Warden Junction

Here’s a cute little train station marking the location of a former railway junction, a spot where three separate lines once met. Only one of these stretches of track is still in use and is the route taken by Alberta Prairie Railway’s Tour Trains operating between Stettler Alberta and Big Valley. There never really was a town here, at a place called Warden Junction (on some maps just Warden), and the whole reason it ever existed on any map was in reference to it being a railway crossroads and grain loading point.

This building is not original and was only placed here a few years ago by a local historic society. There were several before it, however, at about this same spot and all larger in size too. Back then business required it. Still, this modestly proportioned depot is a good stand in. Passenger service though Warden ended in the early 1980s, interestingly – not that anyone stopped to board or detrain here – and with that the last station to stand here before this one, was sold and demolished.

All the lines mentioned were once owned by Canadian National Railways. The track still in use, and the one heading westbound from Warden date from 1911 and were built by CNR predecessor Canadian Northern. The third, heading east a half click or so to the south, dates from the 1920s and was built by the CNR itself. By the mid-1980s the current line was under ownership of the Central Western Railway. The other two had been abandoned, by the CNR, in the 1970s and early 1980s. Even today one can follow the old roadbeds on Google Earth.

In the early 1990s tour trains started operating through here and since the latter part of that decade have almost exclusively used the line, although the APR does move a bit of freight after hours, now and then.

Warden Station is easily seen from the tour train. Look for it on the east side, about eight clicks down the track from Stettler. They announced we were passing it when we rode the train recently.

This…
Alberta Prairie Railways Tours Ride Along.

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Date of adventure: June, 2019.
Location: Warden, Alberta.

The tiny station at Warden Alberta.

There was once a railway junction here.

Next day, the locomotive view.