Wandering Beiseker

It’s July 2018, we’re just back from Spain and still basking in that El Camino glow and already we’re out exploring. We rarely sit still. This weekend it’s the Ghost Town Convention, as it’s called (Alberta edition), where friends get together and tour abandoned places. It’s as much about the socializing as it is the subject, the latter just a backdrop to the fun and frivolity. The 2018 edition GTC finds us in the Drumheller area and an article about will be forthcoming in a bit. To say we’re behind would be an understatement.

Here’s pics from the previous year’s outing: GTC 2017.

Our home base for this adventure packed weekend is the town of Beiseker. Drum, where everyone else was bedding down, was full up. Restless and bored at the end of day, the TV unable to hold our attention…what to do? Small town tour! And with that we grab a camera and go. Stepping outside…that light and ambience as the sun sets…it’s perfect!

A buzzing no vacancy sign. The place is full up this night – oil and gas workers mostly. Motel 9 is the only game in town, is a pleasant place to stay and fair bit cheaper than in Drum, which caters more to the tourist trade and so whose prices reflect that. Out in the parking lot a cattle hauler. No, the front end is not bent – distortion comes from a super wide angle lens and getting a bit too close. But we like the warped effect. The backdrop’s a bunch of cranes that tower over everything.

Behind a hangar, this Republic Seabee in parts. Made in the 1940s, it an amphibious plane – it can float you know. A candidate for restoration? Or maybe a parts supply? Just over a thousand of these were built post World War Two and maybe a quarter of them still in the air. They’re highly collectible and simple and rugged. Republic was more known for being a maker of fighter aircraft.

At the edge of town, a 1980s era grain elevator and the setting sun.

At the end of downtown the municipal offices are housed in an old train station. Now that’s something special! And old rail cars complete the scene. Years ago some friends from New York State came and did this, which we documented here: Building Information Modelling For Dummies. The station is from the 1910s and to know more about it go here: Canadian Pacific Railway Station, Beiseker Alberta. A CPR branch used to run out back but was pulled up in the 1990s.

A big cement pumper, a fine old Mustang, and it’s for sale too, both command our attention. My Happy Face, smiling all the time…rain…snow…the dead of night and he’s grinning.

At one corner’s an old gas station. The pumps are still in place, but it’s been a while since they were used. Most recently the building’s been home to a cafe. When our UofRochester friends came to visit we enjoyed a meal here. Was pretty darn good too as I recall. Must be tough to make a go of in a small town like this with an eatery. We’ve chowed down at Ng’s, just up the block, a few times too. Every small prairie town has a “Chinese and Canadian Cuisine” type restaurant just like it and they all have the exact same menu it seems.

Main Street (6th Street), with the work day over, is empty and all ours. Imagining ourselves players in a post apocalyptic movie, everything’s completely intact but with no one about. No people, no cars, not a sound. This is about when the zombies attack. An old bike adds a splash of colour.

We discover an old pay phone and instinctively check for a dial tone. Sometimes there’s not, but this here one works. How long, however, before they’ve all gone the way of the dodo? I doubt they cover costs.

A few blocks over the sad reminder of a failed railway museum that never opened. See: Bassano Railway Station and Alberta 2005 Centennial Railway Museum – what’s going on?. The rail car collection is being dispersed to the four winds and the old train station, which was huge, sat neglected for a while before being partially burned down and since demolished. I’m sure the people behind it had good intentions but in execution it was big ol’ cluster. I’m told they don’t like us. But we’re so lovable.

Beiseker was interestingly served by two railways. The CNR line on the far side of town, a short walk away, is still in use. We make our way hoping and praying a train would make an appearance. Look left, look right…nothing. It’s not that busy a line. But over there is Beiseker’s second grain elevator off in the distance. There used to be more near here and additional ones along that CPR line by the town office train station. A sign beside the track tells us where were are. Good to know.

Up this street, down that. We relish the peace. It’s always go-go-go and noisy where we live.

The Post Office is all quiet. In small towns it’s often the most patronized of businesses interestingly. We wander downtown, old motor homes, stores and services all closed up till the next business day. It’s a loop, window shopping, wandering the middle of the street – there’s no traffic to worry about anyway. And then we stop right there and listen. It’s the faint drone of the highway way over there. I think I heard a train. Off in the distance a dog barks. Some kids on bikes break the silence and are soon gone. Back to the still and peace. A person could get used to this.

What a charming place.

The last rays of sun. The busy day catches up with our tired bodies, the ending always coming too fast. Back to our temporary home and sleep comes easy. Not sure why, but exploring small towns like we did here always brings us so much joy, and even if pooped we smile and wish for more. What a happy way to wind down. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Beiseker was founded just over a century ago and today it’s home to some eight hundred folks. As small prairie towns go it’s bucked the trend and has even experienced growth. That’s it’s within reasonable distance to Calgary probably doesn’t hurt. The main industries here are agriculture and the petroleum biz. And there’s lots of retirees from the looks of it. The sorta-inspiration for the protagonist in the poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service once lived near Beiseker. See: Sam McGee was not from Tennessee.

Till the next town, here’s to this charming little place.

Getting to know you…
Wandering Shaunavon.
Exploring Viking.
Champion Alberta.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: July, 2018.
Location: Beiseker, AB.

Home sweet home for the weekend.

Distortion from shooting wide.

A 1940s “Republic Seabee”.

That most magic time of day.

Towns offices, a former train station.

See a truck, photograph a truck.

And it’s for sale.

Always happy…

A former service station.

And now it’s a cafe.

Eaten there a time or two.

Main (6th) Street is quiet and all ours.

Going the way of the dodo.

The collection is thinning.

Some side street.

Down by the tracks and Beiseker’s other elevator.

Till the next business day…

As so we did…in the name of love…or cuz Hammer told us.

Got a thing for old campers…but you knew that already.

To open the next business day.