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.
Unfortunately, the Kalamazoo isn't part of the "train", presently only used for display purposes, set up on the boardwalk to the west of the station and beside the long baggage car. Hitched to it is a fairly old wood floored parts & tools car. According to
Galt Historic Railway Park this is one of only two Kalamazoo speeders in Alberta. As was every other piece of rolling stock at the museum, this was also used by the CPR for maintenance along its many miles of track, for many years near Airdrie, once about 20 miles north of Calgary, now only about 10 miles north. Model 56W, the speeder no longer has the original Wisconsin 4-cycle engine, but is equipped with an Onan ‘P’ series engine.
Built, probably in the 1950s or 1960s, by the
Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan, this speeder was one of a multitude of products produced by them over the years, almost all being railroad related products. Established in 1883, the company manufactured hand and push cars, motor cars, velocipedes, jacks, tanks, stand pipes and other products needed for railroad work. The company folded in the 1990s, with little notice and even less fanfare.