One of the historic buildings on the grounds of the museum is a 1920 Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) bunkhouse, from Coutts, Alberta, as is the 1890 railway depot. In Coutts, the bunkhouse would have been situated along the west side of the tracks to the north of the station. It would have been occupied on an irregular basis by linemen stationed in the area to do maintenance and track repair as required. Moved here in, or shortly after, 2000 it has been repainted and possibly repaired as necessary and today looks pretty nice - ready to move into. Though the station and the railway (originally narrow gauge) were built through here in 1890 by the Galt Railway, by 1920 the CPR had taken over and converted the tracks to standard gauge. As a result the bunkhouse would, indeed, have been built by the CPR.
Though the museum is only open June through August, one may visit visit
by appointment throughout the year.
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.
Today the depot has been completely restored and refurnished with furnishings and fixtures to recreate the interior as it would have appeared in 1890. When the depot was in operation in Coutts-Sweetgrass, the border ran through the waiting room and the station personnel worked in an office at the centre of the building. As such, the building was not only railway depot, but both Canadian and U.S. Customs building, as well.
Along with its historic railway station, the museum holds a collection of rolling stock and several little speeders, which were used for railway maintenance. When we visited, the rolling stock on display to that date were a CPR cattle car, number 277324, a 1941 CPR caboose, number 436986, about a half dozen passenger and mail cars and the half dozen or so speeders. The speeders are, for the most part (if not all) in running condition and used to give rides to museum visitors.