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Trains and Transit
It was when the Canadian Pacific Railway decided to make Red Deer the
divisional point between Calgary and Edmonton in 1908 that the destiny of
downtown Red Deer as the hub of Central Alberta became established. It
was the same year that the wooden bridge across the Red Deer River was
replaced by steel.
 As well as building a new grand station at the head of Ross Street in
1910, the Canadian Pacific built a roundhouse, coal chutes and other
maintenance facilities to the west of the downtown. A beautiful railroad
park complete with fountain was created east of the station. The
original station was moved south to become a freight shed.
 In
1910, the Red Deer-based Alberta Central Railway started construction west of Red Deer
toward Rocky Mountain House for what was planned to be a
transcontinental railway line.
 The ACR
crossed the Canadian Pacific Railway and Waskasoo Creek where one of
the bridge abutments still stands along Taylor Drive. The line
connected with the CPR to the south at Forth. To the east, the line
was constructed across Piper Creek on a wooden trestle and a small
station and yards were built in the Mountview area of the town.
A large steel trestle was built across the Red Deer River southwest
of the town that was the second longest of its type in Alberta.
Unfortunately, the ACR went bankrupt and operation was transferred
to Canadian Pacific which had no plans to maintain the dream of a
transcontinental railroad. The infrastructure east of its
north-south line was removed and construction west stopped at Rocky
Mountain House.
To make matters worse for the ACR, the Canadian Northern Western Railway started
construction of a competing line originating from near Stettler west to
Red Deer North and Sylvan Lake on
its way to the Brazeau coal fields. That railway had a business
relationship with the Brazeau Colleries and reached Rocky Mountain
House first. The railway had also planned to build a
north-south Calgary-Edmonton line through Red Deer but construction
never occurred.
In 1913, a north-south Calgary-Edmonton line was built by the Grand
Trunk Pacific Railway through Three Hills, Delburne, Alix, Mirror and
Camrose. During the same year, Red Deer became a city.
 In
1920, the Canadian Northern erected a bridge across the Red Deer
River and a station and other facilities were constructed where
the Co-op Plaza shopping mall is now located. However, the bridge was
abandoned in 1941 after several washouts but the railway maintained
service at that location until 1960 with an agreement to use CPR
trackage to North Junction.
 From 1936 to 1955, except
during the early war years, the Canadian Pacific ran a 'high-speed' passenger
train using a specially-designed locomotive for its 'Chinook'
service, the 4-4-4 Jubilee no. 3001. Only five of its class were
ever built and none were preserved.
The Jubilee was
replaced by the 'Dayliner' service in 1955 cutting the five-hour trip by
one and a half hours. The 3-per-day Dayliners reached their peak in 1969
with 80,000 passengers carried. Railway passenger service came to an end
in Red Deer in 1985 after 94 years of continuous service. In the
same year, the ACR subdivision to Rocky Mountain House was
abandoned. Six years later, the downtown railyards were relocated to
the northwest quadrant of the city.
Meanwhile, in spite of the railway's efforts to maintain its hold on
passenger service, sometimes half-heartedly, changes were occurring
that would require a major shift in thinking. However, for the most
part, the railways saw freight as profitable and passenger service
as not.
Trails had become roads, roads had become highways, and a new
freedom of mobility resulted from the development of private
automobiles which became more affordable in the early 1950s. In part
due to a huge public investment in highway infrastructure, private
and public bus transportation became an attractive alternative to
trains for people who didn't have cars.
 Privately-owned
transit started to develop in Central Alberta in the 1940s and
thrived in the 1950s. The first transit service in Red Deer started
in 1946 by a private operator which was sold in 1956 to another
private operator, Sorensen Bus Lines, which had already established
service connecting several communities. The Red Deer service became
public in 1966 when the city took over from Sorensen. Red Deer
Transit has continued to expand and provide a high quality of
service for a city its size. The service is expanding into Red Deer
County and may become the operator of a wider regional network.
As for the future, everything old may become new again, with the
increasing popularity of trails and the renewed interest in
high-speed rail.
Return to Part 1 -
Trails and Trains
Rail Heritage Preservation in Central Alberta
Media Article by Michael Dawe:
CPR Station Park once shining jewel of Red
Deer
Media Article by Michael Dawe:
The origins of Alberta Central Rail Pillar
more articles by Michael
Dawe and media news
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