Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions is a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

originating in

Stettler, Alberta Stettler is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the County of Stettler No. 6. The town is nicknamed "The Heart of Alberta". History Stettler was founded in 1905 and was named after Swiss immigrant Carl Stettler, who ...

. The train runs between Stettler and Big Valley. The trips last five to six hours, with a stopover (all

excursion An excursion is a trip by a group of people, usually made for leisure, education, or physical purposes. It is often an adjunct to a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other (typically work-related) purposes. Public transportation ...

s include a

buffet A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...

meal). Many trainsSchedule
/ref> are pulled by No. 41, a 1920 Baldwin

2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

, and sometimes by CN U-1-f No. 6060, a

Montreal Locomotive Works Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW) was a Canadian railway locomotive manufacturer which existed under several names from 1883 to 1985, producing both steam and diesel locomotives. For a number of years it was a subsidiary of the American Locomotive ...

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as t ...

. On days when the steamers are not running, the railroad operates diesel

switcher A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...

SW-1200 An EMD SW1200 is a 4 axle diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and May 1966. Power is provided by an EMD 567C 12-cylinder engine which generates . Additional SW1200 production was complet ...

number 1259 and

GMD GMD1 The GMD GMD1 is a diesel locomotive originally produced by General Motors Diesel (GMD), the Canadian subsidiary of General Motors Electro-Motive Division, between August 1958 and April 1960. This road switcher locomotive is powered by a 12-cyli ...

number 1118. Until the end of the railroad's 1999 season, it also operated on the route to

Coronation, Alberta Coronation is a town in east-central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the County of Paintearth No. 18. It is located at the intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 872, approximately west of the Saskatchewan border. History Coronation ...

, which is now abandoned.

Equipment

No. 41 was built in December, 1920 for the

Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad The Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad (JLC&E) was a short-line railroad that operated in Mississippi and Craighead County of northeast Arkansas. This railroad received a charter from the State of Arkansas on April 7, 1897, and track const ...

, and was there assigned the "41" number. When that line became part of the

St. Louis–San Francisco Railway The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway , commonly known as the "Frisco", was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central United States from 1876 to April 17, 1980. At the end of 1970, it operated of road on of track, not includi ...

(Frisco), the locomotive was re-numbered as 77. After performing freight service with the Frisco for years, the engine was sold in 1947 to the

Mississippian Railway The Mississippian Railway is a short line railroad operating from Amory, Mississippi, to Fulton, Mississippi. It is owned and operated by the Itawamba County Railroad Authority. The MSRW interchanges with the BNSF Railway at Amory, Mississip ...

where it retained the Frisco number. Following several further changes in ownership, the locomotive was acquired by Alberta Prairie and renumbered back to 41.

References

External links

Railway's website
Heritage railways in Alberta County of Stettler No. 6 Stettler, Alberta {{Alberta-transport-stub

Equipment

See also

References

External links