Western Development Museum

[Miningman]

Beautiful bucolic scene showing the way it was on the prairies for a long time. 

I just luv that 40' outside braced wooden bix car spotted at the grain elevator. An everyday common scene at one time. Very tastefully done.

Fixed it next posting.. sorry, scroll down  

Western Development Museum  North Battleford, Saskatchewan  CNoR Prince, SK station built 1913. All photos below Bob Keenan 10/28/2017  CN 504409 spotted at Keatley, SK elevator CN 504409 CC&F 1929

 

[Miningman]

Dang it. That didn't work!!! 

Trying this 

Beautiful bucolic scene showing the way it was on the prairies for a long time. 

I just luv that 40' outside braced wooden bix car spotted at the grain elevator. An everyday common scene at one time. Very tastefully done.

Of ourse this could be Milwaukee, C&NW, Minneapolis and St Louis, Rock Island, Soo Line, you pick the grainger! Great reflection of the past. 

 

Western Development Museum 

North Battleford, Saskatchewan 

CNoR Prince, SK station built 1913. 

All photos below Bob Keenan 10/28/2017 

CN 504409 spotted at Keatley, SK elevator 

CN 504409 CC&F 1929

[Penny Trains]

Lots to explore at their website: https://wdm.ca/  I clicked on the "North Battleford" link and found this: https://www.bigdoer.com/31809/old-things/cnr-1158-at-the-western-development-museum/

[Miningman]

Thanks Penny. Appreciate this.

[SD70Dude]

Nice to see they painted the arrow back on the elevator.  Easy to miss, but really important to the operator!

[Miningman]

You bet it is. Otherwise.. well you tell the great unwashed, it's your point, you get the credit.

It really is quite a striking scene in its pure simplicity. Folks can laugh at the 40' boxcar, the wooden structure with its braces, the seemingly silly practice of moving wheat in boxcars, even the elevators themselves but the whole practice worked and functioned extremely well. With smallish older non fancy no super power steam engines, light rail and branch lines to everywhere. Inefficient! They laugh and howl.

It fed the world. 

 Found this really old picture of a CPR train in Lumsden, at a grain elevator, but back when it was the Assiniboia Distruct of the North West Territories that later became the Province of Saskatchewan 

Van 3522 on tail end of mixed train in flood at Lumsden, Assiniboia, NWT. April 1, 1904. 
Note elevator Bready Love & Tryon No. 10. 

[Miningman]

Ok why the arrow? 

You’ll notice an arrow on the railway side of the building. A grain elevator siding was always built on a slight grade and the arrow told you which way it sloped (it points down). Empty cars would be spotted to the right or up side in this case, which would allow them to roll left and out of the way as each was loaded. This was once common way to move rail cars about. Sometimes a they’d use a winch system, an old tractor to push the cars, or for big facilities, a locomotive to move them about.

At the peak, in the 1930s, there were over 1700 traditional wooden grain elevators in the province of Alberta, the majority of which were torn down in the 1990s and early 2000s. Today, about 250 remain. Some are still being used as designed, a good number have been saved by local farmers who use them for storage, some are museums, and a few are simply abandoned.

[gmpullman]

This has always been one of my favorite films of the prairie sentinels:

 

Watch on a larger screen if at all possible 

Enjoy, Ed

[Miningman]

Thank you gmpullman! Just luv these kinds of things. There a still a very few doing this in Saskatchewan but many have been forced away from it by economic circumstances and 'no choice' and soon it will all be gone. 

Losing all these specialized instruments, machineries and mechanisms is tragic really and along with it a way of life, self fulfilment and human ingenuity. 

[Miningman]

Update! Now cosmetically restored Canadian Northern 4-6-0 1158 and rolling stock. 

North Battleford, Saskatchewan owes its existence due to the Canadian Northern Rwy.

Photos below May 17, 2019 by Tim Pomeroy, Western Development Museum. 

Newly restored train on display. Two year project completed 2019. 

Closeup of CNoR 1158 restored to its early appearance including relocated headlight and bell. 

CN 810024 stock car. Built circa 1929. 

CNoR 3388 is actually CN 78338 Built PSC 1/1942. An acceptable recreation.

[Penny Trains]

Man, they did a fantastic job! 

[Flintlock76]

Beautiful job on the Ten-Wheeler!  Makes the mental gears turn, know what I mean?

Superb job on everything else as well!

[MidlandMike]

Are those sliding shutters on the caboose cupola?

[NDG]

Suggest they are for an OUTER set of sliding windows to provide double glazing for winter time. 

 

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/cnr_rolling/CNoR_3388_P.jpg

 

As here, 1963, without plywood covers.

 

http://yourrailwaypictures.com/Cabooses/22125.jpg

 

http://yourrailwaypictures.com/Cabooses/

 

Cabeese usually had a second, outer Storm Door on each end for winter. With flats ahead, a Caboose had great visibility, but also had full force of wind of movement to contend with.

 

The storm door opened outward.

 

Conductors with their ' OWN ' Assigned Caboose had a certain amount of leeway on it's accoutrements. 

 

A LOVELY Restoration, all!

 

Thank You.

 

[SD70Dude]

What a lovely looking engine.  Well done!  This is probably the only steam locomotive in existence that wears CNoR paint.

It is historically accurate for a 1100-series 4-6-0:

http://yourrailwaypictures.com/CNRsteamengines/25222.jpg

From here:

http://yourrailwaypictures.com/CNRsteamengines/

Some engines got a Canadian Northern herald (like my avatar, but likely in plain white):

http://silverhawkauthor.com/images/site_graphics/Trains/e010861781-v8.jpg

From here:

http://silverhawkauthor.com/steam-locomotives-and-trains-of-canada_364.html

We will overlook the fact that Canadian Northern never ran any oil-burners in Saskatchewan....