The Carlton Trail Railway is a shortline railway with its headquarters in

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

. It is operated by

OmniTRAX OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. state ...

, an American transportation company in Denver, Colorado. Carlton Trail has been operating on ex-Canadian National track since Dec 8, 1997; however, after the acquisition of the branch line CTRW also purchased from CN the Birch Hills-Fenton-Prince Albert branch line in 2001. Since the closure of the pulp mill in 2006, Carlton Trail has typically adhered to a schedule of twice weekly rail service, hauling approximately 2000 carloads per year. According to OmniTrax president Darcy Brede, when the mill reopens in 2014, the railway will begin six days a week service, hauling approximately 3000 carloads a year.

Shortline railways

Over the past several decades many

branch lines A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

on the prairies have been discontinued as they have not proved cost effective for the two Federally regulated rail lines, Canadian National Railway & Canadian Pacific Railway. Often these lines carry grain or ship from mills in the north, shortlines help to fill the gap and continue to provide the service of rail. In recent years Saskatchewan has seen a large influx of shortline railways as the two Class 1s find it difficult to draw a profit from remote locations. Many shortline railways cannot afford the maintenance work the lines desperately need and often need financial assistance from the Provincial Government.

History

The

Carlton Trail The Carlton Trail was the primary land transportation route in the Canadian Northwest for most of the 19th century, connecting Fort Carlton to Edmonton along a line of intermediate places. It was part of a trail network that stretched from the Red ...

was originally an overland transportation route connecting

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

and

Fort Edmonton Fort Edmonton (also named Edmonton House) was the name of a series of trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) from 1795 to 1914, all of which were located on the north banks of the North Saskatchewan River in what is now central Alberta, ...

during the early 19th century and the latter days of the fur trade in the Northwest Territories. The Carlton Trail cut its way into what is now Saskatchewan southeast of Melville, headed in a northwesterly route towards Batoche; where the trail crossed the

South Saskatchewan River The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...

and then towards

Fort Carlton Fort Carlton was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trading post from 1795 until 1885. It was located along the North Saskatchewan River not far from Duck Lake. It is in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and was rebuilt by the government of Sas ...

. The trail continued on past Fort Carlton along the northern banks of the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

for another 980 km to Fort Pitt and finally terminating at Fort Edmonton. OmniTRAX had decided during the inception of the new shortline, that it should be named after this famous trading route; hence the name of the railway being Carlton Trail Railway. Much of the southern portion of Carlton Trail Railway's Speers Subdivision straddles the proximity of the original Carlton Trail; which would have followed the North Saskatchewan River towards the Battlefords. Carlton Trail Railway had originally taken control of the Warman subdivision and the Speers subdivision. At Warman Carlton Trail transfers onto CN and has limited trackage rights into CN's

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Chappell Yard. The Speers subdivision extends from the Speers Jct north on both former Canadian National and Canadian Pacific rail line until it reaches Meadow Lake. The Speers subdivision proved problematic due to past neglect, and on October 7, 2008 Carlton Trail gave notice that it was discontinuing rail services to Meadow Lake on April 1, 2009. Carlton Trail continues to own the Meadow Lake Branch, but has made no indication that operations will start up anytime soon. Many rural communities however have taken interest in the line and recent discussions indicate it could be purchased by the local Rural Municipalities, under the name ''North Central Rail''. As of November, 2010 North Central Rail Ltd and OmniTRAX have yet to reach a tentative agreement in the transfer of ownership of the Speers Subdivision. According to Ray Wilfing, chair of NCR Ltd., OmniTRAX has delayed the sale of the line by not responding to North Central's formal offer in August 2009. North Central Rail lodged a negotiating in bad faith complaint with the Highway Traffic Board in December 2009 in order to pressure OmniTRAX to return to the table to discuss the offer. OmniTRAX was given a deadline of February 15, 2010 to come up with a reasonable response to the offer for the rail line. On 15 February, OmniTRAX responded with a counteroffer that was well beyond what North Central Rail could afford. On July 16, 2010 OmniTRAX put the Speers Subdivision up for sale for 11.2 million dollars, a price the Rural Municipality of Meadow Lake along with 17 other municipalities would like a justification for. Updated 2013 Google Street View imagery of the former railway crossing on the

Yellowhead Highway The Yellowhead Highway (french: Route Yellowhead) is a major interprovincial highway in Western Canada that runs from Winnipeg to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia via Saskatoon and Edmonton. It stretches across the four western ...

