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Snowflake, Manitoba

Recently someone asked me about the status of a caboose near La Rivière, Manitoba. This caboose was at the Archibald Museum, which is located northeast of the town. The museum closed in 2016 but it's not clear what happened to the collection. Time for a road trip!

I convinced my family that this was a good idea. My wife always wants some kind of destination, so we decided to have supper at GG's Drive Inn in Somerset. I read the reviews and it sounded like a good place.

Heading South

We hit the road after lunch on May 20th (a Sunday). This is the route we took.

Naturally I planned to return home by a different route. There were grain elevators to see!

I took a photo of the Pioneer grain elevator near Brunkild, because I had seen some work being done to it the last time I passed through. I think it was just track work but it's always good to document when you can!

Pioneer grain elevator near Brunkild

As we passed through Carman, I took a few photos of the yard area near Linear Grain. Linear's elevator is behind these two Cando / CEMR gondolas.

Cando gondolas in Carman, Manitoba

After we left Carman, we passed by Jordan's elevator en route to Morden and Manitou. I stopped in Manitou to take some photos of Boundary Trail's two GP9 locomotives, ex GT 4625 and ex CP 8208.

Boundary Trail locomotives in Manitou, MB

We carried on to La Rivière and immediately headed north. We headed north on route 242, which is a gravel road. The former museum is located a few kilometres outside town, basically in the middle of nowhere.

The Archibald Museum

I knew the museum was closed. My intention was to see what was left - from the grid roads around it - and see if I could spot the caboose.

I stopped by the former entrance and photographed a monument there. It documents the Wallcraft Homestead, founded in 1878.

As I finished doing that, one of the property owners drove up. I introduced myself and told her why I was there. I understand they are very concerned about vandalism and theft and I assured her I would be taking my photos from the road. We had a brief conversation and she left.

I didn't see the caboose, but I did take this long distance photo of the former La Rivière train station, which was moved here.

The former La Rivière train station

This station is fairly unique. It was built in 1898 and is the last Canadian Pacific plan #3 station remaining in Manitoba. Its mansard roof is a unique characteristic.

It's a shame it's not open to the public, but that's the choice of the owners.

There's a school marker nearby, which I wrote about in a guest post on Everybody Has To Be Somewhere. That's a blog you should read if you like abandoned places.

I mentioned that the town of Snowflake was pretty close. My wife was agreeable, so we turned south and drove there.

Snowflake

The grain elevators of Snowflake, Manitoba

Snowflake is my favourite Manitoba ghost town. It has two grain elevators and several interesting abandoned buildings. The Federal grain elevator is pretty special.

It isn't exactly a real ghost town, because there are a few houses still occupied. In fact, there was a sign on the highway directing people here for "FARM FRESH HONEY AND EGGS". I thought I heard music coming from this building.

Regardless, nobody was visible when we visited here.

The town has several old businesses along the main street, which is fairly unusual as these tend to get torn down as prairie towns decline.

A few of the buildings have prominent NO TRESPASSING signs on them.

After the CP Snowflake subdivision was abandoned in 1977, the town declined. The school closed in 1992 and the United Church closed in 1994. There is still a community centre building but I am not sure if it is still used.

There are markers for the church and school in the town, and the bell from the school is mounted on a stand. My children were happy to pose by it.

The Snowflake school bell

The stars of the town, from my point of view, are the two grain elevators.

Grain elevators in Snowflake, Manitoba

Note the spout on the silver elevator, hanging in mid-air.

I don't know what happened to the top of that bin!

The Federal elevator is looking a little worse than it did when I visited in 2014.

I never actually wrote about my trip to Snowflake on this blog. I did write about it in Ten Grain Elevator Towns on the Trackside Photographer site, and David Gagnon wrote about his visit to Snowflake in 1989.

As we drove north from Snowflake, we passed this little barn? elevator? which is located in a field near the highway.

It's looking a lot worse than it did in 2014.

