Big Valley (Alberta)

Big Valley is a small village of 350 people (2016) in the Central Corridor region of Alberta, Canada.

Understand
In 1911 the Canadian Northern Railway (CNR) began to lay track through Big Valley, and in 1912 a terminal with a big roundhouse, stockyards, rail yards, water tower, coal-dock, general railway maintenance and repair facilities. After the merger of Canadian Northern Railway and Grand Trunk Pacific railways to create Canadian National Railway (CNR), much of the railway terminal facilities were decommissioned; there are still the remains of the railway you can see with a walking self-tour.

In November 1986, Central Western Railway Corp. (later Railink) purchased the portion of CNR track from Ferlow Junction (near Camrose) to Munson Junction (near Drumheller). Railink has since sold most of the line to a salvage company and now the tracks extend from Stettler to Big Valley; this remaining portion is owned by the East Central Alberta Heritage Society (ECHAC) - Alberta Prairie Steam Tours rents the use of the track for their steam train excursions.

Get in
Big Valley is northeast of Calgary,  south of Stettler and  north of Drumheller on Highway 56.

See