Denholm, Saskatchewan Denholm ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Mayfield No. 406 and Census Division No. 16. History Denholm incorporated as a village on June 25, 1912. Demographics I ...

(the southern terminus of the branch and only connection of the branch to the rest of the North American rail network) and various other places along the line shows that the tracks along the length of the line have been torn up and the line abandoned. On January 17, 2001 CTR purchased the line between Prince Albert and Birch Hills (40.87 km), though this line is rarely if ever used as it serves no economical purpose. CTR also briefly controlled the Arborfield branch line when CN placed it up for sale. Due to the long distance between the Aborfield subdivision and head offices in Prince Albert, CTR placed the line up for sale and later sold it to Arborfield Thunder Rail Ltd.

Colours and Symbol

Carlton Trail's symbol is the Prairie Lily that grows abundantly in the fields and ditches in and around Prince Albert. The primary colours for the railway are green and yellow, the two primary colours synonymous with Saskatchewan and are present on both the Saskatchewan Provincial flag and the Prince Albert municipal flag. All engines in CTRW livery bear the lily, but are also similar to sister railways of Hudson Bay Railway and the now defunct Okanagan Valley Railway, in that the striping on the engines is the same except for colour. One possible reason for this is the constant exchange of motive power between OmniTRAX rail lines and the cost behind painting each engine a specific livery. Ironically, the only M420 ever painted in CTRW livery suffered a diesel fuel fire when the fuel return line leaked into the engine compartment, even after it was not recommended to be run. The engine was severely damaged outside of North Battleford and was shipped to Prince Albert to be scrapped. Due to the increased cost of painting each new engine, CTRW has now resorted to patching over the reporting mark of the former railway.

Engines

^†Lease cancelled as of April 1, 2009 with the discontinuance of the Meadow Lake Branch, units sent to Hudson Bay Railway (HBRY) ^‡6657 was converted into 2253, GP38-3 and then returned to Carlton Trail Railway to be utilized on Speers Subdivision

Customers

Since the closure of Weyerhaeuser Pulp & Paper Mill in Prince Albert Carlton Trail's loads have considerably gotten smaller as they have less to haul. Their primary customer in Prince Albert is the

Viterra Viterra began as a Canadian grain handling business, the nation's largest grain handler, with its historic formative roots in prairie grain-handling cooperatives, among them the iconic Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Viterra Inc grew into a global agr ...

Inland Terminal, in White Star, but also serve Carrier Lumber, transport steel for a local business and serve Belle Pulses within the community of Duck Lake. Agriculture products include wheat, barley, canola, peas, flax and oats. In recent years Carlton Trail has begun to store rolling stock belonging to Class I railways. Much of the rolling stock stored along the shortline are Liquefied Petroleum Gas from the gas fields of Alberta. Carlton Trail has also serves many northern communities by hauling

calcium chloride Calcium chloride is an inorganic compound, a salt with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline solid at room temperature, and it is highly soluble in water. It can be created by neutralising hydrochloric acid with calcium hydroxide. Ca ...

into Prince Albert where Tiger Calcium Services constructed a distribution centre located on the south side of the rail yards. Calcium chloride is used to reduce the amount of dust created on grid roads. CrossingtheNorthSaskatchewan

Post CN Era

Prince Albert's CN rail yard has gone through severe attrition since the 1990s; having lost the scale house, sanding tower, bulk fuel tanks, CN station (now a strip mall) and many other rail-related buildings. Since 1991 branchlines in the Prince Albert area began to disappear, including the abandonment of the Canadian Pacific Railway yard. Carlton Trail however began reusing the roundhouse and turntable shortly after purchasing the Canadian National line. The roundhouse provides cover for their equipment and engines (CN would leave their engines outside next to the roundhouse). Carlton Trail continues to repair cars that have been damaged during derailments along their line. In recent years, larger shortline railways have removed oddball motive power, such as ALCO and MLW units from their roster; as such Carlton Trail now strictly operates used EMD units that they have purchased. Currently the only operational engines are three GP10s that run between Saskatoon & Prince Albert.

References

External links

*
Carlton Trail Railway

RAC Members
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlton Trail Railway Transport in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Railway companies established in 1997 Saskatchewan railways OmniTRAX Standard gauge railways in Canada