Heritage Park Calgary Municipal Railway Electric Streetcar

Calgary was no stranger to electric motive power before the C-Train started operations with Calgary Transit in 1981. The very first electric streetcars that rattled through the streets of Calgary, Alberta Canada was on July 12, 1909, the same year that Calgary’s first skyscraper “The Great Exchange” was built which was six stories high very high for its day, but by comparison not much today.
There were many things that Calgarians and tourists alike back in the 1920s and 1930s can tell you about when riding the streetcar either to work, to school, or to go out to Bowness Park. Many of them being was where the glass would shake when the motorman would crank up the throttle and the car would pick up speed, particularly on the run out to Bowness without even breaking or splitting. And back then there was a $50 fine for spitting, which was very often ignored most particularly in the rear smoker section of the streetcar. That was during the time of the Spanish flu when we didn’t have the medical advancements that we do now.
And also in those days, one did realize that you could take not one, but also two streetcar tickets, and part of them. Where essentially one side of the ticket was printed and validated for the day that you would ride the streetcar and the other half was validated for another day when you wanted to ride the streetcar.
Electric streetcars continue to run through the streets of Calgary until December 29, 1950 when the last streetcar made her last revenue run on December 29, 1950. There is only one surviving, original streetcar from the Calgary Municipal Railway the one that made the very last revenue run. Streetcar No. 14 now, officially makes the run from the lower parking lot to the front gate at Heritage Park regularly seasonal from May to October. When Heritage Park first got her back in the 1960s, she was just a big pile of rust. So they had to stripper down and rebuild the car frame all from the ground up and put her all back together. And car No. 14 was restored to operation at Heritage Park in 1975. The streetcar that you’re seeing in the video is the a replica streetcar that Heritage Park had custom built from car 14 old blueprints in 1990, and that’s streetcar No. 15 rolling alongside 14th Street SW also serving the Heritage Park route. No matter what car you ride on, it is still a marvellous trip back in time to the days of a Calgary Municipal Railway electric streetcar.
If you’re ever in the area of Calgary, Alberta Canada, I would highly recommend visiting Heritage Park, and having a nice ride with with the electric streetcars. The streetcar ride starts from Encana Station if you park at Encana Station. Parking is free but remember to keep in mind to not park your vehicle in the hospital parking lot. Once you get on the streetcar you will be heading down to the lower parking lot at Dominion Station where if you park in the lower parking lot parking is $10.00. After Dominion Station you will be heading on your way up to the front gate of Andrew Station the main entrance of Heritage Park. The street car ride is free of charge so you can ride as many times as you like and you don’t have to pay one dollar just to ride anymore. Nor to see your passes just to ride the streetcar. Though, however, when you’re going into the park, yes that would be when you would need to show your passes or pay admission.
Have a great day everyone and stay safe, be healthy, and remember, let’s take care of each other.