Somerset

Somerset grain elevator complex

The two steel grain elevators at Somerset are looking good. These elevators are owned by Delmar Commodities, who moved one of these elevators from La Rivière to here when the CP La Rivière branch was being abandoned. At that time, Somerset was served by the Southern Manitoba Railway, but unfortunately the SMR folded and now Somerset has no rail service.

The elevator still has the La Rivière name on it.

There was a Delmar Commodities truck trailer near the elevators.

Delmar Commodities trailer

We went to GG's Drive Inn and had a great meal. I had this tasty burger and we shared some onion rings.

If you're ever in the Somerset area, drop in for a meal!

The Return Trip

CRGX 602 in Elm Creek, Manitoba

After our meal, we headed north to Rathwell, then headed east along highway 3 to Winnipeg. Along the way, I photographed the elevators in Elm Creek, Culross, Fannystelle and Starbuck in the sweet evening light.

Cargill grain elevator in Elm Creek, Manitoba

Paterson grain elevator in Culross, Manitoba

There was some work being done to the Culross elevator.

Note the small elevator to the left of the Viterra elevator, below.

Viterra grain elevator in Fannystelle, Manitoba

Pioneer grain elevator in Starbuck, Manitoba

Cargill, Paterson, Viterra and Pioneer - most of the big names in grain in Manitoba. I wrote a post about the grain elevators of the Glenboro subdivision back in 2014.

That was our trip to La Rivière and Snowflake. I like these trips... and we're taking another one in a few days to Boissevain. More grain elevator photos to come! ;)

You might want to read my marathon Southwest Manitoba Elevator Trip series to get ready! ;)

Grain Elevators of the CP Stirling Subdivision

Last fall, Jason Paul Sailer and I travelled along the former CP Stirling subdivision in Alberta. This subdivision had not seen a train in a long time and was up for abandonment. Since that time, the subdivision may be sold to the Forty Mile Rail Line group, who were expecting to begin operations on June 1, 2016. More on that below.

History of the Stirling Subdivision

CP Stirling subdivision timetable, 1938

The Stirling subdivision used to run between Lethbridge and Manyberries, as shown in the September 25, 1938 employee timetable entry to the right.

At some point the CP Montana subdivision was defined to run between Lethbridge and Coutts / the US border, and the track from Stirling east became the CP Stirling subdivision.

In 2005 CP listed a portion of the Stirling subdivision for abandonment from Foremost to Etzikom. That portion is now dismantled and the remainder of the Stirling subdivision (Foremost to Stirling) is listed on CP's 3 year plan. Presumably CP would keep a short spur to service the Pioneer elevator shown below.

Stirling

I picked Jason up in Lethbridge and we headed down to Stirling. The town of Stirling is on the CP Montana subdivision and at one time was an important junction with the Stirling subdivision and the Cardston subdivision. Both of those subdivisions are now spurs up for abandonment.

There are no grain elevators in Stirling now, except for this cut-off elevator in a farmer's eclectic collection of storage structures. Check out those shipping containers!

A "convertible" grain elevator?

Pioneer Grain Elevator

There is a large concrete Richardson Pioneer grain elevator just west of highway 4 on the Stirling spur. This massive 28,900 tonne structure was a UGG/Agricore structure when first constructed in 1998 and was originally 15,000 tonnes. The steel bins on each side were added around 2005 and it was acquired by Pioneer in 2008-2009.

The facility has four tracks - 2 for loading and 2 for storage - and can handle cars up to 268,000 lbs. each.

There was one hopper spotted at the elevator and two spotted at the east end of the tracks when we visited.

After photographing the elevator for a few minutes, we moved on.

Judson

At one time there were two grain elevators in Judson. The N. Bawlf grain elevator was built in 1917, and changed hands several times before closing in 1984. The Alberta Wheat Pool elevator was built in 1928, expanded with annexes twice, and closed in 1985.

There is nothing there now except a single house and a few bins.

