We have a thing for bridges and admittedly it’s a strange interest. We search them out at every opportunity. This former bridge was a mighty one and an incredible piece of engineering. It’s found along the former Empress Subdivision of the Canadian Pacific Railway and very near the Saskatchewan – Alberta border (SK side). The structure is just shy of a kilometre in length, end to end, and even sans decking it’s a sight to see.
The structure is well over a century old and once carried the railway over the South Saskatchewan River. Today only the piers remain and there’s lots, plus the old roadbed leading to it at each end. Our viewpoint didn’t allow it to be seen in its entirety, but it’s still incredible.
Empress Subdivision Bridge (Abandoned): last used over 35 years ago. Railway archaeology with Chris Doering & Connie Biggart (BIGDoer/Synd)
Thanks to “Don Wilson” for sponsoring this and many other posts at BIGDoer.com. Be like Don…
This line ran from its namesake town of Empress just across the line in Alberta, and on to a point near Swift Current Saskatchewan. It then joined up with the Canadian Pacific’s mainline there. From Empress west, another subdivision continued on to Bassano Alberta and a western connection with the mainline.
That it joined the main at both ends meant it could function as a by-pass route in times of congestion or due to operational difficulties. We’re not sure if it ever happened, however, but we’ve heard it suggested many times.
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Built in the 1910s, the Empress Subdivision was a conduit for grain, and later coal moving out of the Red Deer River Valley near Drumheller. Coal was of the domestic variety and with this line, they could exploit markets in Southern Saskatchewan. Domestic coal is used for heating homes and its use was quite common out in rural parts back in the day.
In the 1930s to 1950s period in particular, huge amounts moved out along the line.
The bridge was a huge undertaking and held up completion of the Empress Subdivision for many, many months. It’s the greatest engineering challenge along the line. Research suggest the railway built inwards from both ends to expedite its completion.
A borrow pit is obvious along the line to the west (thank you Google Earth) and presumably it provided gravel for the project.
Some thirty five concrete piers supported the bridge, equidistant from each other, and with abutments at each end. Spans were identical in length and this made assembly of the pre-fabricated sections easy. Drop them in and go. We’re not sure if the bridge had an official name, so we choose something simple and descriptive here.
The Empress Subdivision Bridge was a pricey endeavour and one of the longer bridges on the entire CPR system. The firm that built the steelwork is unknown but Dominion Bridge, the biggest player in the industry, seems a likely candidate.
Spans were a deck plate style, so open topped and with steel-work underneath.
The structure was straight for most of its length, but with a gentle curve on on the east end (the side we visited). There’s an obvious cant (super-elevation) at this point and this suggests they expected track speeds to be fairly brisk. They embedded old rails and metal channels into the leading edge of some piers as a reinforcement against ice flows.
An island blocks most of the structure from view and from this position one can see perhaps a quarter of its length. That’s a side channel of the river down there and the main one is on the island’s far side. The South Saskatchewan is big river here, but not terribly deep. The Red Deer River joins it just downstream of the Empress Subdivision Bridge and adds to the flow.
The section of Empress Subdivision from Empress Alberta to Leader Saskatchewan closed by 1990, but the east end still sees trains. After the coal traffic dried up in the 1960s, traffic along here was a mere trickle. The railway removed the spans at some point post closing but saved some for replacement use elsewhere. Into the late 1990s, a number languished away in the old Empress rail yards.
Estuary Saskatchewan is the nearest community to the Empress Subdivision Bridge, but it’s a ghost town now.
The last passenger trains to cross over the bridge were in the early 1960s, but by that point few people rode the rails.
Team BIGDoer has visited the site twice, in 2016 and 2024. The second was to shoot a Then and Now showing the bridge under construction, but as it turns out we were on the wrong side. Of course and if you see our brains out wandering aimlessly somewhere, send them home.
On the first visit we attempted an approach from the west side, with the land owner’s permission, but turned back several kilometres away due to a slump in the road. Actually the old railway bed is the road. Hiking in would have been an option any other day, but not this one. We did not know of them Then photo back then, and only approached from that end because it seemed like a good way in.
There is very little civilization within sight of the bridge and at best limited access via very rough roads, or on the west side, no roads at all (recall, it’s private land there anyway). One could of course canoe or kayak in. The river is big, but come mid-summer it’s a placid and easy-going waterway.
Given the scarcity of photos found, online or elsewhere and from any date, it’s clear the structure was/is rarely visited. It’s impressive and what a thrill it would have been to cross it by train.
We joined with good friends Jason and Rebecca Sailer of Lethbridge on the first visit. We’ve dreamt of visiting the Empress Subdivision Bridge for decades and ever since it appeared in a Greg McDonnell book (can’t recall which). The image in mind shows one of the last freights to cross the structure.
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The Empress Subdivision Bridge was big, it’s in lonely and remote location, and is spectacular in every way. It’s not just in a gorgeous setting, but one needs to marvel at the work that went into it. The photos presented here don’t do it justice. Now to arrange to pay it a revisit from the west and maybe find someone with a drone too. Pardon us for dreaming out loud…
Postscript: On the drive back from the bridge (2024 visit) we hit something sharp and shredded a tire. In the literal middle of nowhere too and this forced us to limp back to our small town motel on the doughnut spare (120km away). It was a long weekend but the the local repair shop opened for us (bless the kind folks out SK way). This is truck country and they only had a single tire in our small size. It’s a well-worn winter tire of questionable reliability, or nothing.
We’ll take it. The tire howled like a banshee on the highway, and in the 30c weather, it visibly wore from the time we left Saskatchewan till when we got home to Calgary. Some 400-ish km distance. It worked though, and we’re so thankful for the kindness shown us. God, we love it out that way.
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Date of adventure: July 2016 and August 2024. Article references and thanks: CPR Archives @Exporail, Canadian Pacific Historical Association, Geoffrey Lester Author and Cartographer, Book – Golden jubilee Empress, 1914-1964, the UofC Photo Archives and our dear friends the Sailers.
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