The Calgary and Edmonton Railway (C&E) was an early pioneer

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

in what was then the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, now

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

, Canada. It was laid out from the town of

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

to a location near Edmonton, at the site of the future town and city of Strathcona (also called South Edmonton). Construction started in April 1890 and was finished in August 1891. The line was the first major transportation connection even close to the isolated

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

settlement. The development of the line created many

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated, or was expanded, as a result of a railway line being constructed there. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, ...

s along the line such as

Red Deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...

and

Wetaskiwin Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word , meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is home to the Reyn ...

. It was built along the route of the

Calgary and Edmonton Trail The Calgary and Edmonton Trail was a land transport route between Fort Edmonton and Fort Calgary in the Northwest Territories. Prior to European contact, there was already a route through the area that local Indigenous peoples used to travel be ...

, which it supplanted as the busiest transportation route along the

Calgary–Edmonton Corridor The Calgary–Edmonton Corridor is a geographical region of the Canadian province of Alberta. It is the most urbanized area in Alberta and is one of Canada's four most populated urban regions. It consists of Statistics Canada Alberta census divi ...

. Initially, the northern terminus of the line was at the edge of the river valley opposite the Edmonton settlement. A train station was built along Whyte Avenue, a replica of which the Calgary and Edmonton Railway Station Museum operates. A different railway line, the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railway company, later ran a short line across the Low Level Bridge and across 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 ...

in 1902, later extended to 124th Street and to downtown Edmonton. In 1907 a second Strathcona Canadian Pacific Railway station became the depot for Strathcona. From 1998 to 2010 the former station housed the Iron Horse Night Club. The line's primary ''raison d'être'' was to move in settlers from eastern ports of entry and Central Canada, via Calgary, to Edmonton where they would stay briefly at immigration halls and do business at land titles offices and other businesses, before setting out into the rural areas to start farms and homesteads. Some limited export of grain happened from farms near the line, but the real grain boom in the area required the construction of many more

branch line A branch line is 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. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

s dotted with

grain elevator A grain elevator or grain terminal is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lowe ...

s. The line was later acquired by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

, and the CPR built an attached line through Strathcona and across the High Level Bridge. Seasonably, the

Edmonton Radial Railway Society The Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) restores and operates Heritage streetcar, historic streetcars in Fort Edmonton Park and across the High Level Bridge (Edmonton), High Level Bridge. It is named after the Edmonton Radial Railway, which ...

operates vintage streetcars from Old Strathcona across the High Level Bridge to stops south of Jasper Avenue and near the Legislature, using the old railway line. Strathcona merged with Edmonton in 1912. The C&E Railway line itself still exists and is used to carry freight. Train passenger service was discontinued in 1985.

References

See also