Westward bound Canadian Pacific Grain Train

The Canadian Pacific Railway branch line that ran past our farmyard brought all the early pioneers into this area that eventually settled the district and then hauled all their produce westward. Of course the main item was grain, and countless bushels were carried over these tracks, a lot of these steel rails were still in place right up to the very end after being laid down in 1905. One major obstacle that had to be dealt with was a small valley to the west, and the only solution was the construction of a wooden trestle. It still remains in place as an earthen structure, but the trains, and the tracks they rolled over are long gone, replaced instead by semi- trucks that haul the grain to large inland terminals and the family automobile, which carries people in whatever direction they wish to go. I took the opportunity many years ago to save to VHS format these trains at work, shortly before their demise. This video is a compilation of that effort.

[@jeffmorcom544]

Great video and narration. When I was young my family owned pasture land in Jumping Deer Creek about 10 km north of here.

[@DeereDon]

Hi Jeff: Thanks for watching (and commenting). I do recall your family name from many years ago, associated of course more so with the Dysart district.

[@roosty6]

Nice work DD. Its right up there with the NFB vignettes of Canada I'd say.

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Hello Roosty!

[@roosty6]

@@oilersridersbluejays Hey there Ludwig. Imagine meeting you here.

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Man does that bring back good memories! I farm in NW Saskatchewan. We lost our CN rail line in the late 2000s. When CN decided to abandon the line, an attempt to start a short line began but was in vain when CN decided to triple their asking price for the line. Such a shame, the line was in very excellent condition for a grain-dependent branch line. It had a mix of 85 and 100lb rail, and the ties and roadbed was in very good shape. Now, it’s haul all the grain an hour away and wait in line for a long time and never get to talk to anyone while there. I miss the old days of hauling to the Pioneer or Wheat Pool in the tandem and the three ton and watching the cars being spotted or picked up. Progress I guess...

[@DeereDon]

Thanks for your many various comments. Yes, it was another reason why I decided to call it quits. For almost 30 years I only had to haul a distance of a quarter of a mile, knew the agent on a personal basis, could stand around and talk to the farmers any day in the elevator office. The rail bed had been totally re-vamped in 1980, new Pool elevator built in 1983 (state of the art), by 2003 that elevator was turned into a pile of ash, the tracks ripped up and shipped to Chicago in 2008, now I was hauling 30 to 40 miles, being a small farmer didn't help either, like really, why even bother?

[@oilersridersbluejays]

I don’t blame you. I was in my early 20s farming with dad and both of us also working in the oilfield as well when CN pulled the plug on our line. 6 mile haul from our home farm to town and 8 miles to town from grandpa’s farm (where my dad grew up). All gravel from our house and only two miles of highway from grandpa’s yard so we would load up the tandem and three ton to the tarp rails haha. When CN abandoned the line, all that was left for elevators was a Pioneer in town (built in 1985) and one Pioneer in a neighbouring town. Wheat Pools were closed and Wheat Pool was Viterra by then. Dad was seriously considering shutting down in farming but decided to keep going. We ended up buying a semi and a tandem trailer to do all the hauling. More tires and maintenance to worry about and a man sure adds up the miles in a year! If I can’t keep up, some of it gets custom hauled and that’s more money out of the pocket. If I could, I would relocate to a farm near a mainline terminal but roots run too deep here I suppose.

[@_MOTH_69]

C B mind me asking do you know the name of the line cn ripped out in your area. I am very fascinated in abandoned lines throughout the province

[@oilersridersbluejays]

It was CN Turtleford Subdivision. My town was at the end of the line. There was a wye at one time at the very end of the subdivision at the edge of town where they would turn the little GMD-1 locomotives around. The track was upgraded to 85 lb rail sometime in the early 80s and then instead of GMD-1s and 40’ boxcars, it was 90 ton hopper cars and GP 38-2 locomotives. It was quite a big grain collecting area. Both elevators in town had 25 car spots, long digital scales that could accommodate a super b, and held around 6000 tons each.

[@thebreakofdon5188]

Very nice video. We have a train track that cuts through one of our quarters. It was nice to watch the car loads of new vehicles being shipped(until they had to enclose the cars). It was also nice to see the passenger train. But, that as well is very rare in recent years.

