VIA's Calgary-Edmonton RDCs, Part 1

Often referred to as the 'Death Train', CP's perilous Calgary-Edmonton passenger service was a quick dash at speeds reaching 90 mph. For more than 94 years, spanning August 1891-September 1985, Canadian Pacific and after 1978 VIA, provided Calgary-Edmonton intercity passenger service between Alberta's two largest cities. By 1936, CP used Jubilee 4-4-4's to haul Chinook trains in 5 hours 5 minutes, making all stops. CP Dayliners 9054-9055 were exhibited in Calgary and in service on August 30, 1954, on the Stampeder and Eskimo (named for the cities' Canadian Football League teams). The ultra-modern Dayliners (at the time) reduced travel time to 3 hours 30 minutes, and in 1969 there were three trains per day each way. A busy rail corridor passing through agricultural land and oil fields, and criss-crossed by many road crossings, CP's Red Deer Sub runs north out of Calgary 93 miles to Red Deer, continuing the final 95 miles as CP's Leduc Sub from Red Deer to South Edmonton (though referred to as Edmonton in this and subsequent posts).

By the time I rode the Budd car on August 31, 1981, the run terminated in South Edmonton, as CP's passenger trains originally had, at Strathcona station. CP's downtown Edmonton station was reached via the High Level Bridge across the north Saskatchewan River until 1972, with the downtown station out of use by 1977. VIA RDC-1 6129 is on the way north (above), having stopped at Red Deer (above). While passengers availed themselves of refreshments from the vending machines, I did some dumpster diving behind the CP station, finding a copy of the clearance for the southbound from the previous evening (top).  The round trip fare? The princely sum of $22.00!

My trip account follows...as we work our way north, I note the grain elevators in each town: A=Alberta Wheat Pool, C=Cargill, D=Federal, E=Elephant, F=Unifeed, H=Parrish & Heimbecker, U=United Grain Growers, noted along with other items of note including many CP Geeps!

Boarding VIA No 195 at 0820 from Calgary's station (I noted it was nice, but a bit small), I was in seat 20 on the east side. The westbound Canadian is still in the station.
Red Deer Sub:
Calgary 0850
Mi 8 Beddington 0905
Balzac AA
Mi 19 Airdrie CAAU 0918 - string of grain cars
Mi 29 Crossfield EAAAA 0927 - large sulphur plant with tank cars and Sultran bathtub gons
Carstairs AAUUPF Mountain View - seed cleaning plant
Mi 46 Didsbury AAUU 0945
Mi 56 Olds AAPCUUHF 0956 - running 25 minutes late, coyote running away from train
Mi 67 Bowden AUP 1006 - large Shell refinery 1 mile north
Mi 75 Innisfail AAAPUUUCE 1018 - met southbound RDC-1 6124 at 1015
Mi 84 Penhold UU 1025
Mi 93 Red Deer AAECU 1036 - arrived 30 minutes late, departed 22 minutes late. CP 8679, 8483, 8532, 8822, 8543. Note the well-known notation in VIA's April 26, 1981 timetable: "Vending machines available at Red Deer Station dispensing soft drinks, soup, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and candy."

Leduc Sub:
Red Deer 1044 - passed under a railway bridge at 1055 [CN's Brazeau Sub, thanks Ben!], hotbox detector at 1101
Mi 18 Lacombe CEAAP 1107 - northbound 2-unit wayfreight passed. CP 8487
Mi 35 Ponoka AAUPF 1121
Hobbema AAUU - Cree Tribal Administration building
Mi 57 Wetaskiwin AAAUCF 1139 - running 17 minutes late. CP 8811
Mi 67 Millet AD - passed herds of Holsteins
Mi 79 Leduc P 1200 - hit 2 track torpedoes and stopped briefly at Mi 77.7
Mi 84 Nisku 1206 - lots of oil industries. CP 8649
Mi 90 Ellerslie A
Mi 97 South Edmonton E 1223 - Strathcona station built 1907 arrived 23 minutes late.

My southbound trip aboard VIA No 196 was 3 minutes late leaving at 1728, I was in seat 42 on the west side. At the time of boarding, I regettably realized that I had lost my return ticket! Panic set in! I notified the conductor. I offered him money. I think he perceived this as a bribe instead of an offer to pay onboard for my passage. He looked me straight in the eye and said the following, "This is my train. If I want to carry ya for f***ing nothing, I'll carry ya for f***ing nothing!!" Later, when he came down the aisle to lift the tickets, he looked at me with a "Oh, it's that guy!" look and went on to the next passenger.

We met a 2-unit freight south of Ponoka CP 5622-5617, and a scrap metal pickup train was in the siding at Lacombe. We departed Red Deer 15 minutes late at 1926. We met the northbound RDC just south of Red Deer at Tuttle. We halted due to mechanical problems at Penhold, now running 30 minutes late. Passing the large Johns-Mansville plant north of Innisfail, blackbirds, heron and four prairie chickens were flushed out by our Dayliner. No wonder the RDC's on this line were equipped with grated windows for the engineer! Late trains get later. Though only one hour late at Didsbury, Calgary city lights were visible at 2142, with arrival 1 hour 9 minutes late at 2159. Fortunately, staying at the Palliser Hotel, the late arrival meant I didn't have far to go for a hamburger at the Four Seasons restaurant.

Over the years, CP's and then VIA's passenger trains provided intercity rail passenger service which had more than its share of accidents on the line. At one point, LRC service was proposed. CP Rail and VIA had made numerous presentations to the Canadian Transport Commission's Railway Transport Committee in Ottawa, hoping to discontinue the service. The CTC mandated upgrades to equipment and service. Increasing truck and agricultural traffic was starting to take its toll. By early 1985, the run's future was tenuous at best. I photographed 6124 at Winnipeg's East Yard with its end covered in plywood, following a 1982 tangle with a truck:

On January 15, 1984, Transport Minister Don Mazankowski announced the indefinite suspension of Edmonton-Calgary service. Eleven Dayliner accidents in the previous two years led Edmonton's mayor of the day Laurence Decore to state "It's a seedy, tacky service used by very few people. Its 200 level crossings make it an absolute calamity that has caused too many deaths." Even with $1,000,000 in Alberta government spending and the elimination of 12 grade crossings, the Dayliner made its last run on September 6, 1985. The unsuitability of the South Edmonton station, four miles from the VIA (ex-CN) Edmonton station, as well as competition from road and air travel contributed to the service's demise. Though there have been efforts to start a High-Speed Rail intercity service, since the competition is still out there, this would seem unlikely! Check out Part 2 of this series for photos and which RDC's were in use when.

Running extra...

Train of thought: Edmonton has the largest Ukrainian-Canadian population of any Canadian city. Edmonton mayor Laurence Decore was born Lavrentiy Dikur. Don Mazankowski was born in Viking. Viking is 36 miles from Vegreville. Happy Easter! Vegreville is the site of the world's largest pysanka, not to be confused with Vulcan, which is the site of a Star Trek Starship and Trek Station. Those grain elevator listings remind me of ABBA, the Swedish pop group celebrating the 40th anniversary of their Eurovision song contest win with Waterloo. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, was dyslexic. The IKEA product nomenclature system includes POANG, a popular chair series. POANG is Swedish for point, which is a British term for a switch.

A co-worker of mine was photographing near-record spring run-off of the Napanee River, then thoughtfully pointed the camera at a passing westbound VIA conventional consist. Watch for upcoming posts on this most scenic trainwatching spot, as well as a two-part series on Napanee's rail-served industries!