A Little Railway Archaeology

Roughly twenty years have passed since our last visit to this site, but it seems more like forever. It’s more overgrown now and some things have deteriorated badly in that time, yet it’s as we remember. This post we’ll examine the remains of a small train marshalling yard and support structures found along a line abandoned about sixty years ago. It’s time for a little railway archaeology and you know it’s a subject the Team is super passionate about.

The track seen here was in service of a coal mine in the Alberta Rockies. The rails in this area were never pulled up and so it remains a memorial to what was. There’s a through track to the mine, a couple/few sidings (it’s hard to tell in undergrowth) and it’s all pretty much untouched and complete. We tried a few switches and were even able to move one.

It’s at this location where full coal cars and empties were exchanged, and while a compact set of tracks, was a busy place. The mine operated frpm the 1910s-1950s and a lot of coal moved out in that time.

The yard is buried by undergrowth and in places a few decent-height trees grow between the rails. A good mowing and some chainsaw action and it’d be ready for use. Or not. The ground here is rather spongy and wet, although it’s possible drainage was better back when it was in use.

Why this section was left behind is not clear. With the closing of mine, trains continued to run in the area into the early 1960s (hauling timber products). The track then remained in place for while longer, unused but railbanked in anticipation of coal traffic returning. That never happened, so around 1980 (info’s a bit spotty) it was finally all removed, except for this section. Perhaps the mine owned it?

There’s a couple structures down by the tracks, a shed closer in and further back, another made from a repurposed railcar. The latter, although looking like a caboose, was instead a flanger, a specialized piece of equipment for removing ice build up between tracks.

Ice build up can lead to a nasty derailment and so come bad weather a flanger could save the day. There would have been a couple large blades on the underside to do deed, but these and the running gear appear to have been removed when the car was retired and placed here.

Evidence found on our visits here in the 1990s and early 2000s suggested the structure was used as a crew office of some sort, for those switching the mine, presumably. Coal kept the train’s moving and the mine was the biggest shipper in the area by far.

We looked high and low for a road number, in hopes of tracing its lineage, but came up empty. The cupola has mostly collapsed since our visit long ago and while the car is in bad shape overall, it’s still holding its own. Twenty years ago, we fully expected to see it a jumble of splinters next time we paid it a visit, so colour us surprised. These photos are from summer 2019, so things could have changed since, however and clearly it’s on its last legs.

You can see below the end window that someone salvaged a few planks from the car and it’s no surprise as character wood like this is often coveted by crafters.

The other building was empty (even on earlier visits) and may have functioned as material storage or for additional crew space. It’s of a common shed design used by the railways and we’ve seen many down by the tracks similar in appearance.

We walk the rails, get our feet wet, push through the sometimes jungle and imagine the action taking place back in the day. See the steamer there through the smoke? We do. See that long cut of cars – more than the yard can hold? Yes, to that. The sights, the smells, the noise and many hours ahead switching the mine and these holding tracks. The crew has their work cut-out for them here on this warm summer’s evening.

Now it’s all quiet and eerily so. The trains are no more and that’s been the case for three generations, but there’s enough left behind that we can piece together a mini-mind-movie and have it play out right in front of us. We’re hanging with ghosts and their memories of the past and it feels like we’re there.

They’re saying…

”I love their explorations and adventures!…” Hanna Wylie.

More like this…
A Stop In Heinsburg – Water tower and station!
Hike to Payne Bluff – Along a narrow gauge line abandoned over a century ago.
Empress Subdivision Bridge – Piers from a giant train bridge.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: contact us!

Date of Adventure: August, 2019.
Location: Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Canadian Trackside Guides and Local History Books.
Please show abandoned places the respect and love they deserve.

Time for a little railway archaeology!

Remains of an ancient railcar.

Nearby, this shed.

The railyard is hidden by undergrowth.

Last used some sixty years ago.