I have seen 2 railway water towers in Alberta. The first, at the Anthony Henday Museum in Delburne, AB. It was moved a short distance from it's original location, restored, and now houses part of the museum collection. The museum (which is an old train station) also has a restored one room schoolhouse, CNR caboose and a speeder. Worth a visit when they are open in the summer.
The other tower, which I have been wanting to see for ages, is in New Brigden, Alberta. This water tower is unique in the fact that it still exists in it's original location. It is a local landmark and the tallest
and oldest building in town. There are a few more of these octagonal beauties around Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC that I know of. I would like to see them all.
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| Lone photo of the lone tower. |
The tower is 13 meters tall and was built in 1925. The community also used the water tower to flood an outdoor skating rink and for the ice in the nearby curling rink. Maybe it's because of those other uses that it has survived the steam engine era as well as the closure and removal of the rail line through the area. It has been looked after by the locals and was given Provincial Historic Resource status in 2009.
Speaking of the curling rink......there happened to be a bonspiel going on when we were there, how CANADIAN. We stopped in, ate some delicious food and just hung out. I loved the atmosphere in there, and I am pretty sure everyone knew each other. I grew up in a big city so I never did things like this. I enjoyed myself and so did H.
Also, since I mentioned Delburne, here are some previously unreleased photos from July 2017 of our visit! It remember it being a very hot day. The school at the museum was one I had gone to look for in it's original location not realizing it had been moved.
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| Small child for scale |
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| Wood Lake School 1906-1957 |
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| Shhhhhhh! |
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| Caboose selfie! Also sad the sunglasses I am wearing were stolen. |
References: HeRMIS
Great photos! You always show such wonderful old buildings reflecting great history. Love it!
ReplyDeleteYour selfie is great!
Hi Marie! Thanks! These old water towers are neat, not many left. I have also seen a couple of foundations of where ones used to be. Always have to take a selfie lol.
DeleteI've only seen a similar water tower here once, and it was near an old train track.
ReplyDeleteHi William! Cool are the tracks still used? So many branch lines here got closed and pulled up. Surpringly this water tower survived.
DeleteHa ha ha ha..."small child for scale" that cracked me up. Oooh a bonspiel, how fun...I LOVE curling. At first I thought it was funny...you know the shouts and words they use, but it's actually quite a fun sport to watch! The towers are really nice, I've never seen them before.
ReplyDeleteHi Rain lol, my son is a good sport! My dad always curled when I was a kid but I don’t remember ever watching him.
DeleteA pretty impressive water tower with some interesting background history. Love that one room school classroom, the desks are unique.
ReplyDeleteHi Bill, these old water towers are pretty rare! That school was neat! We hung out in there for a bit.
DeleteI've never, ever seen a railway water tower in real life.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Nice tat, Jenn!
Hi Debra! They’re cool, hard to tell how big they are in photos, I was surprised when I saw it in person.
DeleteThanks! 😉
Love railway water towers! Nice photos and writeup!
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve! You must’ve seen some in your travels?
DeleteHome!!!! Yep, everyone knows everyone at the curling bonspiels! It's a great little small town community. I love the water tower and am glad it has historical status! I wish the old store was still standing too.
ReplyDeleteHi Stephanie! I love it when people who know a place see my blog. It's a great area to explore and I will be back!
DeleteThis is an interesting blog.
ReplyDeletethanks
the Ol'Buzzard
Thanks, I enjoy it and now have a journal of places my son and I have visited!
DeleteI always hate losing a pair of sunglasses. I think one might of been stolen from me.
ReplyDeleteHey Adam, I accidentally left my car unlocked one night and sure enough....
DeleteI wonder how they kept those water towers from freezing?
ReplyDeleteFrank, that is an excellent question, I am sure one of my friends who like trains could tell me.
DeleteHow amazing! I have never seen the like of this kind of water tower! What a beauty! Love your photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine, I think so many were just torn down once steam trains were no longer used.
DeleteI don't think I've ever seen such a tower! Those old school desks were great.
ReplyDeleteHi RedPat! They're cool eh? From what I read they used to be every few miles.
DeleteI'm going to have to Google train water towers Jenn, I don't quite understand the concept. I'm very glad however that they have been preserved and used because they are fabulous!
ReplyDeleteHi PDP, I am not totally sure but they had a tank inside either fed by a pump or from a local body of water, there was a long spigot that they would swing out over the train to replenish it's water supply. That is probably a very basic answer lol. They used to be all along the tracks until steam engines were no longer used.
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