Nordegg revisited (or 2001 a Nordegg Odyssey)

Back in the fall of 1997 we were passing through the area and so paid a brief visit to Nordegg Alberta with intentions to explore the old CNR rail line located nearby. Fast forward a few years to 2001 and we are in the area again and have a bit of time to kill and so we decide to retrace out steps to see what has changed. It’s such a fascinating place and I hate that we did not have more time to explore it but I am hoping to devote it some time in the future.

We start at the site of the old rail yard and train station. On our first visit there were still some tracks here, extending west for less than a kilometre (just past a large trestle). Beyond that the rail bed was (is) bare and converted into a trail used by quads in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. On this second pass the tracks have been cut back further west a few hundred metres compared to last time, for reasons unknown to us.

Starting our short trek we follow the old railway grade until we come to the fenced-in tipple (an historic site you can visit). Along the way we pass over a small trestle which has shifted badly. It appear to me that since our visit in 1997 it has moved considerably. The structure appeared solid as I recall and the shifting may be caused by ground heaves. The current end of track is on the east side of this structure.

Don’t forget to LIKE or SHARE this post.

Just past the bridge is a second small yard, this one completely intact with all the tracks and even the switch stands still in place. As well there are some old buildings and such, including the remains of an old rail car. Specifically it’s called s a flanger and while it looks much like a caboose it’s not. Instead it is used to clean the track and it has some small plows and blades that scrape the area right on either side of the rail. This cleans out packed-in snow and ice, either of which could derail a train.

It looks like the car was retried and the body used as an office of some sort or as a shelter – perhaps for the trains crews switching the coal mine surface plant. I don’t recall seeing wheels on it, which makes sense I guess. Inside it’s a little rougher than on out last visit. Most windows are gone and between the snow and rain the old veteran is taking a beating. The roof is sagging as you can see in one picture.

How long does it have or is it gone now? After all it was a dozen years ago since we were there.

Just beyond it is another structure, what looks to be a storage building for railway maintenance crews. It too is suffering from the ravages of nature and it sagging badly in the middle.

Before long we are the site gate and inside we can see the large tipple, the loading area and other out buildings needed to clean, sort and load the coal. We also see an old friend, a boxcar that’s now sitting inside the complex near the tipple. In the past it was parked at the site of the old station where we just came from. In the interim it was moved inside and represents a reasonably typical box car of the era used for coal loading. Yes they used boxcars, odd as that seems. In fact they loaded grain that way too and this car was actually used for that purpose.

It’s what’s know as a Manitoba Buffalo car, which were the very last grain handling boxcars on the CNR system. Their smaller size and lighter weight (when compared to grain hoppers cars) allowed them to be used on lightly built branch lines and they lasted in the mid 1990s before being retried. It’s assumed they’ll repaint the car at some point so it better represents the era when the coal mine operated.

The tipples here is huge and I do hope to visit the site. There is clearly lots to see and explore. The Brazeau Collieries mine operated here from the teens into the mid 1950s. The rail line was little used after that and eventfully abandoned. I believe the rails remained in place for some time, into the 1980s or so, just in case coal mining returned. That never happened though, even though there are large proven reserves here, and outside of the tipple area, most of the track was removed – although I have seen a recent picture from Saunders east down the line showing some tracks still in place. This invites further research.

In the future we’d like to come back to Nordegg and area, giving ourselves a couple solid days to really soak in what the area has to offer. The town, which we have ignored to this point, needs to be explored, the rail like checked out again, there are old mine artifacts to be discovered and we’d like to summit some of the ridges in the area.

It’s not clear what’s in store for the railway infrastructure seen here. It’s outside the protected historic site but given that it’s so intact I am hoping that it will be incorporated into it. Fingers crossed! This line, indecently, was built in the years 1911-1912 under the charter of the Canadian Northern Western Railway, a subsidiary of the Canadian Northern Railway. The CNoR system was later amalgamated in the present day Canadian National Railways and while in operation for that company, the branch was known as the Brazeau Subdivision.

These images were scanned from 35mm prints and this series may have been one of the last we shot on film.

To see pictures from our 1997 trip here, follow this link…
Canadian National Railways Nordegg – 1997.

