We’re nearing the end of our Central Alberta Museum Tour posts with a visit to Meeting Creek.
This was my second visit to Meeting Creek. The last time I was here there was a wedding taking place and so I wasn’t able to get a good look inside the train station. Initially it appeared we weren’t going to be able to get in this time either, because our visit coincided with Hobo Day at the Camrose Heritage Railway Station and they didn’t think they would have anyone available to meet us in Meeting Creek to open things up.
It was a great surprise when I received an email from their Managing Director, Norm Prestage saying he found a couple who could meet us and let us in. Wow, that was a great bonus for us!
Inside Meeting Creek Railway Station
Meeting Creek Railway Station was built for the Canadian Northern Railway in 1913. This was a Third Class depot. Apparently the CNoR built 36 depots of the same layout/plan in Alberta but only four remained as of 2006.1
This one was restored in 1988 to how it would have appeared in the 1940s.
While we were hoping we would be able to get inside the elevator, no one was able to locate keys, so we had to settle for viewing them from the outside. According to our friends at BigDoer.com, the elevator painted in Alberta Pacific Grain style is from 1918 and the “Vertical Payne” elevator was built in either 1915 or 1935.2
Never mind the Mercury Blues, this truck has a case of the Mercury yellows
Meeting Creek was a great place to get the drone up in the air and capture some aerial footage of the elevators and train station.
Sources:
1Canadian Northern Railway Station. (n.d.). Retrieved August 06, 2017, from https://hermis.alberta.ca/ARHP/Details.aspx?DeptID=1&ObjectID=4665-1054
2Meeting Creek station and elevators. (2015, May 11). Retrieved August 06, 2017, from http://www.bigdoer.com/17933/exploring-history/meeting-creek-station-and-elevators/
DanOCan 
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So disappointed you didn”t get to see more of the station and elevator in M.C. Next time you’re this way, give me a call and I’ll personally show you around. And the Pool elev next door says Vertical Payne because Tom Payne used to own it and it was going to be developed into a climbing tower, hence “Vertical”.
Norm
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Thanks Norm. We really appreciate your help with getting access to the station. Meeting Creek is a great site.
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and if you’re up here, come to Camrose Railway Station for a tour. Also, the Centennial Museum has the original Camrose Fire hall and a couple of “antiquey” trucks, one’s a Chev from the early 50s…
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Sounds fantastic. You can count on it!
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Awesome! I love both those places. A friend of mine lives in Donalda and has given me a tour some great things in the area. Meeting Creek is probably still one of my favourite places to visit.
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I love it too. Such a great setting.
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