Calgary Transit South LRT Extension

Phase 1 Anderson to Fish Creek/Lacombe

Construction of this section of the LRT system consisted of building 2 major overpasses for traffic, 2 bridges, and 2 Stations.  Construction for the overpasses started as early as 1997 and completion by the year 2001 with LRT track work and station construction starting in the year 2000.  The cost of this extension was $80.1-Million dollars (Not including the overpasses) and was completed by October 9th, 2001.  The two LRT Stations that were constructed included the Canyon Meadows Station built off of MacLeod Trail at Canyon Meadows Drive and the Fish Creek/Lacombe Station which is located just off of MacLeod Trail at 146 Avenue.  In this section, it will contain photos during the construction progress and the finished product broken up into groups of photos.  Please click one of the photos below to view it's full size:

The view from Anderson Station overpass
April 14, 2001	May 13, 2001	May 20, 2001	June 4, 2001	June 12, 2001
June 14, 2001	June 22, 2001	August 14, 2001	August 21, 2001

Construction Timeline for the above photos:

• April 14, 2001: By this time, Calgary Transit had got the track bed ready for the ballast and tracks to be laid for the South LRT extension and with the help of CP Rail, they had the stub track for unloading the U2 LRT cars removed so the South LRT extension could go ahead
• May 13, 2001: From the last time I visited the spot, the northbound track has been disconnected from being accessible from the Anderson shops, along with construction vehicles moving in to help build up the track bed.
• May 20, 2001, June 4, 2001, and June 12, 2001 Photos: Not much really changed in these 3 photos except the track bed has been laid and preparation for laying the tracks has been made
• June 14, 2001: The tracks have been brought in to be laid.  Concrete railroad ties will be set into place and the rails fastened to await the tracks to be tampered.
• June 22, 2001: In the last 8 days since the previous photos, the Northbound track had been tied into the main line, and the tracks await being tampered
• August 14, 2001: The tamper machine is tampering the southbound tracks
• August 21, 2001: The tamper machine is tampering the northbound tracks

Other Construction Photos:

Sorted by the date they were shot.

April 14, 2001:
	A view from the Anderson Station Platform that shows the new switch and tailtrack being  constructed		A closer view of the tail track and switch construction from the previous photo
	A view of the future LRT construction that is taken from the private road leading into the Anderson Garage		A view looking South from the Anderson Road detour showing the progress made on the LRT extension.  The three tracks shown in this photo from left to right is the northbound track, the southbound track, and the test track/shop track
	A closer up zoom shot of the tracks for the South LRT extension		A sign showing the rail contractor company's name
	A sign showing that the South LRT extension is in progress		A view of this dead end track (bottom centre of the photo) that was possibly the former CP Rail line that got moved to the left in this photo
	A view showing the Anderson Road detour with the dead end track on the left of the photo		A view from the centre of the Anderson Road detour showing the dead end track ending and the Anderson Garage private road right beside it.
	A view showing the end of the dead end track.  This track starts from this side of the road and extends about 10-20 some odd feet past the other side of the road.  This track was removed sometime before June 14, 2001 when Anderson Road opened on the overpass in the background of this photo

May 13, 2001:
	The end of the northbound track just south of the Anderson LRT station.  It is waiting for the tracks to be tied into the south LRT extension that will happen in about a month of this photo being taken.		Concrete railroad ties are sitting beside the fence awaiting to be reused for the LRT extension
	The track shown here in this photo will eventually turn onto the test track (the furthest west track from Anderson Garage to just before Canyon Meadows Station). It used to just turn into a dead end track before it was cut down.

May 20, 2001:
	An overhead view of the track work being worked on from above at Anderson Station.  The switch at the bottom of this photo from the Northbound (Left in the photo) track to the Southbound (Middle of the 3 LRT tracks) track will be removed after the extension opens up		Another view of the LRT track being cut short waiting for the SLRT Extension to join up to it.  Eventually, the track will be joined up to the extension later in the middle of June 2001

June 4, 2001
	A photo taken at the Anderson Bus Garage private road where the SLRT Extension will cross over.  Hopefully soon, I will scan in a photo taken June 4, 2000 to add showing what the tracks looked like back then before the construction started.		A zoom shot showing the progress south of Anderson Road on the extension.  The Anderson Road detour will be cancelled soon and the traffic can use the overpasses in the background of the photo.
	A not so good shot showing the track bed in between shop tracks (background) and the CP Rail tracks (Foreground)

June 22, 2001:
	Almost 2 months after the photo showing these tracks being cut short (see May 20, 2001 and May 13, 2001 sections), the Northbound track is linked up to the SLRT extension.  The Northbound track won't be hooked in until sometime just before the extension opens in October 2001		This shot shows the tracks laid for both the northbound and southbound trains, but with the southbound track just waiting to be connected to the rest of the line.  They will have to remove the switch to the third track to link the southbound track together to the SLRT extension

August 14, 2001:
	Since the photo taken June 22, 2001 of the SLRT Extension being linked to the rest of the line, the tamper machine has been across these tracks to do it's work and the clips to hold the rails to the ties need to be reinstalled.		A shot showing the tamper machine in action on the Southbound tracks
	Another shot showing the tamper machine in action		An overall view showing the tamper machine working on the Southbound tracks.  It is just under 2 months before the SLRT Extension is slated to open

More photos of the construction and the end results will be added at a later time

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