An Evening in Meeting Creek

Welcome to a little dot-on-the-map community called Meeting Creek Alberta, home to a gorgeous train station and two wooden grain elevators. All date back to when the town was young and as historic holdovers from another era demonstrate a timeless scene. These further remind us that railways were once the lifeblood of any town and everything that came and went, be it people or goods, did so by train.

Finding an old grain elevator standing today is uncommon and two together even more so, but add in the old station and it’s something extra special. Few of the latter remain in the province and one located where built almost unheard of. Then group them all together in a restored condition and your presented with a rare treat. We drop by often to reacquaint ourselves with these old friends and they never ceases to fascinate. When you visit, prepare to be inspired and come away with wonderful photos.

One can stand at this site and feel they’ve travelled back in time, here at the Meeting Creek Heritage Railway Station and Grain Elevator Park. It looks authentic, because it is. With little effort one’s imagination can be unleashed and you’re part of the scene. Hurry to the depot…the train’s due! What year is this? 1920? 1950? Certainly not today? From certain angles you can’t really tell and therein lies the magic.

Welcome to Meeting Creek Alberta!

The station and the silver coloured elevator are managed by the Canadian Northern Society and open for public viewing select days and by appointment. The second elevator is not part of it and privately owned, but does fit in well with everything. The rail line got pulled up in the 1990s but the quick thinking society made sure track in front remained in place. This helps complete the scene and there’s no illusion here. It’s real and as it was!

The Canadian Northern Railway built the station in 1913, to a standard design and had many others of this style all across the prairies. Most are gone now, but others can be found here and there, with a fair number in the immediate area. All were once along this same stretch of track, which saw passenger trains into the early 1980s and helps explains why they survived.

There’s one Big Valley, another in Camrose, a third in Rowley and finally one more at a museum in Stettler (plus a reproduction station for the tour trains there). Like this example, all are restored and each similar in appearance, even if they differ in size. There’s a distinct and unmistakable family resemblance.

Interestingly, two of them (Big Valley and Rowley) sit right beside the (former) railway line exactly where they were built, much like this one in Meeting Creek. The Camrose example has been moved slightly (to set it back from active track) but still close to where it was. The stations in Big Valley and Camrose are similarly owned by the Canadian Northern Society.

Canadian National Railways inherited the station when it took over Canadian Northern in the early 1920s. Passenger trains, self propelled railcars at the end, continued to serve the line until the early 1980s but the station closed long before that (in the 1960s). Not that anyone stopped in tiny Meeting Creek anyway. By the end, the government agency Via Rail became the firm responsible for this passenger run.

Long disused and in a neglected state, the station became a property of the society in the late 1980s and fixed up. Soon after tour trains (Alberta Prairie Railway Tours) started using the line and the building made an attraction for excursionists.

Meanwhile freight service got handed off to a private firm in the mid-1980s and this new company, Central Western Railway, served grain elevators along this stretch until 1995. The tourist run to Meeting Creek ended with the winding down the 1996 season and shorty after the rails pulled up. This did not mean an end to the tourist trains, just their use of this particular line. They used other routes, all served out of Stettler, but today they’re down to one and that’s the run to Big Valley. More: Alberta Prairie Railway Tours Ride Along

Team BIGDoer and family had the chance to ride a train into Meeting Creek in fall of 1996. This may have been one of the last movements to use these tracks, as we understand.

Built under the charter of the Alberta Midland (a Canadian Northern “paper” railway) the track dates back to 1911. It ran from Edmonton, through Meeting Creek then via the Red Deer River valley near Drumheller, all the way to Calgary. Talk about a circuitous route. With the CNR merger, this section was downgraded to branch status and the nearby ex-Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) line used instead. It was more direct and better engineered. The GTP was another folded in the CN network.

This line has very light rail, a Canadian Northern hallmark. A hinderance in more recent times it severely restricted freight traffic near the end of freight service and loaded rail cars had to be moved gingerly or damage the track.

Come with us and take a tour!

There are many exhibits inside the station building, not just train related, but also reflecting the small prairie town experience. The group has done a fine job. As is typical, the station has waiting room for passengers, a freight annex, the agent’s office, and living quarters for this person and their family.

There’s two grain elevators right across the tracks. The most westerly example dates from 1917-1918 (conflicting info) and replaced an earlier 1912 built structure that burned the year prior. It’s painted up with an Alberta Pacific Grain Company logo, a once good sized player in industry and which owned the elevator from new and into the 1960s.

Later Federal Grain took over – that firm owned the APG since the 1940s anyway. Photos from the early 1990s show the building in Federal colours – each firm had their own unique identity as a way to stand out.

