Canadian Rail No314 1978
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Canadian Rail i ISSN 0008 - 4875 Published monthly by The Canadian Railroad Historical Association P.O. Box 22, Station B Montreal Quebec Canada H3B 3J5 EDITOR : M. Peter Murphy EDITOR EMERITUS: S. S. Worthen BUSINESS CAR: John Welsh OFFICIAL CARTOGRAPHER: William A. Germaniuk LAYOUT: Michel Paulet CALGARY & SOUTH WESTERN L. M. Unwin, Secretary 1727 23rd Ave. N.W., Calgary Alberta T2M lV6 OTTAWA D. E. Stoltz, Secretary COVER PHOTO: P. O. Box 141, Station A, Ottawa, Freight Extra 202 North, Ontario K1N 8Vl descending the 2% grade into the Peace River Valley PACIFIC COAST in 1976. Photo courtesy Mr. R. Keillor, Secretary George H. France of Peace P. O. Box 1006, Station A, Vancouver River, Alberta. British Columbia V6C 2Pl OPPOSITE: ROCKY MOUNTAIN The 'B LUE TRAI N' was North C. K. Hatcher, Secretary ern Alberta's Nos . 1 and 2 P. O. Box 6102, Station C, Edmonton between Edmonton and Dawson Al berta T5B 2NO Creek, so named because of its longtime blue with gold TORONTO & YORK DIVISION trim color scheme. NAR's J. C. Kyle, Secretary name train was caught with P. O. Box 5849, Terminal A, Toronto Pacific Type 4-6-2 No. 161 Ontario M5W lP3 on the head end back in the hey-day of steam. 161 is an WINDSOR-ESSEX DIVISION ex-CPR G-2 class No. 2563 R. Ballard, Sr., Secretary who completed her working 300 Cabana Road East, Windsor, 1 i fe on the NAR. Photo Ontario N9G lA2 courtesy Northern Alberta Rai lways. .SixfyYears .TolhePeace 191671976 by Geo~ France P ,~ac~ Rive".I. Aib.erta, sometim.e Jon the. early. 1930' 5' judging .from .. t:he vi'ntage auto!1lobiles p're,sent a:s-the : vic~-regal trai'n probd.b1y -., carryingtne Earl of Beesbol'ough 'pulls up at thes±ation" Photo ' courtesy of tlieNoi'ther'n Alberta Railway Company_ Sixty Years TaThe Peace 1916-1976 by George France Around about 10:10 A.M. on a September morning in 1976, Extra 202 north of t'H~ Northern Alberta Rai 1 ways \~hi s t 1 ed for the Judah Hill crossing, rolled across the Heart River trestle and whistled yet again for the Grouard Hill crossing. Then, the lone GP 9 in the grey, yellow and blue-black livery of the Northern Alberta Railways drifted down the side of the escarpment into the town of Peace River, Alberta with the thrice-weekly way-freight from McLennan (mile 261.5 from Edmonton), through Peace River (mi 1 e 311.4) and Grimsha~1 (mi 1 e 328.1), on the way to Hines Creek at mile 376.2, the end of the subdivision. When Number 202 brought its train into Peace River, sixty years of railway service to Peace River Crossing was completed. To commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of railway service to Peace River, the Town's Centennial Museum and the Sir Alexander Mackenzie Historical Society jointly commissioned the construction of a rubber-tyreo' "locomo·tive and four cars", the latter bei'ng in the form of "floats", to participate in t~e parade of Peace River's Agricultural Fair on August 17, 1976. This rare photo of the ED&BC Railway was taken at Sawridge an Lesser Slave Lake on September 2,1914. Photo courtesy of Mrs. E.Hanson from the collection of Wm.H.Meikle. CANADIAN 71 R A I L The "locomotive" which was created to haul this train was a 2-2-0 Field Marshal tractor, vintage 1948, painteo in the livery of the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Columbia Railway of 1916 and sporting NU~lber 1916 for th~ occasion. This useful piece of motive power, developed by the Ruthor of this account, hauled two floats, the first portraying an express/baqgage car laden with settlers' effects and farm produce, with the second cRrrying pas senoers dressed in 1916-period costumes, the whole under the super vision of a uniformed passenqer-train conductor. The weather on celebration day, always an ingredient of great importance, was slightly damp, to say the least. More than three inches of rain fell, but it failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the train crews, passengers or spectators. The "Diamond Jubi lee Express" made its run through the town on time, bell clanging, whistle wailing and smoke belching from the 2-2-0's tall stack. The railway to the Peace River district started out from Edmonton, Alberta in the spring of 1912, being constructed by J.D. McArthur and Company Limited of Winnipeg, a well known contracting firm. On April 8, 1915, the Edmonton, Dunvegan and British Colum bia Railway was completed and opened for service as far as Giroux ville, some 17.3 miles west of McLennan and 287.8 miles northwest of Edmonton, according to today's NAR mileage. Fork-lift trucks were non-existant back in 1916 when this photo graph was taken on the Central Canada Railway at Judah Hill Crossing. Wheat is being loaded into the distant car while a crated piano balances at an uneasy angle waiting no doubt for the photographer to finish taking the picture. Photo courtesy of Mrs. E.Hanson from the collection of Wm. H.Meikle. W JG 11-77 6 NOR T H TOR IES N I - - ' -'-I- ' -'-':~ _._. __ ._ ._., ._.