— Table of Contents —
- GTPR Arrives In Wainwright
- Trains Begin Rolling
- The Early Years
- Canadian National Railways Take Over
- Fire Destroys the GTPR Station
- Wainwright Gets a New Station
- George VI Royal Tour
- Buffalo “King” Goes to New York
- Next Generation Technology
- Last of the Steam Locomotives
- Elizabeth II Royal Tour
- The Changing Face of Rail Service
- End One Era, Begin Another
The first regular train left Wainwright for Edmonton at 7.15 PM November 22, 1909. Scheduled service was soon established and by the end of the year trains ran Eastward Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Westward trains ran Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Between 1908 and 1910 there was a lot of talk about Wainwright becoming a major rail center. Branch lines were proposed by the Grand Trunk Pacific from Wainwright to Calgary, and by the Canadian Northern Railway from North Battleford to Wainwright, Vermilion to Wainwright, and Wainwright to Medicine Hat. Although some right of way was surveyed on the Wainwright - Calgary line, no track was ever laid on any of these routes.
The Canadian Northern later chose to connect North Battleford to the Grand Trunk Pacific just west of Biggar Saskatchewan (Oban Junction). The Canadian Northern connection to Calgary ran south from Vegreville to a G.T.P junction at Ryley and then on to Camrose, Stettler, Big Valley, and Drumheller. The only G.T.P. branch between Wainwright and Edmonton left the mainline at Tofield and ran south to Camrose where it joined the Edmonton-Calgary line.
Mr. R.A. Snyder resigned as Station Agent in Wainwright on May 5, 1910. He took over the Wainwright Pharmacy. The new Station Agent was W.H. Oliver. A.M. McCorkel succeeded Mr. Oliver in February 1911. By the end of 1910 Wainwright become an important divisional point on the Grand Trunk Pacific, employing 160 men.
In July 1910, the Wainwright Board of Trade erected a showcase at the station to display agricultural products of the area and advertise Wainwright as the ideal place for settlers. By the 1930’s this display was replaced with the buffalo “King” and promoted Buffalo National Park.
In June 1912, the G.T.P. began construction of the large 1,000-ton coal dock on the south side of the yards, across from the Station. This huge coaling facility was 954 feet long, 38 feet wide, and 30 feet high. It was necessary for carloads of coal to be pushed up an inclining trestle to the top of the dock where they could be emptied into coal pockets. Each of the four coal pockets could hold 250 tons of coal. The coal dock was built at a cost of $25,000 dollars. In July 1912, Engineer Croft pushed the first carload of coal onto the dock.
The freight shed was also built in 1912. Erected just west of the station along 1st avenue, it remained in use through the 1960’s. By then most local freight and express was moving by truck and the freight shed was closed, the staff being reassigned or laid off.
A strike by G.T.P. machinists and boiler workers in October 1911 shut down rail operations for a two-week period.
The icehouse was constructed in the fall of 1914 at the west end of the yard on the south side. Ice was cut from lakes during the winter months and hauled to Wainwright where it was stored in the icehouse. Refrigerator cars were serviced and re-iced from a high platform on the north side of the icehouse. It remained in service until the mid 1960’s, when mechanical refrigeration made the icing operation obsolete.
Fire destroyed the pump house in May 1916. At that time the state-of-the-art water system installed by the Grand Trunk Pacific was pumping 18,000 gallons of water an hour from wells on railroad property.
