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I grew up in Stonewall, MB Canada in the 60's and there were extensive quarries on the edge of town. By that time the quarry was shipping crushed limestone by truck to Winnipeg. However they were burning limestone to produce lime. This was shipped out in dedicated boxcars that were marked "Return to Williams Siding when empty". This was the name of the siding serving the quarry. Pulp wood was shipped in using gondolas and was used to stoke the fires in the kilms. Coal was also brought in but not in hoppers but boxcars. This was the normal way to ship coal on the Canadian Prairies. Previously to a good roa system various grades of crushed rock was shipped by rail to Winnipeg (about 20 miles away). Origianlly the quarry produced cut stone for buildings. As the quality of stone decreased, less building stone was quarried until just lime and rock was produced. The quarries finally closed in the late 60's or early 70's due to a highly manual process, poor quality stone and the close approximaty to town. I remeber losing a recess due to blasting across the road next to school's playground. <br /> <br />The Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway was orignally built to help construct the aquaduct from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg. After this it earned its keep by hauling sand and gravel into Winnipeg for the City and constrcution contractors. When the pits finally played out the operation ceased as the City was unwilling to expend the money to expand the railline to the new pits. Now the heavy trucks beat the roads up with their heavy loads. This operation ceased in the late 1990's. The railway still hauls supplies to the aquaduct intake at Shoal Lake. <br /> <br />The Alaska Railroad still ships large amounts of sand and gravel into Anchorage for the construction business.
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