- . -- • Q:-: ...j! I (/i i i C!>.: ..... ~ I \ I ,. High L evol I , I I B E R T A I Fort McMurray \ I Hlne. ... \ ~ . Crook \ Romo \. ) \ S>' S irlt ~- '-4oaoe River , River ) I . t--...... MoLennan / Dawlon~ Cr •• k ~ Girouxvilio I J i ~ --" I .... ~-...t ( .J *~ \ \ \ LEGENO \ 00001 Central Canada-48'5miles ~\ \ ....... ~: E. D. 8 B.C. (1916)-408 miles \ \ xxx x' Canadian Northern - 44 miles ! I (MacKenzie 8 Mann) ( -t- .. -t-: Pembina Valley - 26 miles ", - -: Northern Alberta Rly. .. ~ .. --.. -- .. - \'-"-'- A,R, R.: Alberta Resources Rly. {i970) RAILS TO THE PEACE G.S.L R.: Great Slave Lake Rly. (1960) B,C.R.: British Columbia Rly. IN 1916 C.N.R .' Canadian National Rly. Modern Rly. Lines as Reference CANADIAN 73 R A I L Another rai1l'1ay, built by J.D. McArthur and Company, under the name of the Central Canada Railway Company, left the ED & BC at Winagami, 1.3 miles north of McLennan anrl was opened for service to the Osborne farm on the east rim of the Peace River valley in December 1915. In that year, tfle rai1\'1ay had inched its \'lay down the 7.5 miles of 2.2% grade towards the canyon of the Heart River. The excitement generated by the impending arrival of the railway that promised a link between this far-flung settlement and the "Big City" and civilization to the south can best be appre ciated by a perusal of the issues of the local, vleek1y newspaper of the time, the Peace River "Record". The issue of October 15, 1915 reported that there would be "trains into Peace River Crossing before Christmas ... actual steel should be at the Heart River, inside the village limits, r between the 15th and the 30th of November". Excitement increased with the appearance of the issue of December 10: "Steel is completed to the Heart River bridge ... It is disappointing to learn that service to the end of steel will remain at the top of the hill until trains can be brouQht across the Heart River." There were, of course, two very qood reasons for this decision. Until the steam locomotives of the day could take water from the Peace River, the nearest supply would b~ at Tank, today Nampa, at Mile 3D, and this supply would not be enouDh for a return trip up the hill. In addition, the track was not ballasted sufficiently and would not stand the pounding of the locomotives cQming up the grade. ..,rf1':.' Even the heart of a local Lake Steamer arrived by roil and hod to be off loaded onto a team drown skid. The boiler for the S.S.D.A. Thomas is shown here being eased down the hill from Central Canada Railway at Judah Hill Crossing in 1916. Photo courtesy Mrs. E.Hanson from the collection of Mr. Wm. H.Meikle. CANADIAN 74 R A I L In the year-end review of December 31, 1915, the "Record" reported " •.• for it has been during the year just closin9 that Peace River has been brought into com~unication with the out side world by the arrival of the railroad ..• Rails were pushed forward until the last month of the year saw the arrival of the first train into Peace River Crossing". It was not surprisin<j to find that J. D. !~cArthur. President of the Central Canada Raihay, was on board this first train. The next sort of activity was recorded in the issue of July 14, 1916: "Work was commenced 01 NORTHERN ~I 0 n d a'y 0 nth e 1 i\ yin 9 0 f s tee 1 0 n the last stretch of grade between the Heart River brinae and the ALBERTA depot site, and from'there continuing on the sidinqs and industrial spur dOI'/n on the ri ver. RAILWAYS The erection of the small bridge across Pat's Creek (mile 48.50) and the fi na 1 co~pl etion of the road on this side of the (Heart) No. 69 Apr. 25 river will now be but a matter of a 1971 few days. It isexpected that trains will be runnina to the depot some time next week.~ And s.o, there arri v.ed on August 11,1916 a special train of LOCAL TIME TABLES the EO&BC, carrying the first member (Mountain Time) of the cabinet of the GovernMent of Alberta to visit the Peace River district.