Canadian Northern Western Railroad

On our way back from Alexo and Traunton, Chris and I went exploring along a section of the Canadian Northern Western Railway line near Nordegg.  There is a section that extends from near Beaverdam Lake, west to the Nordegg townsite, where the line passes through a number of rockcuts.  A couple of them are relatively minor, but two are a little more substantial.

In the first that we came across, the more easterly one, we discovered the remains of an old bridge.  It seems this is the spot where the old alignment of Highway 11 crossed the rail line.  Parts of the current ATV trail follow the old highway alignment, as does the road to Beaverdam Recreation Area.  I seem to recall that when I was a teen, and my family visited the Nordegg area, that there was once a trestle where the rail line crossed the current alignment of the David Thompson Highway.  Perhaps this recollection is incorrect...?  this will merit further research and exploration.

Further west, and closer to the current gravel quarry we came upon a larger rockcut.  Here we discovered a rusty old bucket.  On the bottom there was an impression that said "Black Blasting Powder" and mentioned "Canadian Explosives".  Chris did a little research on the company and it seems they operated from 1910 to 1927.  The rail line was run around 1914, so perhaps this old bucket dates back to the time that this rockcut was created.  Of course this is only speculation on our part and perhaps the bucket dates to maintenance done at some later date, or was simply dumped here at some point.  All the same it is most interesting when one considers the possibilities.