Atlas of Alberta Railways -- Prairie Branch Line Networks

The Prairie Branch Line Networks

Canadian National Railways Prairie Network

anadian National Railways inherited an extensive branch line network on the prairies from the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP). The Canadian Northern initially intended to serve early settlers occupying good farmland 60 to 100 miles from the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline. The provincial governments in Alberta and Saskatchewan offered generous bond guarantees to encourage railways to penetrate these settled areas.1 The CNoR set out to control and retain all traffic north of their main line as well as extend into southern areas served by the CPR.2 With the exception of the Alberta coal branch the Grand Trunk Pacific built branch lines in Alberta and Saskatchewan that competed directly with the CPR and the CNoR.3 In Alberta neither the CNoR nor the GTP served the country south of the CPR main line, however, both had widely publicized intentions to do so.

Canadian Pacific Railway Prairie Network

Throughout the 1920s the Canadian National did add to its prairie branch line network. In 1929 the CNR and the CPR both sought approval for building significant extensions in Saskatchewan and northeastern Alberta. Sir Henry Thornton, Chairman and President of the CNR, stated that the CNR did not wish to be excluded from territory it had already colonized and into which it planned to extend.4 Sir Edward Beatty, Chairman and President of the CPR, defended the CPR plans to extend into the northern prairies. The CPR had colonization lands there. Settlers were petitioning for rail lines. The CPR was also interested in accessing mineral deposits in northern Saskatchewan and in connecting with the NAR from Saskatchewan along a line planned to run south of Cold Lake.

CNR Estimated Cost of Constructing 1 Mile of Branch Line Railway for Industrial Use

The federal government approved extensions for both railways. The CPR built through CNR territory with its Edmonton-Lloydminster line and with the extension of several branch lines in northwestern Saskatchewan. As suggested by Sir Henry Thornton the CPR did negotiate running rights over CNR lines to access some of its new branch lines in northwestern Saskatchewan. In Alberta both the CPR and the CNR negotiated running rights over sections of one another’s lines. With the construction of the joint track between Rosedale and the Trefoil both railways gained access to the coal reserves east of Drumheller. The Trefoil-Rosemary section of this line built by the CPR serviced land in the CPR’s central and east irrigation districts.

E.W. Beatty on Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railways Western Branch Construction

As economic depression and drought persisted into the 1930s, proposed branchline links were abandoned even after significant grading work had been completed. In east central Alberta the CNR did lay track down on its Hemaruka-Scapa link. This section was never completed to optimum operating standards.5 Finally by 1933 the Alberta railway network reached its peak as branch line construction came to a complete halt.

Notes | Bibliography | Abbreviations

1. T.D. Regehr, The Canadian Northern Railway: Pioneer Road of the Northern Prairies, 1895–1918 (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1976), pp. 187–90.
2. Ibid., p. 193.
3. G.R. Stevens, Canadian National Railways, Vol. 2, Towards the Inevitable 1896–1922 (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin and Co. 1960, 1962), p. 197.
4. Canadian Railway and Marine World, February 1929, p. 63.
5. National Archives Canada, RG 30, Volume 7349, File, 100–1, Hemaruka-Seaya Branch, CNR 1-160, Inspection of line of the CNR in Alberta, from Scapa to Hemaruka, 1933; NAC, RG 30, Volume 7349, File, 100-1, Hemaruka-Seaya Branch, Hemaruka-Scapa Branch completion, 1936.