This elevator remained in use up to the mid-1980s, as an Alberta Wheat Pool property. That latter firm took over Federal’s Alberta operations in the early 1970s. The society acquired it in the late 1980s and soon after fixed it up, a job that couldn’t have been easy. Both this elevator and the station have been historically recognized by various official bodies. For that to happen, means it’s been done right and speaks of the commitment the society has given to the project. The Alberta Pacific building is clad in “tin”, a metal sheathing used by some elevator firms as a fire mitigation measure.

Next door it’s a former Alberta Wheat Pool elevator that earlier belonged to the Alberta Farmer’s Cooperative and later United Grain Growers. There’s some confusion as to a build date, but 1915 seems to be mentioned most often.

Closed in the mid-1990s, it was later acquired by a private individual and repainted. Some of the old AWP blue/green is seen where the new paint has peeled off. Vertical Payne? This: “Tom Payne’s daughter, Amelia, replied telling me that when Tom owned the elevator, he wanted to turn it into a climbing wall and it was to be called Vertical Payne. Unfortunately, painting the name on the elevator was as far as they ever got.” This “now you know” moment is thanks to a reader, Braeden Watson. We asked around for years, but never got a straight answer till now.

The Pool was the largest grain handling firm in the province for much its history and as a farmer owned cooperate ceased to be (due to mergers) in the late 1990s. There used to be a third grain elevator in Meeting Creek and it also last belonged to the Pool before closing in the 1970s.

You’ll notice the buildings have a bit of a lean but that’s not an uncommon condition given their age.

Little Meeting Creek, founded about 1911, is home to a handful of people present day. The station sits at the corner of 50th and 50th, which may raise some eyebrows. What? Newly established towns would often use numerically large or otherwise impressive street names so they’d appear larger than they were. It’s all about perceptions and Meeting Creek’s only a couple blocks square, but it sounds big.

An unexpected visitor joined us this evening, the town dog, who shadowed our every move anytime we were outside. A real pleasant pooch, sociable and obedient, he had run in with a skunk soon after arriving. Peeeeee-yew. Keep your distance Stinky Dog! In the end we suffered through as he happily tagged along. He just wanted to be our smelly friend and would not leave our sides. You should have seen the forlorn sad puppy-eyes look he gave us when we left.

A restored farm truck was supposed to show up for the shoot but the rain kept them away. Classic car guys are the worst…sheesh, it’s only a little mud! We were going to use it as a prop to help add a little life to the scene but in the end, things turned out well anyway. Next time, so yes, we’ll be back!

The little details.

We experimented setting up a light way down the tracks to give the appearance of an approaching train, but the results looked unconvincing. We’ll try again down the road.

Thanks to Mother Nature for the expressive skies this evening which nicely added to the mood of the photos but the freezing rain we could have done without. You know what makes a smelly dog worse? Being wet, that’s what!

We didn’t visit the inside of the elevator this time, but had in the past. To take a look, just go to the link below. A warning first, however. Those photos were shot during our awful HDR supersaturate the heck out of everything phase from some years ago (that every budding digital photographer went through), so keep that in mind. Oh, the cringe…Meeting Creek Station and Elevators.

Know more (new tabs): Meeting Creek Alberta and Canadian Northern Society.

Watch for new and interesting content posted regularly!

They’re saying…

…you two are history in the making.” Dawn Bason.

More stations…
Camrose Heritage Railway Station & Park – Also owned by the Canadian Northern Society.
Big Valley’s Train Station – Ditto.
Coutts Sweetgrass Train Depot – The centrepiece of a fine museum.
Manyberries Alberta railway station – Turned into a home.

If you wish more information on what’s seen here, don’t hesitate to: contact us!

Date of Adventure: May, 2021.
Location(s): Meeting Creek, AB.
Article references and thanks: Rich and Shawn @ Canadian Northern Society and Canadian Trackside Guides. A little bit also came from the book: Trails, Trials and Triumphs of Edberg and Community: A History Edberg, Dried Meat Lake, Viewpoint, Silver Creek, Little Beaver, Big Four, Stockholm, Meeting Creek, Matlock, Little Rock, Dorenlee, Ferry Point and Rosebush (that’s a mouthful).

Got the high score!

Peeking around a corner.

At every turn there’s something to see.

Soft light though the window.

In the waiting room.

A splash of colour.

An unexpected visitor.

The station agent’s office.

In the freight room.

Living quarters in back.

Modern furnishings for the day.

All things grain elevator.

Say hi to Stinky Dog.

The view from “downtown”.

Tracks complete the scene.

Blow your whistle.

Vertical Payne? See post to know more.

This line was abandoned in the 1990s.

A timeless view.

Elevators date from the 1910s.

The station is also over a century old.

From the kitchen window.

Waiting on the platform.

With night fall magic happens.

A hundred years ago or today?

The train is due!

Thanks to the Canadian Northern Society.