16.) Glenbow is a locality in Southern Alberta, in Rocky View County located northwest of the City of Calgary and East of the Town of Cochrane at Mile 18.2 of the CPR’s Laggan Subdivision. It is now part of the Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. The Glenbow. The Glenbow area is immediately west of Rocky View County’s Bearspaw area.
The name Glenbow is descriptive and refers to its location: it lies “in a glen on the Bow” (Bow River). The name is a combination of two words. A Canadian Pacific Railway station was established at Glenbow in 1907. the post office operated from September 1, 1908 to October 15, 1920. All that remains now are some derelict stock racks used to load cattle into stock cars.
Glenbow was well known for its sandstone quarry that supplied building material for Calgary’s early commercial and institutional developments. The Glenbow Museum and Photo Archives in Calgary is named after this area.
16.1 Mitford Mile 27.3Mitford was at Mile 27.8 on the Laggan Subdivision this photo taken on a beautiful summer afternoon shows the Bow River on the right side. The Main Track switch is open and lined for the Copithorne Spur that ran from 27.3 to the Jumping Pound Shell Oil Sulphur and Propane plant the spur runs on Mountain Grades of 2.2%. Further west is the Mitford yard with a 40 car track, and a Auxiliary track that held 20 cars.
Mitford, Alberta’s History in 1885 T.B.H. Cochrane and his wife Adela, exchanged their lease of 55,000 acres near High River for one just west of Cochrane, Alberta. The next year, Cochrane associated himself with the Calgary Lumber Company and built a sawmill 3 miles west of the present day Cochrane, Alberta. The next year, Cochrane handling the vast amount of lumber on his lease. Although the Canadian Pacific Railway approached the mill from the east, tension built between Cochrane and the railway, as the railway did not like stoping at the mill due to the steep grades nearby. By 1888 the town contained an office, drugstore and bunkhouses. By 1891 it had a school as well, meeting in the saloon it was named for a friend of Cochrane’s wife.
However, the success of the sawmill was limited. Most of the good quality fir to be found in the area was never sold, instead ironically being used to construct a railway to transport the lumber to market. In 1888, a coal mine began operation in the area, with a distinct advantage of having the sawmills railway nearby to transport coal to market. In 1890, it became obvious that both operations were doomed to fail, closing the same year. In an effort to save the town T.B.H. Cochrane established a brickyard using material found North of Mitford. In 1893, that operation was also closed, due to the inferior quality of its product. After the closing of the brickyard, the town fell into decline, before it was abandoned in 1898. Before its desertion, Mitford housed, a store, a school, a hotel, a restaurant, a medical practice, and an Anglican church. The steam engine used on Mitford’s railway was sold to a British Columbia mill, and the Canadian Pacific Railway ceased making regular stops at the town. In 1898 a fire started in the Chinese restaurant, the destroying most of the town. In 1899, the town’s church was moved to Cochrane, and today all that remains is the town’s cemetery, which currently stands on private property.
17.) We have taken the siding at Cochrane for a meet with an eastbound train. We are at Mile 25.1 of the Laggan subdivision.
18.) Crossing the Bow River at Mile 25.7 Laggan subdivision.
19.) We have left the foothills and are now in the Rocky Mountain’s at Banff, Alberta Mile 82.2.
20.) Approaching Castle Mountain Mile 96 Laggan subdivision.
21.) We are stopped at the West end of Massive siding waiting for some Maintenance of the Way two clear the main track.
22.) we are stopped at Stephen on the continental divide, at the altitude of 5280 feet, we are waiting for the eastbound passenger train No. The Canadian our brakeman has positioned himself to give the passenger train a run by inspection. Note the dwarf signal sitting on a concrete base that is taller than the brakeman, and shows how much snow they get at this location. Also note the dummy mast on the tall signal it shows that it applies for the main track.
23.) In this view the passenger train appears. When the CPR was built the grades between Stephen and Field were 4%, it was called “The Big Hill” and There Were Switch tenders at three locations, there were switches that ran up the hill, and the engineer on descending trains had to blow his whistle to assure the switch tender that his that his train was under control, and the switch tender would line the switch down the Hill, this was a operating headache, and was alleviated when two spiral tunnels were boered through two mountains, and brought the gradient to 2% this project was completed in 1908.
24.) The Canadian has arrived, with a Via Rail painted unit on the head and with two units painted in the CPR Action Red livery. Via Rail is a government operation that had taken over all the passenger trains in Canada, much like Amtrak in the United States.
25.) We are now descending Field Hill and are approaching the West signal at Partridge, it was named after Seth Partridge who was working as a locomotive fireman working eastward up Field Hill their train was coming out of the upper Spiral Tunnel he noticed rock coming down off the mountain, he jumped off the locomotive, and went down a pathway to Yoho a siding in between the two Spiral Tunnels, there were Maintenance of the Way sleeping in their bunkhouse’s. Many lives were saved.
25.) The Canadian has cleared the siding at Partridge.
26.) A view I took looking downwards to Spiral Tunnel No. 2.
27.) We are at the West siding switch at Partridge and will enter Spiral Tunnel No. 1.
28.) We are exiting the lower portal of Spiral Tunnel No. 1.
29.) In the slide we are exiting the lower portal of Spiral Tunnel No. 2. The the rail between the two tracks is called a Jordan rail, and if the train derails the Jordan rail will keep the cars away from the tunnels wall.
30.) A view of Mount Stephen we see when emerging from the lower Spiral Tunnel.
31.) A photo of the Kicking Horse Valley.
32.) The shape of the things to come, this view looks West at Lake Louise, the track to the right is the new grade reduction. I was firing the Canadian with locomotive engineer Reg Avery who was getting close to retiring. He said that the old mainline was his track, and the new track was mine. The track on the left side of the slide with the machinery on it was called the Chalet Spur at one time it ran up to the CPR hotel the Chalet Lake Louise to transfer guests from the train station to the hotel.
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