Canadian Railroads > Vulcan AB., a street of grain elevators

For many years, the town of Vulcan AB.had one of the best streets of wooden grain elevators in Canada.

This image from the 1980's includes a recently closed CP standard plan station. 

Vulcan was the site of a Commonwealth Air Training base during WW2.  Bomber crews from Britain and the Commonwealth trained to fly from basic to multi engined bombers. After the war, many aircraft were scrapped on site or sold. A farmer from nearby Nanton AB purchased an Avro Lancaster bomber, and moved it across the wheatfields to a shed in Nanton. There it remains today on public display. The Canadian built Lancasters had Packhard engines and many other North American parts which made them different than the UK built bombers. Another Canadian Lancaster is preserved in Calgary.Today, Vulcan sports a huge replica of the Starship "Enterprise" and a statue of Spock from Star Trek.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/18 11:34 by eminence_grise.

Truely an interesting location and backstory.
Bob

Love those Elevators !  At one time Vulcan had 9 elevators. Thanks for sharing !

That's an impressive string of elevators.

Hopefully the growers received a good price with all that competition.

I'm tempted to call it "timeless", but I suppose it's all gone now, is it?

GTD

cn6218 Wrote:
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> I'm tempted to call it "timeless", but I suppose
> it's all gone now, is it?
>
> GTD

It's been a few years, I don't know if any are left. The tracks are still active. There were two routes south of Calgary, the Aldersyde was the route they kept.

It's been a couple years since I was in Vulcan.  At that time there were still two of the original elevators standing--more or less at opposite ends
of what was once the long row of them.  Both have been "modernized" with the addition of clusters of metal grain bins and the elevators and
conveyors that go with them.  There are no opportunities for clean pictures of a pure wooden elevator but at least the old girls are still standing
and still working.  There is now a third elevator on the opposite side of the tracks but it is either a new build or has been moved in from another
location--it seems to be smaller so I suspect it's new construction.

Of course the old station is long gone.  Did it get moved?  Or was it demolished?  I haven't explored every nook and cranny of the town but if it is
still standing I don't think it's in Vulcan.  At one time there was a wye at Vulcan.  Last time I was there you could see remnants of the grade next to
the existing track and in the field next to the tracks but that's about it...

Keith Robertson
Langley, BC

Thanks for sharing. Folks here in the states dream of finding a "barn find", an old car stashed in a barn for years. But a WWII bomber in a barn? Wonderful.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

wabash2800 Wrote:
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> Thanks for sharing. Folks here in the states dream
> of finding a "barn find", an old car stashed in a
> barn for years. But a WWII bomber in a barn?
> Wonderful.
>
> Victor A. Baird
> http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Farmers in the area made a variety of buildings from aircraft aluminum. My guess is that there was a contractor chopping up 
aircraft on site. Calgary has an aircraft museum near the airport dedicated to the Commonwealth Air Training program. 

Some of the intermediate trainers were Avro Ansons, Harvards which were a big radial engined US single engined plane and some prewar
bombers.

The Canadian built aircraft were flown to Europe by the Ferry Command who were pilots from a variety of backgrounds.
The aircraft were not armed on delivery flights.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/18 20:00 by eminence_grise.

There's 2 elevators left in Vulcan  including yhis Pioneer.

Trevor

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WOW I love to see some photos of the TRECKY sites
PLEASE..

Didn't take any myself. Try the Vulcan AB. town website.

snoopy51 Wrote:
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> WOW I love to see some photos of the TRECKY sites
> PLEASE..

A few pics from Vulcan, 5 years ago already, when Powder River coal was traversing through Vulcan to/from Pr. Rupert BC.  Locomotives varied between CP, BNSF, UP and of course, CN.  3rd pic is the bridge at Carmangay Alberta, on the same line.
Glen

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