The vintage railway equipment seen in this post can be found at two separate locations in Medicine Hat Alberta. They’re lowly boxcars (the crazy things that fascinate us) and once a common sight on the rails. Leading obscure workaday lives they hauled less than glamorous loads and numbered in the many tens of thousands here in Canada. Be it manufactured goods, building materials…you name it…and in the old days bulk grain or even dirty old coal, they carried it all. As long as it fit and needed only modest protection, this was the solution.
Some boxcars were for general loading, so anything and everything, whereas others were restricted to specific commodities or groups of like commodities depending on how clean or dirty the load. Nowadays, containers are used in their place, so their ranks have thinned dramatically. Still, they have a place and you’ll see the odd one from time to time when watching a passing freight (like anyone does that, wink, wink).
These examples are all connected to the Medalta Pottery Museum with a couple held in a city storage yard awaiting the next move. At this location, it’s #80356 (the green one) built in the mid-1960s and used for hauling newsprint. Beside, it’s #21712, a grain boxcar from the 1950s. Note the Medicine Hat Transit buses seen in behind. These two cars used to belong to a railway museum in High River Alberta before coming here.
At Medalta proper it’s an oldie, #403618, from the early 1940s and in behind (and something also once commonly seen) caboose, #436482 at over a century old. These sit in front of the former factory (the firm made all manner of stoneware – plates and cups, crocks, etc). In business from the 1910s and into the 1950s the complex is now an amazing time capsule you can visit. These cars used to be located in a city park not far away, before coming here.
All the railcars seen are ex-Canadian Pacific Railway. Thanks for your help on this, Jason.
Short Subjects: reports that are short and sweet in nature. It’s stuff interesting enough in itself, but not deserved of the full on BIGDoer.com treatment. Think silly little snippets, vignettes and likewise things of that sort and you’ll be in and out in no time.
We used to do something called the "pointless challenge" 🤪 and miss those days. It was so much silly fun and often frustrating as heck. In these we'd invite people to send in random photos of obscure locations, but not give any information, and then we'd track where it was and shoot something similar.
Most of these came from old family collections, as was the case here. Anyone up to resurrecting the series?
In hindsight, why didn't we pose someone in our shot?
Pointless: “Devoid of meaning (or) senseless” Merriam-Webster.
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 Connie for making this post possible.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: ca1970 and 2014. Posted by Connie.
Captured on a cold, cold day many years ago. We've been passing this old house for decades and it's little changed in that time. At some point we expect to drive by and it'll be gone.
Exploring history with Off the Beaten Path with Chris & Connie. Photo: 2017. Posted by Connie.
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.
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.
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A new update, 21712 (the red boxcar) may be going to Acadia Valley to be displayed at the grain elevator museum there.
Thanks for adding to the story.
No problem! Would love to see the grain boxcar parked by a certain grain elevator 😉
Now which one could that be…?
The one you recently posted about 😉 A small silver one…
A boxcar would be the perfect addition – now let’s win the lotto and make it happen!
The 40 foot boxcars used to be everywhere you looked. Seems like they disappeared overnight. The last time I saw one in a train was 1997.
Even into the 1980s, they were everywhere it seems. Then one day a decade later, like your say, they were gone.