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| Stored cars at Mossleigh, Alberta |
This past summer I was headed to Lethbridge for work, and decided to take a slight detour between Calgary and Lethbridge and go via highway 23 rather than the more direct highway 2. It doesn't add much to the trip and it was a new route for me.
The small town of Mossleigh, AB is less than an hour out of Calgary and hosts the
Aspen Crossing excursion train / campground / restaurant complex. It also has three grain elevators and a
lot of stored cars on the grain elevator siding.
After visiting Aspen Crossing I went over and photographed the elevators and as many of the cars as I could see without trespassing.
My understanding is that most of the cars are not owned by Aspen Crossing but are being stored there. Several of them used to be stored in De Winton, AB.
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| Stored railway equipment in Mossleigh, AB |
Here are the pieces of equipment I saw.
8454
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| Parrish & Heimbecker 8454 |
8454 was originally CN 8454 and is an MLW S-3 built in January 1952. It worked at Manitoba Paper, Pine Falls Paper, the
Prairie Dog Central, and Parrish and Heimbecker in Moose Jaw before coming to Aspen Crossing. See also:
8454 on the Prairie Dog and
Aspen Crossing's New Locomotive Gets Delivered.
CP 105
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| CP 105 at the Aspen Crossing Railway |
This car went through several hands before arriving at Aspen Crossing. It started out as UP baggage-mail car 5811, built in 1949. It went to Doyle McCormack as DLMX 5811 and was acquired by CP for use with steam engine CP 2816. A few years ago CP put it up for sale and Aspen Crossing bought it.
45 Tonner
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| 45 ton locomotive at Aspen Crossing |
This 45 ton GE locomotive was built in April 1958 and worked for Manitoba Sugar for many years. It went to Rogers Sugar in Taber, AB after Manitoba Sugar was shuttered, and then came to work at Aspen Crossing. I believe it was their first locomotive.
Ex CP Baggage Car
I don't know the lineage of this car other than its last job was as a CP Rail work car. The label says "Cook Diner Sleeper". It may have been CP 411742.
CP 404924
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| ex CP 404924 at Mossleigh, AB |
This was another ex CP Rail work car, labelled as "SERVICE TOOL CAR". This was originally CP 4230, a baggage-express car built in October 1948. It was reassigned as a work car in 1967 and became CP 404924.
CP 42816
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| CP 42816 at Mossleigh, AB |
Boxcar CP 42816 was partially visible from behind one of the elevators. This boxcar was built in June 1952 as CP 199001.
Behind CP 42816 was a CP caboose that I could not photograph without trespassing. My
guess is that it was CP 434719, since that was stored with 42816 and 42506 in De Winton, but I don't know for sure.
CP 42506
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| CP 42506 in Mossleigh, AB |
Boxcar CP 42506 was also peeking from behind a grain elevator. It has a multimark on it but it's not visible in this photo. This Hawker-Siddeley built car was built in August 1965.
CP 226277
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| Boxcar CP 226277 in Mossleigh, AB |
CP 226277 is one of several boxcars at Mossleigh.
CP 403629
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| CP 403629 at Mossleigh, AB |
Boxcar CP 403629 still has a faded "Canadian Pacific Railway" showing through the faded paint.
There was a snowplow next in line but I couldn't see very much of it at all, so no photo!
Crane and CP 418214
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| Crane and flatcar CP 418214 |
This crane / flatcar combination was next. The crane is ex Canadian Pacific Railway, according to the lettering on the cab, but I don't know what its number was. The flatcar is ex CP 418214.
Caboose CP 434470
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| Caboose CP 434470 at Mossleigh, AB |
Fairly modern caboose CP 434470 was in the line as well. This is one of over 300 cabeese built by CP's Angus shops in Montreal between 1972 and 1981.
The remainder of the cars were owned by Nagel Tours / Funtrain Canada Inc. and used on the
Okanagan Valley Wine Train from 1999 to 2003 from Kelowna, BC. When the Wine Train shut down, they were parked in Kelowna for years until they were sold and hauled out, two at a time behind a rail truck, in late 2015 just before CN removed the track to Kelowna. You can read the
press release of their sale and Caboose Coffee's
story of the Wine Train.
