Mitford 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 8.9 mile Copithorne Spur that ran from Mile 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.
This picture shows the switch point derail at Mile 0.3 it is lined to the Main Track and the head end brakeman will have to line it for the derailing position. Then we will push our train of empties up to the Shell Oil Jumping Pound Plant there are three other places that they use switch point derails the first one is at the East End of Keith yard, they store heavy trains of grain and potash, kids playing around here are releasing the handbrakes that secure the train and a power switch is used to stop this vandalism. The other hand throw switches are on the industrial spur that runs below the Calgary Herald building, the other one is above Barlow Trail.
This photo shows a wooden trestle near the plant, it was there when I was taking my Enginemen Training Program, later on it was filled in with dirt. they had special cars that when loaded they could be put on spot and with pushing a lever the cars would tip over on both sides
A photograph showing our train at the gate into the plant.
We have six empty tank cars for loading liquid sulpher, the sulpher is held in big piles that are formed in a liquid state, they have walls one foot-high like a skating rink. The sulpher stays in a liquid state at the core of the tank, and steam is used to make it into a liquid.
And finally an aerial photo of the Shell Oil Jumping Pound plant, the name Jumping Pound was a First Nations Buffalo Jump as the plant was very close to the gas plant. the plant is nestled in the foothills and the Rocky Mountains is are visible in the horizon and we will climb up to the continental divide and the border between Alberta and British Columbia at Stephen
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 mail 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.