MHS Smarty Party: 20 October 2022

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Prairie Dog Central Railway (1 Prairie Dog Trail, Winnipeg)

The Prairie Dog Central Railway uses one of the oldest running steam locomotives in Canada. Their coaches are all around 100 years old, and the Inkster Junction station in northwest Winnipeg is over 100 years old. In the early 1970s, the railway used an abandoned CNR track in southwest Winnipeg that is now the Harte Trail. Today, the train runs to Grosse Isle and Warren, a trip of about 20 miles, once a day each weekend and holiday from March to September.

A highlight of the facility is Steam Locomotive No. 3. Built at Glasgow, Scotland in 1882, the locomotive was used on Canadian Pacific Railway lines in western Canada. Sold to the City of Winnipeg in 1918, it serviced hydroelectric generating stations along the Winnipeg River until 1961, being damaged in a fire in a roundhouse at Pointe du Bois in December 1943 and subsequently repaired. It was brought to Winnipeg in February 1967 and refurbished by a group of railway enthusiasts.

A station building, a special design built in 1910 by the Canadian National Railway on Estella Street near Portage Avenue at St. James, was moved to this site in 1999.

Steam Locomotive No. 3 after a fire at Pointe du Bois (December 1943) Source: Edward K. Bricknell Prairie Dog Central steam-powered locomotive (August 2013) Source: George Penner Prairie Dog Central diesel-powered locomotive (June 2004) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Former Canadian National Railway station at its original site in St. James (April 1994) Source: George Penner Former Canadian National Railway station from St. James (August 2015) Source: George Penner Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.95234, W97.27003 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Salvation of a Prairie Dog: The Survival Story of Canada's Oldest Working Steam Locomotive by Paul Newsome
Prairie History, Number 3, Fall 2020

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Grosse Isle Museum (Grosse Isle, RM of Rockwood)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Canadian National Railways Steam Locomotive No. 6043 (Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Canadian National Railways Steam Locomotive No. 2747 (Plessis Road, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Winnipeg Railway Museum (123 Main Street, Winnipeg)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Railway Stations

Sources:

“Round house is burned at Pointe du Bois,” Winnipeg Free Press, 28 December 1943, page 12.

“It’s all aboard for the Prairie Dog Central,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 May 1975, page 26.

Prairie Dog Central Railway

We thank Nonni Jonsson, George Penner, Edward K. Bricknell, and Paul Newsome for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 4 November 2020

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