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| Former Okanagan Valley Wine Train cars |
These cars are ex CN, ex VIA Rail "blue and yellow" cars, mostly from CN's massive 1954 car order.
FTRN 1128 "ELMSDALE"
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| FTRN 1128, "ELMSDALE" |
ELMSDALE is a sleeper built by Pullman for CN in 1954.
FTRN 752
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| FTRN 752 in Mossleigh, Alberta |
FTRN 752 is a café-lounge car built in 1954 as a coach, CN 5502, before being rebuilt as a café-lounge car, CN 3004. It became CN 752 then VIA 752.
FTRN "BOULEVARD CLUB" / 658
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| FTRN BOULEVARD CLUB aka "The 50s/60s Rock and Roll Car" |
FTRN 658 is a club galley car, subtitled "
The 50s/60s Rock and Roll Car". This car went through a number of changes in its lifetime, starting out as CN buffet sleeper #1015 "VALLEY MILLS". It was rebuilt as a diner (CN 1355) then became CN 658 "BOULEVARD CLUB" and finally VIA 658 "BOULEVARD CLUB".
FTRN "CLUB YORK" / 659
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| FTRN CLUB YORK aka "Variety Car" |
FTRN 659 had a similar history to BOULEVARD CLUB above. It started as CN Buffet Sleeper #1018 "VALLEY ROAD", then diner CN 1355, then it became CN 659 "YORK CLUB" and then VIA 659 "YORK CLUB".
FTRN "MOUNT ROYAL CLUB" / 653
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| FTRN MOUNT ROYAL CLUB aka "The 30s/40s Hollywood Car" |
This car actually started as a coach, CN 5639, and was rebuilt to club galley car CN 653 "MOUNT ROYAL CLUB" before becoming VIA 653 "MOUNT ROYAL CLUB".
FTRN 5552 "KAMLOOPS" / 5654 "KELOWNA"
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| FTRN 5552 / KAMLOOPS in Mossleigh, AB |
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| FTRN 5654 / KELOWNA in Mossleigh, AB |
KAMLOOPS and KELOWNA are both coaches built in 1954 by Canadian Car and Foundry, still with their original CN numbers and in their original roles.
FTRN 654 / The Western Car
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| FTRN 654 aka "The Western Car" in Mossleigh |
FTRN 654 is another club galley car. It was originally built as a parlour car as CN 582 "LAKE O'BRIEN" but became CN 654 "ST. JAMES'S CLUB" and then VIA 654 "ST. JAMES'S CLUB".
FTRN 5603 "ARMSTRONG"
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| FTRN 5603 "ARMSTRONG" |
FTRN 5603 was another coach, built as CN 5603 in 1954 before becoming VIA 5603 later in its career.
FTRN 9653
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| Baggage car FTRN 9653 |
Baggage car FTRN 9653 was the last car on the siding. Note the faded VIA logo, not covered over with the Okanagan Valley Wine Train logo like the rest. This car was built by National Steel Car (NSC) in 1958 as CN 9282, but became CN 9653 later on and then VIA 9653.
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| Stored equipment at Mossleigh, Alberta |
See Also
5 comments:
Thank you,Steve. Really enjoyed to see that and to read history. So sorry could not see snowplow.
Look forward to more of your great work. Bob in now snowy cold Gravenhurst, Ontario.
Thanks, Bob, glad you liked it!
We haven't had the snow yet but it's a matter of days, I'm sure.
Great to see these photos posted, Steve. Some ex-Skiffers there, and great to see the Nagel ex-VIA cars on the prairies.
Eric
Hi Eric, I thought you might like them :) Hopefully those ex VIA cars will turn their wheels in revenue service again some day...
I love stopping in Mossleigh to see the elevators and trains. Last time I was there, someone (I think Aspen Crossing) was painting a train car for a Halloween attraction..it said TRAIN OF TERROR on the side. It was cool.
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