Wrentham

There are two grain elevators in Wrentham, a former Alberta Wheat Pool elevator and a lovely old ex-Ogilvie Flour elevator. Until fairly recently there were three AWP elevators in Wrentham (1999 photos)

Ogilvie Flour Elevator

The Ogilvie elevator is owned by the Ogilvie Wooden Grain Elevator Society. This group, headed by Cody Kapcsos and Jason Paul Sailer, wishes to restore the elevator and maybe move it to the Galt Historic Railway Park (read more about the elevator and the society)

Since Jason had the keys, we could go in!

The office has the original tin walls. These are common in old grain elevator offices because the motor that drove the leg was located in the basement area of the office and the tin was there to protect against fire.

The office also has original shelving, some mysterious keys, and some old forms used by the elevator agent.

The original engine is pictured on the right. It powered the leg from here. I believe it is a gasoline engine. You can see the tin on the walls.

This elevator was built in 1925 with a capacity of 35,000 bushels. The balloon annex was added in 1950, and it was acquired by the Alberta Wheat Pool in 1958 as AWP #2 in Wrentham. In 1968 it was sold to a private farmer and the Society acquired it in 2014.

The elevator itself is a little dusty, as most elevators are.

The original chalk board is present, showing what was in each of the elevator's bins, along with the omnipresent warnings against fire in country grain elevators.

I was amused to see that the scale was built by the the Manitoba Bridge and Engineering Works Ltd. aka Dominion Bridge.

Once we finished the tour, we took a few more photos of the elevator and the overgrown rails.

Alberta Wheat Pool Elevator

The Alberta Wheat Pool elevator in Wrentham is the last remaining of the three that used to stand here. It was Alberta Wheat Pool #2. This was the largest; the other two stood between this one and the Ogilvie elevator.

The other two Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevators were:

• N. Bawlf Grain elevator, built 1917, became Alberta Pacific Grain in 1941, Federal Grain in 1967, Alberta Wheat Pool #3 in 1972, closed in 1999, demolished in 2000
• Alberta Wheat Pool elevator, built 1928, became Alberta Wheat Pool #1 in 1930, closed 1999, demolished in 2000

Conrad

There is nothing left at Conrad except for the old station sign and a few homes. (bigdoer.com article / Conrad station sign)

There were two Alberta Wheat Pool elevators here. #1 was built in 1934. I am not sure when they were demolished.

Skiff

Former Parrish and Heimbecker grain elevator in Skiff, Alberta

The town of Skiff hosts a former Parrish and Heimbecker grain elevator. This elevator has a capacity of 4,060 tonnes and is apparently in use by a local owner. It was originally an Ellison Milling elevator built in 1929, acquired by Parrish and Heimbecker in 1975.

Skiff used to have two Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevators with a combined capacity of 7,340 tonnes but those were demolished around the year 2000 (Chris Stackhouse image of all three). AWP #1 was built in 1929 with a capacity of 40,000 bushels and AWP #2 was built in 1954 with an 83,000 bushel capacity.

At one time CP stored a couple dozen cars at or near Skiff for preservation purposes. A few did go to worthy organizations such as the above mentioned Galt Historic Railway Park, but most were scrapped on site in early 2011.

Public domain photo from Wikimedia, taken by Cody Kapcsos, I believe

Eric Gagnon has an extensive post on these Skiff cars.

I do love those yellow Parrish and Heimbecker elevators!

Kuehn Farms

Kuehn Farms grain elevator

There is a private elevator located near Skiff at Kuehn Farms. I don't think it ever had rail access.

Legend

There were two grain elevators at Legend:

• Alberta Wheat Pool, built 1929, closed 1989. Its original capacity was 40,000 bushels.
• United Grain Growers, built 1936, closed 1998. The original elevator had a capacity of 30,000 bushels. The elevator's annex is located south of Nemiskam.

Foremost

The grain elevators of Foremost, Alberta

The town of Foremost has an eclectic collection of elevators: a concrete Buffalo 2000 grain elevator, a former Agricore wooden elevator, and a diminutive private elevator.

