Recalling Alberta's railways, by Don Gordon

Date: 1914 to 1988

It would be of great interest to read about someone who worked for the Northern Alberta Railways (NAR), its provincial head office in Edmonton, the centre of trade for northern Alberta to Peace River and Waterways (Fort McMurray), before the roads, at a time in 1914 when it all started. In the summer, eight freight trains a day used to leave this terminus and the passenger service was three times a week to Waterways via Lac La Biche at its first stop. It was a busy railway in its heyday, my first trip to Edmonton by train was in 1951 at ten years old, and we stayed at the St Regis hotel which was near the present CN Tower. Downtown Edmonton was a more inviting place at that time with countless shops, boutiques, restaurants, hustle and bustle, and the sidewalks were busy. Our family ran a store, post office, and farm at Caslan; my father shipped wild blueberries throughout the prairies and had groceries delivered from Edmonton suppliers by train. He also shipped cattle to the stockyards in Edmonton and pulpwood to Hinton. Cream was also delivered to Edmonton dairies. The steam locomotive made its last run around 1959, and it was the end of an era. Gone was the lonely sound of the whistle in the cold winter days when it could be heard for miles. In the early days of the NAR, the train staff used to set traps along the Waterways run and sell the fur. In these years there were times under an unscheduled service, my father would meet the train anytime after midnight to pass on the mail for Edmonton. On Sunday evenings a friend and I would flag a freight and make the trip to Lac La Biche in order to get to high school. In 1960 under diesel power, the trip from Lac La Biche to Waterways took 8 hours. I made this trip to fight a forest fire in Birch Mountains. The Canadian National Railway bought out NAR in the 60's. In 1988 while in Waterways, the service was down to just a few freight cars and a few years later, the last diesel horn sounded at the deserted station. Our young family was invited into the engine cab just before its last days. The NAR was so vitally connected to Edmonton commerce, it would be negligent not to include their story, and unfortunately most of the old timers have passed on - the conductors, brakemen, engineers, but there has to be someone who passed on their history.