The Calgary and Edmonton Railway (C&E) was an early pioneer railway in what was then the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

, now Alberta, Canada. It connected the towns of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and Strathcona (also called South Edmonton). Construction started in April 1890 and it opened August 1891. The line was the first major transportation connection for the isolated Edmonton settlement, and the development of the line was responsible for the creation of many railway towns along the line such as Red Deer and Wetaskiwin. It supplanted the Calgary and Edmonton Trail as the busiest transportation route along the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Initially, the northern terminus of the line was the old wooden Strathcona train station, a replica of which the Calgary and Edmonton Railway Station Museum operates, until the Edmonton, Yukon and Pacific Railway company was created to run a shortline across the North Saskatchewan River in 1902. In 1907 the new

Strathcona Canadian Pacific Railway station Strathcona Canadian Pacific Railway Station was built by the Calgary and Edmonton Railway in what was then the City of Strathcona, Alberta. The station was started in 1907, completed in 1908, and expanded in 1910, and is located at what is now 8 ...

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 the east coast to Edmonton where they would congregate at immigration halls and land titles offices before setting out into the rural areas to start 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 lines lined with

grain elevator A grain elevator 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 lower level and deposits ...

s. The line was later acquired by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , 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 Canadi ...

, and Strathcona merged with Edmonton in 1912. The line itself still exists, and although train passenger service was discontinued in 1985, the Edmonton Radial Railway Society operates vintage street cars from Old Strathcona across the High Level Bridge to stops south of Jasper Avenue and near the Legislature.

References

See also