Buffalo 2000

This large Buffalo 2000 elevator was built in 1983, but lasted in service for just less than 20 years before being closed and acquired by a local group. Note the loading apparatus in the photo above - it could apparently load two tracks at the same time. You can also see the remains of the Agricore logo on the side of the elevator.

I wrote extensively about Buffalo grain elevators after Jason and I visited Magrath, AB.

Ex Agricore / Alberta Wheat Pool

Ex Agricore grain elevator in Foremost, Alberta

Note that this elevator still has a full Agricore logo, over top of the Alberta Wheat Pool lettering. Also note the "NO. 2" above the driveway door, indicating this was not the only AWP elevator in Foremost at one time.

Until 1999-2000 there was a UGG grain elevator agglomeration in Foremost, with a capacity of 5,090 tonnes (photo). I encourage you to check that link out as the UGG elevator apparently had an older, smaller one beside the main elevator as an annex.

Frankish Farms

Frankish Farms elevator in Foremost, AB

The third elevator in Foremost is this interesting one owned by Frankish Farms Ltd. It looks like it is entirely clad in metal. This was originally a Lake of the Woods Milling elevator, built in 1925 with a capacity of 30,000 bushels.

Note that Foremost is the end of track for the CP Stirling subdivision at this time. The photo at right was taken at mile 0.14 facing west. The track continues just a bit east of highway 61 and ends with no ceremony.

Jason and I turned north on highway 61 so we didn't proceed any farther east.

There were several other stations past Foremost that no longer have any rail service. I will list each one below and share photos as I have found them.

Nemiscam

Nemiscam was mile 28.0 and in 1938 boasted a 59 car siding, like almost all sidings on the subdivision at that time.

Nemiscam/Nemiskam had a number of grain elevators over the years but none remain.

• Pioneer Grain, built 1915, closed 1925
• Western Canada Flour Mills, built 1915, closed 1925
• Alberta Pacific Grain, built 1915, became Federal Grain then UGG, closed 1988
• Victoria Elevator Company, built 1917, closed 1924
• UGG #1, built 1917, closed 1982
• Alberta Pool Elevators, built 1928, became Alberta Wheat Pool, expanded twice, closed 1997

Etzikom

The tiny hamlet of Etzikom is home to the Canadian National Historic Windmill Centre, which apparently hosts dozens of windmills.

Etzikom has a steel grain elevator, built in 1988 and closed in 2001. This photo was taken by Jason Paul Sailer in 2015. The elevator is owned by a private farmer.

Etzikom grain elevator, by Jason Paul Sailer

The below photo by Bill Hooper is from August 2000 and shows two CP GP38 locomotives parked at the former Alberta Wheat Pool elevator in Etzikom. They would leave the power there overnight and come back in the morning to run back to Stirling. I'd love to hear more about the shorter elevator!

Flickr photo by Bill Hooper

Pakowki

Pakowki was mile 13.2 and in 1938 also had a 59 car siding.

Orion

Orion was at mile 6.6 of the Stirling subdivision in 1938. The town of Orion had two Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevators until near the end of the 20th century.

Manyberries

The town of Manyberries was the start of the CP Stirling subdivision in 1938. It was also mile 122.1 of the CP Altawan subdivision that ran to Shaunavon. A portion of that subdivision still exists today, from Consul to Shaunavon, operated by the Great Western Railway.

There are no grain elevators remaining in Manyberries but until recently it had an Alberta Wheat Pool grain elevator and a UGG grain elevator.

The old train station exists in Manyberries, with a CP wooden caboose on display outside. (Flickr photo)

Flickr photo of Manyberries station and caboose, by Terry Lawson

The Future

This article talks about the 40 Mile Rail Group's interest to purchase the CP Stirling subdivision. It was published in mid March and aims to base its operations in Foremost, shipping grain and pulse crops to the CP main line at Stirling. The spokesperson, Len Mitzel, said they have more than 100 shareholders and were planning to start on June 1.

