Читать книгу Rails Across the Prairies - Ron Brown - Страница 3

How wonderful it was to travel across the Prairies and meet so many individuals and organizations who were concerned about their railway heritage. There were travel staff, hotel staff, museum curators, and simply those individuals who were passionate about their railway roots.

In no particular order, I would like to thank the curator of the station museum in Radville, Judy Dionne, who spent her valuable time showing me the wonderful work the local volunteers have done to preserve their station on site, and who forwarded to me some interesting old images of the station. Then there was Denis Depres of the Delta Bessborough Hotel in Saskatoon, who gave me the grand tour of a grand building, and Don McGuire, who led the creation of the Wainwright Rail Park, preserving much valuable rolling stack. Thanks to Barb Monroe, communications specialist at the Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary, for providing much-needed images of their rail operations, and to Catriona Hill, director of the CPR’s Heritage Services in Calgary, for also sharing some great shots of their heritage railway equipment, steam engine 2816, and the glamorous Royal Canadian Pacific tour train. Michelle Grenier of Hudson Bay was also kind enough to send images of the heritage station in Al Mazur Memorial Heritage Park. Thanks, too, to Malcolm Andrew of VIA Rail Canada for the image of Edmonton’s elegant and modern new VIA Rail station there. I am grateful to Andy and Michelle of the Rochfort Bridge Trading Post, who provided vital details of the massive railway trestle in that village, and Laurie Armstrong, director of economic development and tourism in Hanna, for updates on the relocation of the station and progress of the efforts to save that community’s rare roundhouse.

Finally, I am most grateful to the friendly and helpful staff at Travel Alberta and Tourism Saskatchewan for generously assisting me with the logistics of my visits to those two provinces during the summer of 2011 (one of the wettest in years).

I hope this modest book will confirm to these people that their assistance has been worth it.