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.
At the head of the "train" is this Fairmont MT19, the smallest of the group, one of two speeders here 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. This example quite likely had side doors when in service but were removed when it arrived at the museum. The "MT19" model followed the M19, which was produced from the early '30s though the '80s. The MT19, though, was only produced from the 1960s to the mid 1980s, this one being of 1960s vintage. The MT19 used an Onan engine, driving 16 inch stamped steel wheels through a variable speed belt drive transmission.