Comments on: Inland Cement stone loads head north, before heading east to Edmonton. The Mountain Park Sub gets progressively more scenic as you head south to Cadomin, and the Luscar spur; now closed with its near 3% grade. http://www.railpictures.ca The BEST Canadian photos on the Internet, eh? Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:15:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Noe http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=53830#comment-60166 Noe Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:50:37 +0000 http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img034-3-copy-21280.jpg#comment-60166 Cool image. Classic CN power and the speeder car is neat too. Cool image. Classic CN power and the speeder car is neat too.

]]> By: SD70Dude http://www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=53830#comment-60134 SD70Dude Thu, 08 Feb 2024 23:10:21 +0000 http://www.railpictures.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/img034-3-copy-21280.jpg#comment-60134 The train is on the Mountain Park Sub, the Foothills Sub main is the other good looking track. The old yard tracks were probably out of service by this time and have since been removed. The two main tracks run side by side between Coalspur and Parkhill Jct, a distance of about 0.7 miles and there is a single crossover at Coalspur, allowing meets to be made here between two Mountain Park Sub trains. Coalspur used to be quite the busy spot on the Coal Branch, with a yard, wye and a small three track locomotive shop (the concrete foundation and pits are still there, hidden in some bushes in the middle of the old wye). Several hundred people lived in the town and it was a home terminal for some train crews until the early 1950s. Today nothing remains of the town, some old buildings lasted until fairly recently but were all removed in preparation for the Coal Valley mine to expand into this area, though as it happened the open pit mining activity stopped short of the old townsite. The hill above the rock cars contains an underground coal seam fire which has been smouldering for about 100 years. There is a second more active fire a few miles to the southeast (timetable west), at mile 40 on the Foothills Sub. The train is on the Mountain Park Sub, the Foothills Sub main is the other good looking track. The old yard tracks were probably out of service by this time and have since been removed. The two main tracks run side by side between Coalspur and Parkhill Jct, a distance of about 0.7 miles and there is a single crossover at Coalspur, allowing meets to be made here between two Mountain Park Sub trains.

Coalspur used to be quite the busy spot on the Coal Branch, with a yard, wye and a small three track locomotive shop (the concrete foundation and pits are still there, hidden in some bushes in the middle of the old wye). Several hundred people lived in the town and it was a home terminal for some train crews until the early 1950s. Today nothing remains of the town, some old buildings lasted until fairly recently but were all removed in preparation for the Coal Valley mine to expand into this area, though as it happened the open pit mining activity stopped short of the old townsite.

The hill above the rock cars contains an underground coal seam fire which has been smouldering for about 100 years. There is a second more active fire a few miles to the southeast (timetable west), at mile 40 on the Foothills Sub.

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