27 Years Apart with Alberta Prairie Ry #41

Here’s a Then & Now with a BIGDoer family connection and it was only twenty seven years in the making. Presenting our kid and his kid (our grandkid) both at ten years old in the cab of the same excursion steam locomotive. The original was captured in Donalda and the follow up in Big Valley but the background to both is Alberta Prairie Ry #41.

It’s a classic old steamer, built just over a hundred years ago and little changed in appearance not just as long as we’ve know it, but since new. Old photos found on the net and showing it in service long ago attest to its timeless appearance. The world is a much different place compared to back then, yet it looks much as it did.

Locomotive #41 works for Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions out of Stettler and recently returned to service after a lengthy downtime while under repair. Parts and the expertise to do the work are both hard to come by and when something goes wrong, it’s never a quick fix. It’s sure nice to see it back.

Up to the 1950s steams locomotives ruled the rails but today, for those that still function that is, they can often be found pulling tour trains and the like. Just like #41. They’re complex machines, and high maintenance so keeping them running is a tall order on its own.

This locomotive came from the US and has worked APRE trains since the late 1980s. To know more about it history please scroll down to the end of the written part of this post and look for a link.

The original photo, showing our kid Will was taken on a stretch of line now out of service. It ran from Stettler north-ish to Meeting Creek and one of many routings used by the tour trains back then. All but one are gone now.

The line used by our train back then was pulled up shortly after this visit and we later found out it was the second last run on the line. That was fall 1996. The next day’s run was the final trip and with that they closed the book. Present day they run Stetter south to Big Valley exclusively, which is too bad since the Donalda/Meeting Creek line was quite scenic.

The second photo was taken in Big Valley and shows Will’s kid, so our grand kid, Ben. Doesn’t he look thrilled? Many decades have passed, our kid has a family of his own, and we’re just as spry as ever. Or something like that.

The only thing that hasn’t really changed is the locomotive that is backdrop for both photos.

The Team, accompanied by large format film photographer Rob Pohl, was in town to film an instalment of the Beer Parlour Project at the Big Valley Inn and this Then & Now a little diversion. The hotel is right across from the tracks. Connie kept Ben busy while the interior pub shots were done, but there’s lots to do in town so it was no big deal.

A time-lapse of the train journey from Stettler was captured as a tie-in to the BP Project and if you look close you can see the rig in the far lower corner of the locomotive cab. A caption of the photo where it’s seen makes mention of it – look down and away from the big 41 – little grey blob.

This footage from this camera will be used to help complete our look at the Big Valley Inn and the things around to which its connected. The railway and hotel are forever linked.

The Beer Parlour Project, by the way, is multi-year, multi-media undertaking, where were look at old small town hotel pubs and their connections to the community over the years. We’ll examine them both from historic and cultural angles. When done we’ll have a galley exhibit and a book deal seems likely too.

It’s expected we’ll be at it for a good many years and at this point we’ve only just begun. In the meantime, we’ll post little snippets on our webpage, but the real meat and potatoes won’t come till later. If we’re ever done, that is. We’re having such a good time at it so if it goes long, all the better.

Back to the locomotive – maybe when Ben has a ten year old of his own we’ll come back for another visit and duplicate this shot a third time. We’ll get that kid to smile though. How ever it plays out, we look forward to seeing Alberta Prairie Ry #41 again sometimes in the future.

Know more about the tour train: (new window): Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions.

They’re saying…

”I enjoy your pictures and write ups so much. They bring back a touch of nostalgia for things we used to know, or didn’t even know about. It’s all about keeping our history alive and vibrant. It’s about where we came from, and about the people that made today’s world possible. Today’s world is so fast paced and so focused on the future, which is all well and good, but it’s nice to remember too, how it was not so very long ago. Thank you Chris &. Connie.” Jan Cooper.

The same locomotive earlier while awaiting repairs…
Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions #41.

A tour-train ride along…
Alberta Prairie Railway Tours Ride Along (shot while #41 was down).

More Then & Now awesomeness…
Builders’ Exchange – Colman Prosthetics.
Canadian Pacific Railway Banff Park.
Downtown Elk Point Alberta.

Something to say and no one to say it to? Go here: Contact Us!

Date of adventure: 1996 and 2023.
Location: Donalda and Big Valley Alberta.
Article references and thanks: Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions and the respective crews of #41.

Our kid & grandkid both at 10, the same locomotive but 27 years apart.

Alberta Prairie Ry #41 is over a century old.

Our time lapse rig is lower left of the cab number – see it?

In Big Valley here, but the then photo was in Donalda.