Galt Historic Railway Park was created about 2000 as a site for the preservation and display of items and artefacts which recapture the history of the railway in Southern Alberta.
The Galt Historic Railway Park & Railway Heritage Interpretive Centre, collects, preserves, restores, exhibits and interprets artifacts which represent the history and social impact of the “steam” and “coal” eras in southern Alberta, with emphasis on Galt Railway System (1885 – 1912) and the 1890 International Train Station Depot from Coutts, Northwest Territories / Sweetgrass, Montana.
From the Galt Historic Railway Park
In that year the venerable old Coutts, Alberta/Sweetgrass, Montana railway depot was purchased by the Great Canadian Plains Railway Society and moved to the 35 acre site on which the museum stands today. Now the centerpiece of the museum, this railway depot is probably unique in Alberta, possibly all of Canada, in that it was built straddling the Canada-USA border. The depot was built in 1890 by Sir Alexander Galt and his son Elliott Galt as partners in a consortium of investors from Canada, England and the United States which founded the Galt Railway system, the Galt Canal, coal mines and other enterprises. As one of only two "Lunch Stations" along the railway line which ran from Lethbridge, Alberta to Great Falls, Montana, it continued in operation as built until September of 1916, when the northern part of the station was moved away from the border into Coutts, where it was used by the Canadian Pacific Railway until its closing in 1989. In 2000 the Coutts half of the depot was rejoined with the Sweetgrass section as the two were moved to the museum. The station is the last of its type remaining in Western Canada.
Along with its historic railway station, the museum holds a collection of rolling stock and several little speeders, which were used for railway maintenance. In the summer visitors are treated to rides on a "Speeder Train" consisting of several speeders and "gang cars", non motorized cars pulled by speeders.
Part of the "train" is this Fairmont A6, the largest of the group, with an open sided cab.
We're not sure if this one is in running condition as it is only along for the ride on the speeder train. Side doors were available for the A6 but this example appears never to have had doors. Given the cold winters on the Canadian prairies, this seems a bit unusual. The "A6" model had a fairly long production run, being manufactured from the '30s well into the '80s with designations of A6 to A6-A through A6-G. They all used a Ford engine, either a Ford Model A 4 cylinder in the earlier models, a Model B 4 cylinder in later models and even the V8 flathead for certain models. All drove 20 inch stamped steel wheels through a 4 speed transmission.