[@EDBZ28]

Another great video by "DeereDon". Looked like a Honda Big Red in the background of the one shot!

[@DeereDon]

You are correct, that Big Red was my "go to" machine for all kinds of of road work, put many a mile on it and it never let me down once. And it, like all the rest of my equipment was looked after, I did not believe in driving it through every mud hole on my farm or make it pull its guts out when not necessary.

[@EDBZ28]

Ha! I thought it looked like one...& after watching all of your videos, I can certainly believe it was taken care of as nice as the rest of your equipment. Do you still own it? I own a 1985 and it’s still original and in very nice shape. If you care to, I’d like to correspond with you and share pictures of my farm tractors, equipment and combines. One of our (father & me) outfits is in my thumbnail photo here on KZbin. It’s a 1989 4755 w/a 24’ jd 637 rock disk. It’s my favorite looking outfit on the farm.

[@DeereDon]

@@EDBZ28 Hi there, my Honda was a 1986 model, purchased new in July 1987. Because they were 3 wheeled machines the government at that time deemed them "dangerous", and therefore the dealership was anxious to sell out its inventory. I got it at an excellent price, kept it until September of 2003 when I bought a new Honda TRX400FA, yellow in color and with the "Hydromatic" transmission, something my wife really liked. At that point in time I then sold my faithful trike to my good friend, known as Roosty6, and today if you go to his channel you can see this trike still going. In all the years I had my trike I only had one problem which was a flat tire on the back, drove over a sharp object and naturally it needed repair. It still had the original battery when it left this yard, and it took a few years after that before even he had to replace it. We still have the 4 wheeled Honda, it is kept in the shed as a "spare", simply because we ended up with a JD Gator in the summer of 2013 and I just couldn't get rid of the Honda. It is ready to go if I need it, but hardly ever use it. So be it. I am quite willing to correspond with you by email, if so, how would you like to do it? I am certainly open to any suggestions you have.

[@PrinceStreet]

This work is fantastic. I’m really grateful you’ve collected the footage in the first place and then to make it available. The technology to record video like we do now is so new and wasn’t so broadly available in this era (what I would have given for a video camera as I tried to record as much as I wanted to on Prince Edward Island railway) in this same era. Then to invest the effort to convert from VHS to digital, thank you again!

[@DeereDon]

I am glad you enjoyed it, and do feel free to roam about on my channel and see if there is anything else there that interests you. As for my VHS camera, well, that was a stroke of luck obtaining that over 30 years ago, and as for the VHS converter that too was even more fortuitous, as I happened to be in the right place at the right time talking to the right people in order to get that piece of equipment. Those units are now very scarce indeed!!

[@calgaryspenny]

I love the authenticity of the footage and narration, really well done. The part about the trestle bridge is fascinating. Thank you for sharing this rare glimpse in to the past.

[@Cereal_Farmer]

Fantastic narration. Thank you!

[@robertbyrne3309]

Great work tks

[@DeereDon]

Thanks for taking the time to watch it, much appreciated!!!

[@samtalley791]

Wow, thank you for take your time then and now to compile such a great video. Great narration! Here in my area the trains mostly carried coal from the mines (north of town by the time I was around) south to the power plants and aluminum plant. My home is roughly 25 miles from 2 river terminal elevators. Your part of the world is so beautiful I hope to visit SK some day.

[@DeereDon]

You are most welcome to come to this part of Canada, hopefully whenever Co-19 has come to an end. Just don't come during winter, today we are locked in a blizzard with white-out conditions. You wouldn't see more then 100 feet!!! I do thank you for your comments.

[@calanhort1136]

Good video I enjoyed it

[@horselakeranch]

This west of lipton?

[@DeereDon]

Sorry I did not get back you on this, I just discovered it a moment ago when I was doing some back checking, anyway, yes, I have to admit it is west of the village of Lipton. Are you familiar with the area? Again, my apologies.

[@horselakeranch]

@@DeereDon yes I drive by there sometimes. I live north of ituna. I seen that crossing and wondered how they made it actually.

[@scruffy6151]

👍🙏