Sitting along the highway in the little rural community of Ryley Alberta, it’s a most curious structure. Could that be an old…railway station? Indeed, or so it used to be, and while still looking the part the trains don’t stop anymore. It’s not even beside the tracks. Last home to the Ryley Grand Central Roadhouse and Pub, the building is a tad run down but it almost appears as though someone is working on it. We don’t know to what end.
The town of Ryley (named Equity early on) was founded about a hundred and ten years ago with the arrival of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. This line is still used by Canadian National and runs a bit to the north (with the town in behind). There used to be a station on 50th and 50th there in downtown, looking much like this, but it was moved to a “private museum” down the road in the 1970s. Could this be the same building repatriated? Or if no, where did it come from? A search turns up nothing.
If you know more, please speak up.
Every town served by the railway once had a depot like this, but their day is long gone and those few left can mostly be found at museums. Every once in while, however, you can find one out in the wild as we did here. Wished it open so we could have stopped in for a beer…
Short Subjects: reports that are short and sweet in nature. It’s stuff interesting enough in itself, but not deserved of the full on BIGDoer.com treatment. Think silly little snippets, vignettes and likewise things of that sort and you’ll be in and out in no time.
This structure is definitely a GTP Type E station, their standard design for small towns. The second floor bay window gives it away.
Citing info from Charles Bohi’s “Canadian National’s Western Depots”, this site claims that the station currently at Ryley is originally from Dinant, which was the first station north of Camrose on the GTP’s Tofield-Calgary branchline. Nothing remains there today.
rrshs.org/Alberta/abrrstruc.htm
railways.library.ualberta.ca/Maps-9-1-5/
The former GTP line from Tofield to Barlee (just north of Camrose) became the CN Kingman Subdivision. The southern half through Dinant had already been abandoned by the time of the 1977 Hall Commission’s review of prairie grain transportation, as only the Kingman-Tofield section was mentioned in their report. This report noted that the line had last handled revenue freight in 1974, and recommended it for swift abandonment.
We knew of Bohi’s book and even searched it out, as we knew it probably held the answer, but didn’t find a copy available to us in the little time we had. The latter has been lacking lately. In any case, that website did the job and thank you for sharing it. It’s not well indexed by search engines, which could explain why we missed it, but does hold some interesting info! I recall reading that government publication (on paper) long ago. It’s a fascinating look back and really helps explain the reasons behind all those abandoned lines. Once again, thank you for adding to the story.
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Thorsby Hotel, built in 1929 & a photo by the manager's 7 years old daughter. More below 👇
Agreema politely asked if she could shoot a few photos & we obliged. A dark environment like this is very unforgiving & the camera she used quite temperamental, so she did an amazing job. We're out of work as photographers! Great food at this place, BTW!
Beer Parlour Project Friday🍺: The Tofield Hotel, built in 1912 & patron Lana, shot on Rob's vintage view camera. More below 👇
She's a sweetie & met her late husband at the hotel. The building from the alley side hasn't changed much since being built but the front brickwork is now covered by siding.
Crossley slides (unrestored), an unnamed fellow snacking on Sun-Maid Raisins - mountains of BC - 1950s. More below 👇
The distinctive red box is instantly recognizable! The location is listed as the Whitewater Valley & we think it's in the Sandon area close to Retallack. Perhaps some of our friends out that way can confirm. Sandon B.C., would Hal know? Crossley frequented Sandon so the location makes sense. Note the (mine?) road cutting across the slope in back. The slide is dated 1955 in the catalogue but 1956 on the frame.
Shout out to: Jason Sailer. _______
Exploring history with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
An old section of Highway #6 (BC) in the 1970s & 2021 - it's the second most shared post in our entire history! More below 👇
The original photo shows the road about the time it was decommissioned. This was always a troublesome section & so it got replaced by a new route further up the hill. While it hasn’t seen a car in eons, it remains overall in reasonable shape, save for some rockfall in places like this. These came down about ten years ago.
Happy Holidays from Off the Beaten Path w' Chris & Connie. Thanks for your continued support & encouragement. More 👇
🎄 🎄 🎄
CPKC's Holiday Train from a few nights ago. Rather than fight the crowds to see it, we wanted something a little more intimate. A bit of hike, but we brought mulled wine to help us keep warm while waiting. It's not a great shot & originally we had no intent to share it here, but what the heck.
Trainspotting is like fishing. It's not about the catch but rather getting out. If a train comes by, great, but if not, we had each other & a chance to get away from the day's problems. That's a BIG win in our books...even if we did freeze our bottoms off. _______
Out exploring with Chris & Connie from Off the Beaten Path. Thanks, Chris.
Makes me think of the station in my home town which was saved and made into a tea house.
Viking? It’s similar in look to this one.
This structure is definitely a GTP Type E station, their standard design for small towns. The second floor bay window gives it away.
Citing info from Charles Bohi’s “Canadian National’s Western Depots”, this site claims that the station currently at Ryley is originally from Dinant, which was the first station north of Camrose on the GTP’s Tofield-Calgary branchline. Nothing remains there today.
rrshs.org/Alberta/abrrstruc.htm
railways.library.ualberta.ca/Maps-9-1-5/
The former GTP line from Tofield to Barlee (just north of Camrose) became the CN Kingman Subdivision. The southern half through Dinant had already been abandoned by the time of the 1977 Hall Commission’s review of prairie grain transportation, as only the Kingman-Tofield section was mentioned in their report. This report noted that the line had last handled revenue freight in 1974, and recommended it for swift abandonment.
publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2016/bcp-pco/CP32-26-1977-1-3-eng.pdf
We knew of Bohi’s book and even searched it out, as we knew it probably held the answer, but didn’t find a copy available to us in the little time we had. The latter has been lacking lately. In any case, that website did the job and thank you for sharing it. It’s not well indexed by search engines, which could explain why we missed it, but does hold some interesting info! I recall reading that government publication (on paper) long ago. It’s a fascinating look back and really helps explain the reasons behind all those abandoned lines. Once again, thank you for adding to the story.