAR also had a branch north of Kentville to Kingsport, the former Cornwallis Valley Railway completed in 1889. A westward extension of this branch was started in 1905 on a line formally chartered as the North Mountain Railway from a junction on the Kingsport line at Centreville west to Weston. It was completed in 1914. Also in 1905, the DAR purchased the Midland Railway, giving a more direct connection between Windsor and the Intercolonial Railway at Truro where lines headed east to Pictou and Cape Breton Island, and west to New Brunswick.<ref>{{cite book| last=Ness| first=Gary W.| title=Canadian Pacific's Dominion Atlantic Railway| volume=1| location=Calgary, Alberta| page=1}}</ref> Passenger service The DAR exploited its steamship connections to develop a high level of passenger service not usually seen on regional railways. The DAR not only operated a busy schedule of mixed and express trains, but building on service first tried by its predecessor company, the W&A, the DAR launched several prominent named trains such as the Flying Bluenose and the New Yorker connecting with Boston and New York steamships in the summer. The railway bought the first Pullman parlour cars in all of Canada for this service. Influenced by promotional themes from Yarmouth steamship companies, the DAR developed an identity as "The Land of Evangeline Route" exploiting interest in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem about the Acadians. This promotion grew to include a whole series of posters, postcards, books, named locomotives and a prominent herald depicting Evangeline which was seen on all DAR publications and most locomotives. The DAR purchased land at Grand Pré in 1917 and built a large garden and replica church dedicated to the memory of the Acadians. It became not only a popular tourism destination but also evolved into a shrine to Acadian people. The successful development of this market created a remarkable growth in DAR passenger traffic which soared to over 200,000 riders a year in its first five years and is regarded by historians as the introduction of mass tourism in Atlantic Canada. In an era when few women were employed in positions of responsibility business, the DAR had some of the first female station masters in Canada who, beginning in 1904, ran a number of stations on the line including Mount Uniacke Station, the Avonport Station, the Grand Pre