Given that we are nearing the end of April, it seems unlikely that the June 1 target will be achieved. The group seems to have gone "radio silent" so it's hard to know what is happening with the line. UPDATE: They have opened!

Thanks to Jason for the tour of the line. Check out his blog!

More from Alberta:

• Edmonton
• Lake Louise
• Banff
• Calgary twice
• Brooks subdivision
• Carseland

Chasing Down the Glenboro

In early September I found myself out at Diamond, looking for a little train action. When I arrived there at 11:15 AM I found a CP train waiting to go south on the CP Glenboro subdivision.

CP 8610 waiting at Diamond

The train, as it were, was two CP locomotives and zero cars. CP 8610 and 8917 were patiently waiting for their turn to cross the diamond. They waited... and waited...

Half an hour later, a westbound CN train rolled into view, led by CN 2302 and CN 5656.

CN 2302 at Diamond

The CN train rattled and banged across the diamond. I tried my timing to capture the CP train between two freight cars. After numerous photos I did manage to get it.

You can see that the CP crew had opened the front door by this point, maybe to let a bit of air in.

After the CN train passed, the CP crew got the light to cross the diamond and they did so just after noon.

CP 8610 and 8917 crossing highway 427

The chase was on!

I decided to continue west on 427 then head south on 424 to meet up with highway 2. The track crosses 424 near the community of Springstein. At one time there was a CP siding in Springstein, together with a post office, school and church. It still has a church but otherwise it is a collection of houses.

I was able to get there ahead of the pair of "toasters" to capture them approaching the highway crossing.

Toasters in Springstein, MB

After that, it was a simple matter of getting on highway 2 west toward Starbuck. I arrived well before them and had a quick look around. There were no cars at the Pioneer grain elevator so I knew they weren't going to stop there. I decided to try to incorporate the two model grain elevators into the shot so I walked around a bit to get the right angle. Soon the locomotives rolled into town.

As it happened, they stopped at the highway 332 crossing for the conductor to flag them through, so I had time to grab a quick shot of the locomotives and the elevator before getting back to my planned shot.

Here's the shot I had planned.

Back in the car, and off to the next spot...

I couldn't resist trying to grab the locomotives on the curve out of town, with the elevator behind them. In retrospect I should have gone just a bit farther so the elevator and the engines were closer together.

The next spot was Fannystelle. Again I arrived well before they did, so I had a few minutes to decide what to incorporate into the shot. I decided to try to include the Stevens Lumber building. Here's my attempt.

I'm sure the crew were sick of seeing me by this time!

Here they are passing the Viterra elevator in Fannystelle. Notice that there are railway cars spotted near the elevator. I believe there were 4 or 5 BNSF grain cars there, but the CP locomotives carried on without stopping.

I decided to grab them between Fannystelle and Culross, and I framed up the handy hay bale to include in the shot.

That might be my favourite.

I wanted to get the locomotives with that nice white Paterson elevator in Culross. My 18-55mm lens was not quite wide enough but I did manage to fit the whole elevator in. Barely.

The problem here is that the highway was right at my back so I couldn't go back farther without standing in the road, and that's not terribly safe!

Elm Creek was next. Surely they were stopping at the Cargill elevator there!

Nope... they rolled right past the giant fire hydrant in Elm Creek and through the town.

The Elm Creek fire hydrant really is that big

I guess they were going all the way to Rathwell. I gave up the chase at this point (13:05) and photographed the new-to-me Cargill switcher in Elm Creek.

Cargill switcher and grain elevator

That green structure to the left of the elevator proper was added recently, and I believe a track or two were also added.

CRGX 602 is an SD38, originally a Penn Central unit.

CRGX 602 in Elm Creek, MB

It's new to Elm Creek, presumably acquired after the expansion of the Cargill facility there.

That was the end of my chase. Here's the map showing where I chased. For most of the trip, highway 2 runs very close to the Glenboro subdivision.

That was fun! :)