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Moved Into Memory

Canadian Pacific was the last operator of mainline steam in the state of Maine, and also the last operator of rail passenger services until VIA Rail took over. The yard at Brownville Junction served as a mid-point between Quebec and New Brunswick, also acting as the exchange point with the Bangor and Aroostook. The town of Brownville Junction swelled around the two railroads, being a hive of activity for the movement of pulpwood, finished paper, potatoes, grain and fuel.

To accommodate the needed motive power, there were coaling and watering facilities, not to mention a large roundhouse with a metal shop and an electricians shop. Anything that required service or repair between Megantic and McAdam, whether it involved a broken tamper or butchering an unfortunate moose at trackside, fell to the men at Brownville Junction. Blackflies in the summer, sub-zero temperatures in the winter, and always in the most remote region for the season.

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Backroads & Branchlines

Ghosts of the CPR Stirling Subdivision

Being part of a railway museum (and in charge of the collections/archives) a person comes across some interesting donations, such as this series of photos from retired Canadian Pacific Railway engineer Nick Korchinski from Lethbridge, Alberta.

Crossing the High-Level Viaduct heading east

The donation is photos from his trip taking empty grain hoppers to the last grain elevator holdout on the CPR Stirling subdivision at Orion, Alberta, on a warm fall day in September 1998. Nick takes photos from the cab of a worn GP38-2 as they head south from Lethbridge onto the 85-pound territory of the Stirling subdivision, passing vintage wooden grain elevators, several of which fall from memory within years of his trip.

Background

A little bit of the history of the railway line. The Stirling subdivision originally ran between Lethbridge, Alberta and Manyberries, Alberta. The subdivision was named after the junction point “Stirling”, where the west running Cardston subdivision and south running Coutts subdivision met. Stirling is named after J. A. Stirling, an executive in a company in England that helped finance the Alberta Railway & Coal Company in their expansion southward from Lethbridge toward Great Falls, Montana, in the 1890s. Years later the Stirling subdivision was reorganized to start at Stirling and head east, and the Coutts (now Montana) subdivision was extended to start at Lethbridge and head south towards the US border.

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Holiday Train

On Sunday December 10th, 2017, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train came to Lethbridge, Alberta, marking nineteen years that the Holiday Train has been going across Canada and parts of the United States raising awareness, money, and food for local food banks. Unfortunately, Lethbridge is off the main line so we only get the Holiday Train every second year, which has its drawbacks. This year would be different, as I wanted to chase the train from Lethbridge west to the mountains, and friends Simon Aperloo & Ken McCutcheon, had similar ideas so we planned out the itinerary for Monday! Read more

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Blowing the Past Away

I was driving down Highway 4, between Rosetown and Swift Current, Saskatchewan, when I saw the old abandoned wood crib elevator in a farmer’s field just off the highway. How, I wondered, did it come to be there, all alone?

As it turns out, the elevator was once on a railway line—the old Canadian Pacific Railway McMorran Subdivision. Built in 1923, it was one of at least two elevators in the hamlet of Thrasher. But on this summer day in 2015, there is only one elevator left, abandoned like the rail line, and like Thrasher itself. Read more

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A Quiet Day in Assiniboia

A view of the former 1912 CP roundhouse facility in Assiniboia. Canadian Pacific ended roundhouse operations here in 1970 and it was then converted to a cattle auction mart which is still in operation today.

Over the last few years I have been seeing some great photos coming out of the Assiniboia area, particularly of the Great Western Railway (GWR) operations. On our own photography trips to Saskatchewan we would always be on the fringe of the GWR operations, but never see much of actual train movements. I had hoped this trip would be different. Read more

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A Railfan Visits
 Swift Current, Saskatchewan

A trip to Saskatchewan in late June, 2015, afforded a chance to do—what else?—a bit of railfanning. It started with the journey along the Trans-Canada Highway from Winnipeg. For many kilometers along the way the highway parallels the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) mainline and, in a few places in Manitoba, the Canadian National (CN) line. In some places, the tracks are very close to the highway. If you are lucky, you will come across trains in those places. I was not very lucky on this trip, seeing only a few trains up close.

Our destination was Swift Current, with a side trip to Saskatoon. Read more