To see some other old rail lines we’ve explored, follow these links…
Bridge hunting – Bullpound Alberta.
Remote railway interlocking tower then and now.

If you wish more information on this place, by all means contact us!

Date: August 2001.
Location: Nordegg, AB.

  • _________________________

    BIGDoer.com: Doing it Different!



    Something to say in private? Click here to: Reach Us!
    NEWS!First TimersFAQMeet the Team
    BIGDoer.com on Facebook

    If you liked this post, please tip your server…



    Or

    © 2012-2024 Chris Doering, Johanna (Connie) Biggart & the BIGDoer.com Society. 🍁🎀

Nordegg AB trestle

See our report from 1997 (link in article) to see what the trestle looked like then.

Old switchstand

This old switch stand still worked perfectly.

CNR flanger

This shed is an old rail car, something called a flanger.

Overgrown shed

Nature is sure taking over.

CNR maintenance shed

This appears to be a maintenance shed.

CNR Nordegg shed

Another shed buried in the bush.

Maintainence shed

Open to the elements, weather and time are taking a toll on this building.

Sagging roof

The roof is badly sagging and it may be collapsed by now.

Brazeau Collieries site

The Brazeau Collieries surface plant, now an historic site.

Nordegg coal mine

The tipple and coal loading area, complete with a boxcar.

12 responses

  1. Glen Feys says:

    The buildings were the residences of the railway foreman (John Gallon) in 1957 and his crew. The railway station had the name changed due to WW2. Before the war it was Nordegg, but because Martin Nordegg was German the government at the time changed the name to Brazeu. Martin Nordegg had been sent back to Germany. I was born in Nordegg, my father was a railroader. We lived in 2 converted railcars beside the Wye track just west of the tipple.

    • Amazing! What a connection to the place! Thanks for sharing this. Yes, we heard about the whole name change thing. I see the wye roadbed is still visible. So cool!

    • Melinda says:

      My Grandfather worked in the mine there. My mom and her siblings went to school. Steve and Irene Samel ( Samuel). My mom is Jeannie.
      Does anyone remember this family? Also looking for old photos of the town.

  2. Mike says:

    There’s a old caboose along the rail line as well as a school and steel trestle at Saunders

    • Oh, interesting! I just might have to check it out – been far too long since we visited the area and the reasons to go back just keep growing. Thanks for the tip.

  3. Paul von Huene says:

    I don’t know when it started or when it shut down, but during the mid/late ’70’s, the Alberta government ran a minimum security prison in Nordegg. The school was the administration building and staff quarters. Prisoners who opted in could participate in a month long camping trip/backwoods training and then be eligible for early release.

  4. Mike Mike says:

    We’ve sledded the rail line around Saunders and it’s a lot of fun. If you get the chance Saunders has some interesting stuff to explore. It’s not near the highway and so it sees less visitors.

  5. UK Martin says:

    Most of my family were coal miners and in the teens I understand some of them thought it good idea to see if Canada held more promise and they contacted a number mines there soliciting employment. But they never left so I assume the inquiries went unanswered or the terms were not satisfactory. This leads to why I am commenting here as I recall the mines were in the Mountains of Alberta. Could the one you mentioned in this report be one they contacted?

    Martin,

    • ChrisBigDoer says:

      Thanks for commenting Martin.

      There were four coal mining regions in the province that might fit that description. In the south there is the Crowsnest Pass and there were at least a dozen significant mines there. North of that were the Bow Valley mines, in Canmore and Bankhead. These are just west of where I live. Further north again was the Nordegg operation we see here. It was the one of perhaps three or four mines in that area. Then lastly and further north again was the Coal Branch and there must have been a dozen or so major operations there. Any of these could be the one you spoke of. Perhaps see if you can dig up more, and I would be glad to help you pinpoint the exact operations they contacted.

You cannot copy content of this page

Please log-in to continue...
This allows unrestricted access to every post @BIGDoer.com, popups are eliminated,
commenting is on and the "contact us" page is enabled.

Esc to close this box.

Lost Password?

Or...

Your social site may send you a routine notice of login.

Or signup, here: Subscriber Register
___
BIGDoer.com: Serving up POP HISTORY & other McFun!…(Mmmm, yummy bite-sized pieces.)
One million plus words & tens of thousands of photos!