Old Maude sign missing- Blairmore, AB
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 36.485 W 114° 26.536
11U E 684781 N 5498199
Old Maude - fitting name for an old workhorse of its vintage (of which we're not sure). Old Maude, after a lifetime of hauling coal from Crowsnest mines, was salvaged and restored in 1967 and is now proudly displayed in the park along 20th Avenue.
Waymark Code: WMPDCD
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 08/12/2015
Views: 2
In July of 2012 this very sign, which informs passers by of the history of Old Maude, went missing. The story was picked up quickly by the Crowsnest Pass Herald of Blairmore and was published July 31, 2012, in hopes of retrieving the $750 sign. It is reproduced in part below.
Old Maude
This locomotive was built by the Canadian Locomotive Company of Kingston, Ontario and spent the first half of her working life shunting coal cars for Hillcrest Collieries. Dubbed "Old Maude" by her crew, the engine pulled coal cars up and down the spur line that ran between the Hillcrest Collieries tipple and the Canadian Pacific Railway station on the main line. In 1939, with the closure of the mine at Hillcrest, Old Maude was purchased by West Canadian Collieries. The engine was put into operation doing similar work at W.C.C.'s Greenhill Mine for the next twenty years. Following the closure of the Greenhill Mine in 1961, Old Maude seemed destined for salvage.
In 1964, local businessmen banded together to buy Old Maude and save her from the scrap heap. Over the next three years negotiations were conducted with the Blairmore town council and the C.P.R. to determine a location to display Old Maude. In 1967, as part of a Centennial Project, Old Maude was moved to her present location along Blairmore's 20th Avenue, where subsequent work was done to preserve and restore the old engine.
Learn more about Crowsnest Heritage
Old Maude sign missing
Tuesday July 31, 2012
The Crowsnest Heritage Initiative information sign about “Old Maude” in front of the old mine steam locomotive on main street Blairmore across from the Blairmore Post Office has gone missing.
“The sign disappeared sometime between Thursday, July 19 and Friday, July 20” stated Crowsnest Heritage volunteer Ian McKenzie...
...The sign was erected by the Crowsnest Heritage Initiative in 2010 at a cost of approximately $750.
The Crowsnest Heritage Initiative Signage Progam was developed to complement the award winning Crowsnest Heritage Driving Route.
Read on at the Crowsnest Pass Herald