The CPR’s short Pecten Subdivision runs from the Crowsnest Subdivision mainline, at the town of Brocket Alberta just east of the Crowsnest Pass, south towards a large gas plant, Shell’s Waterton Complex at Pecten. Very near the end of this line, south of Pincher Creek, is train bridge crossing over the highway. Nothing special here? Pretty run of the mill structure, yeah?
In fact, there’s something unique about it. Put in place in the early 1960s, the main span is an old locomotive turntable dating back to the days of steam. It’s believed in came in from Lethbridge, a bit to the east, although an often reliable source states otherwise and suggests it’s from far away Empress, very near the Saskatchewan border. Our own research, thus far, can’t confirm either.
As such, there is only one thing to do, keep digging and revisit the subject when we know more. New pictures maybe, a boat load of new info (we hope), and a new article to tie it all together. Sounds good. Now if we can only schedule it so we capture a train on the structure (they don’t run often here). That would be perfect.
Short Subjects: reports that for any number of reasons are brief in nature. They might be updates to older articles, previews of posts planned or not yet published, brief snippets of things that don’t fit in anywhere else or subjects that are so obscure that information on them can’t be found.
If you need any more information on what we talked about here, by all means contact us!
Date of adventure: July, 2015. Location: South of Pincher Creek, AB. The bridge can be viewed from the road.
If this bridge was built in the early 1960’s then the turntable isn’t from Lethbridge. The city center railyard was moved 10km West to Kipp in the early 80’s. Check out this picture I found from the 70’s with the turntable visible. Credit to the Lethbridge Historical Society Facebook page.
We’ve seen that photo before and yes, it would then suggest the turntable is not from Lethbridge. But more than a couple old timers have insisted it is from that town. That tells maybe a date is off, or that minimally there is more to the story. Should we know more (and we’ve haven’t since that was posted long ago), we’ll of course update this piece. Thanks for commenting.
When retired old railway cars usually get cut up for scrap. Sometimes, however, they find their way into the hands of the general public or whomever. Flat cars make good bridges, and boxcars can be transformed into storage buildings and the like. Case in point here. We see them used like this often enough and in this case, it's part of a corral.
Incidentally, this boxcar dates from 1950 and this was found by tracing the old road number, which is still visible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
"Hoc Erat in Votis Modus agri non ita magnus Hortus ubi et tecto vicinus jugis Aquae fons et paullum silvae super his foret" (also RIP Terry Fox).
It's a passage in Latin by the Roman poet Horace, but incomplete and truncated by a couple lines. To see the accepted English translation of the full passage, and for a link to see more of this operation, refer to the comments. 👇 We're not sure the meaning of the Terry Fox reference.
If you like what we do and want to support this ongoing project (12 years now), go here: https://www.BIGDoer.com/help-the-society/ Thanks to Dale for helping make this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2023. Posted by Connie.
This central Alberta racetrack was never a commercial operation but instead just a fun place for car enthusiasts in the area to get together. Early '70s or thereabouts and it only lasted a few years. Even thought it's been abandoned for that long, there is no doubt what was here.
You know we like the the obscure stuff and this one fits the bill perfectly. Found by accident while backroad cruising and the history comes thanks to local car guy Mike.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
On top of little Myrtle Mountain in the Kimberley (BC) Nature Park.
There's some good wilderness fun to be had here and nice views as you can see, but the real reason we came is mining history. The whole area near the ski hill was extensively worked over a century ago and we were looking for evidence of this. We didn't find much in the area searched, but it's a big chunk of property and we hope to return to cover more ground again soon. Of all the subjects we cover, mining related is a favourite.
Still, it was a good hike and that can't be bad. Look to the comments for more info 👇.
Exploring nature and history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2022. Posted by Connie.
It's a strange curiosity in south Kananaskis, there on a hillside and we have no idea who created it. We asked around and no one's completely sure about its history. In the past it showed the Canada 100 logo from 1967 but in 2017 someone changed it to reflect the country's 150th.
That's our friend Emily from DanOCan.com having a look.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
April 13th 2024, the Beer Parlour Project visited the Viking Hotel, Viking Alberta and it too was an awesome time. There's Rob Pohl with his curious view camera and in the other photo Chris is seen interviewing local character Doug.
The Viking dates back to the 1930s and replaced a hotel on this same lot, which had earlier burned down.
Incidentally April 13th is also Chris and my 28th anniversary. Chris said he forgot this when scheduling this but that's fine and it doesn't matter where we celebrate but that we celebrate.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2024. Posted by Connie.
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If this bridge was built in the early 1960’s then the turntable isn’t from Lethbridge. The city center railyard was moved 10km West to Kipp in the early 80’s. Check out this picture I found from the 70’s with the turntable visible. Credit to the Lethbridge Historical Society Facebook page.
We’ve seen that photo before and yes, it would then suggest the turntable is not from Lethbridge. But more than a couple old timers have insisted it is from that town. That tells maybe a date is off, or that minimally there is more to the story. Should we know more (and we’ve haven’t since that was posted long ago), we’ll of course update this piece. Thanks for commenting.
I’ve driven under that bridge several times but never knew it was made of a turntable. Neat!
Isn’t that cool!
Fun on the ghost town tour!
Always have a blast on those!
I worked on the Pecten Sub in the late eighties and early nineties.
Ohhh, would love to hear about it!