Bridge hunting – Drumheller Alberta

The tracks are still in place, but it’s been a good number of years since a train passed over the CNR Midland bridge that spans the Red Deer River near Drumheller Alberta. An imposing structure, many large concrete blocks can be seen in its deck, leftovers from the spring 2013 floods, where their weight was used to help stabilize the structure against the fast flowing waters.

The line on which the bridge sits is technically neither in service nor completely abandoned. It’s in a sort of a moribund state while the railway figures out what to do with it.

The railway arrived in Drumheller in late 1911 and the bridge we see dates from that time. A photo this author has seen, from early 1912, shows the current structure in place. In spite of that, we did look for a date stamp on one of the concrete piers or a builders plate on the girders, in hopes that it would confirm everything. It’s possible we missed them in the waning light – that is if they even exist – not all bridges have them. Or they could have been on the opposite side – who knows? In any case, I am confident the date is correct.

Be sure to comment on this post (below pictures).

The line was built under the charter of the Alberta Midland, a paper company owned by the transcontinental Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR). From Drumheller the line travelled west to Calgary, east to Saskatoon with a branch to points north (from nearby Munson Junction).

For a time Drumheller was the temporary end of track and it wasn’t until 1914 before the last section of the line, the one to Calgary, was opened.

The CNoR was always a financially shaky company, it built too many lines too fast, overextending itself in the process. Near collapse, it was merged with rival Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP), both lines becoming the Canadian National Railway (CNR) under government control. This happened in the early 1920s – actually the complicated process was started some years earlier but took some time to complete.

In the coming decades, the line was pretty busy, handling coal from the Red Deer River Valley and grain from the area. It also hosted through freights travelling between Saskatoon and Calgary. After the coal market died (starting in the 1950s), things became a bit quieter. None the less, it was still a fairly busy line, seeing 2-4 trains per day in its last decade of operation, some of them 100+ cars long.

By the early part of this century, the CN wanted out. The line was a maintenance headache with dozens and dozens of bridges to maintain. There were also steep grades in and out of the valley and with the closing of most small town grain elevators in the late 1990s/early 2000s, there was a loss of traffic.

Because of this it was decided to reroute everything to an ex-GTP line. That route is longer and less direct, travelling from Saskatoon west to Edmonton, then south to Calgary, but since it’s better engineered overall (a GTP trait), transit times did not suffer much.

The last through trains travelling over this bridge were in 2008, although I understand some work trains and locals continued to use the line into 2010. For now the track has not been pulled up.

The structure is technically called the Midland Bridge, so named for the nearby company town of Midlandvale, which housed workers from the Midland Mine (1912-1959). This former independent community was absorbed by Drumheller in the early 1970s.

Seen on the bridge deck, over each pier, are a number of large and heavy concrete blocks. There were placed on the bridge by the city of Drumheller during the record spring floods of 2013. Their extra weight helped stabilize the structure against the rushing waters. Since there are no trains travelling the line, they have not been removed. The structure by the way, shows no signs of having shifted or being damaged.

This bridge is a Pratt Truss style, one of the more common types used by railways. Strong and simple it’s an adaptable design that can be used singly or in groups supported by intermediate piers, as is the case here. Like most major railway bridges this one was overbuilt and that it is a century old should be of no surprise or concern. The railways were always thinking ahead and designed them to handle loads many times what was actually needed at the time of their construction. Meaning, the heavier trains of today would not strain them.

What does the future hold for this bridge? Will the line it sits along be resurrected by a private company? There has been talk of this. Or will the structure become a foot bridge? That’s a good idea since the Drumheller pathway system passes on both sides of it. Or will it simply be dismantled?

There are lots of possible outcomes and I can’t help but think that a change will come soon.

If you explore this bridge, be sure to check out the very interesting East Coulee road/rail bridge a couple dozen kilometres down stream.

At the south end of this bridge and a bit east is the former community of Nacmine. To see a report we did on the mine there, click this link…
Stirling Mine – Commander Mine- Nacmine Alberta.

To see some other railway bridges we’ve explored, click any of the links below…
Bridge hunting – Bullpound Alberta.
Bridge hunting – Carmangay Alberta.
Abandoned CPR Bow River Bridge.

