Before the October issue of TRAINS comes out I just wanted to say a few words about the article on page 13 of the September issue regarding the Great Sandhills Railway.
The Empress and Burstall Sub’s. were part of the territory my father dispatched when he held what was called 1st East Dispatcher in the Calgary Dispatchers Office. The line marked To Calgary was the Maple Creek Sub. from Swift Current, SK to Medicine Hat, AB, and the Brooks Sub. from Medicine Hat to Calgary. The line marked in red from Swift Current to Leader continued on to Empress, AB just over the border. This line continued west from there to Bassano, AB, back on the transcontinental mainline. The original Empress Sub. was 112.3 miles long and the Bassano Sub. was 118.4 miles long.
Leader was 23.6 miles east of Empress at mile 88.2. Leader to Burstall was 24.8 miles on the Burstall Sub. This line continued 19.1 miles SSW to a station called Pivot. Here what was the original Burstall Sub. continued on for 6 more miles to Schuler, AB. Later the Burstall Sub. was built on eastward from Pivot 25.6 miles to Fox Valley, SK
I thought readers would be interested in how things once were in this area. I got out my copy of the Employee Timetable for April 1964. This is significant because 1964 was the last full year of Mixed train service on the Alberta Division before they were phased out over the next couple of years.
On the line shown between Mayne and Leader, there were 13 scheduled stops with 7 of them at open stations manned with agents, including Shackleton and Leader. There were WB Mixed trains Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and EB Mixed trains Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The Shackleton and Leader stations stood until 1970.
Mixed trains left Empress EB before heading SB at Leader, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and returning Wednesdays and Saturdays. There was a scheduled stop at Mendham, manned, 10.6 miles from Leader, and one Flag Stop plus one more scheduled