Canadian Railroads > 5 Days Late to Commemorate a 45th Anniversary

On June 1, 1974, Train #2 made its last run ending passenger service between Dawson Creek and Edmonton. All that would remain then on NAR's time card was the Waterways Mixed Train service.

So in the early morning hours, just after dawn, GMD1 #302 blasts through Mearns Alberta. Doug Phillips and I managed to catch up to it again at Campbell, just north of Dunvegan Yards and then again at Dunvegan itself where upon entering yard limits the crawl was made at 4mph to the awaiting crowd and final ceremony. Richard Yaremko

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A true historical treasure.
Bob

A trip to northern BC in 1972 revealed why some passenger trains and mixed trains lasted as long as they did. The highway network was much less developed then.

Driving east along Highway 5 from Kamloops to Jasper and then west on Highway 16 was a major task. These roads were under construction, but before the 1970's, the only way to access communities along the route was by passenger train or mixed train.

I'm sure this was the case in northern Alberta too.

Thanks for this historic gem !

Wow excellent image! The church still stands at Mearns, but the elevators are long gone! I've tried to frame that church in a few shots, but it's not exactly in an ideal position. Here's an attempt from 2014 with the southbound A418
-Trevor

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Terrific shot for so many reasons; your minimizing of the pole line is an excellent effort, too. Really nice follow up shot by Trevor, too.
Fred

Here is a scan of a slide in my collection of the northbound run the day before. The photo was taken at Sexsmith on 5-31-1974 by an unknown photographer.

Ted

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