If you’d like to know more about what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: September, 2013.
Location: Drumheller, AB.

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CNR bridge Drumheller

CNR’s Drumheller (Midland) bridge.

CN bridge Drumheller

It spans the Red Deer River.

Train bridge Drumheller

The track is in place but it’s been a number of years since a train passed.

Drumheller train bridge

The concrete blocks you see were to stabilize the bridge during recent flooding.

20 responses

  1. Kevin says:

    Currently all railways are in a decline in traffic due to a slumping economy and reduced shipments of coal and crude oil. There would have to be a significant rise in traffic for CN to ever consider rebuilding the line through Drumheller. The line was abandoned/mothballed because maintenance on the line with its many bridges was costly and the few trains it carried did not justify the cost. The former traffic was diverted through east Edmonton, a longer route, but more economical for CN.

    The last major rebuilding of a mothballed line that I can remember is the Stampede Pass through the cascades in Washington State in 1996. For the past few decades, railways have been abandoning more and more lines as a way to cut costs.

    • Yes, the railways are sure cutting back. Not many secondary or branch lines left to abandon. Good points all, but for some reason CNR is holding onto the line. They must see a future for it, what ever that future is. You are right however, mothballed lines resurrected are rare. Thanks for posting!

      • Kevin says:

        You are right about there not being many lines left to abandon. During the merger/bankrupt days in both Canada and the USA, many Class 1 railways ended up with duplicate lines. Some were kept, others abandoned while others were spun off to short lines ie Montana Rail Link. Maintaining a low usage line is costly so it is not surprising when economics and efficiencies warrant mothballing of routes. Mothballing is a fancy way of getting around the legal process of abandonment and selling even if there is no intention of ever rebuilding.

        • I question why some lines were closed. But of course it’s easy to say that not knowing the whole story. Some CNR insiders I’ve spoke with insist something is up with that line. Time will tell.

  2. Quinn says:

    Hey! According to a CN engineer I met in Edmonton, the Drumheller news, and the CN website, quote: “The bridges and roadbed are left in place, because studies have proven that bridges and roadbed pose no environmental risk.”
    And also a reply to Stewart, I went to Drumheller for a pit stop after exploring an abandoned place. I saw CN crews piling up ties, paving over grade crossings, and removing crossimg mechanisms. So by the looks of it, CN will not be returning for the next decade or so, if even ever. Sad.

    • I heard the CNR was rail-banking the line for potential potash movements coming in from a new mine (should it ever be built) near the AB/SK border. Rumours perhaps. Either way, they’re seemingly not ready to release it yet for other uses. Makes one think they have something in mind.

      • Quinn says:

        Very cool! Nevertheless I am planning to create a shortline or regional railroad, with one of the rail subdivision on the former CN Drumheller Sub connectiong at Alsask, SK.

  3. Stewart says:

    Hello Chris,there well on there way to removing all the tracks in Drumheller now,but wait there is bit more to this story now.
    It seams CN is not ready to give up it’s right of way.
    As the Town of Drumheller had planed to use the right of way for a walking trail,
    CN says it may have plans to bring a heavier gauge track at some point in the future to carry freight .
    Sound like they could be thinking of moving oil on that line to me point.

    • Hmmm, interesting. I’m going to keep an eye on this story.

    • Richard S. says:

      CNR has also some trestles and bridges barricaded between Strathmore and Drumheller.

      • People have been driving the old roadbed, so I guess this is to stop them.

        • Richard S. says:

          I also notice that heavier continuous track (115-136 lbs) is being installed all along the Three Hills Subdivision and lots of upgrading. Can you also confirm if they are going to install CTC signals like the CPR north/south mainline?

          • We’ve heard about work going on. Right now the number of movements may not be enough to justify full on CTC, but perhaps they have plans for more trains with those upgrades (and maybe heavier ones at that) and may put it in place later. It’s worth keeping an eye on this.

  4. Bob Kamin says:

    Flooding in the Red Deer river valley was not as bad as elsewhere in the province. I live a block from this train bridge and we escaped any serious damage. Just a little muck and debris in the next street over. Our basement remained dry.

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