According to Stuckey and Bain (1996), “The Brandon, Saskatchewan & Hudson’s Bay Railway was built and operated as a totally owned subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway. Construction commenced in late 1905 and by the end of 1905, less than a mile of track had been laid north of the boundary at St. John. In 1906, the remaining 68.6 miles to Brandon were laid and service commenced that year. During the Depression of the 1930s, traffic declined significantly and the entire branch was abandoned in 1936. Over much of the branch’s length, the ties and rails were laid on the prairie without ballast and today little remains of the line apart from traces where there were cuts and bridges.” (p. 18)
This engine was built by Brooks in March of 1883 as No. 887 and marked as scrap [by the GN] in 1937. This engine is known to have worked passenger trains to Brandon. This class of locomotive was replaced by gas-electric [power units] in 1929 but they would be used if no gas-electric was available. Engine 185 sat dead in Minot from the closing of the Brandon line until it was scrapped.
Custodial History
For custodial history see the collection level description of the Lawrence Stuckey collection.
Scope and Content
Great Northern Engine 185, a class B-19 4-4-0 ["American"] type at Minot, ND.
Notes
Small copy neg. Quote in HistoryBio taken from Stuckey, L. A., & Bain, D. M. (1996). The Great Northern and Northern Pacific railways in Canada. Calgary, Alberta: British Railway Modellers of North America.
