Edmonton Radial
Railway Society
High Level Bridge Line
In 1913 the Edmonton Radial
Railway initiated service over the top off the CPR's High Level Bridge over the
North Saskatchewan River, connecting Edmonton and the former city of Strathcona,
amalgamated with Edmonton in 1912. The streetcars ran on the outsides of the
bridge, while the single CPR track ran down the middle of the bridge. Crossovers
were installed at either end of the bridge so that in an emergency the doors on
the cars would open towards the inside of the bridge! The last streetcar made
it's run over the HLB on September 2, 1951. The CPR continued to use the bridge
as it's route into the Edmonton station, and to interchange with the CNR in Downtown.
Streetcars returned to the High Level Bridge during the Thanksgiving weekend in
1979. Restored #1 operated with a generator on a trailer for those 3 days. It
wasn't until the mid 1990's though that another streetcar would cross the HLB.
The CPR abandoned it's line north of the HLB in the late 1980's and it's track
west of 103 St. soon after. The ERRS brought car #247 out to provide a shuttle
during the 1995 Fringe, using a generator car. In 1996 overhead wire was erected
from the Strathcona terminus, however, not across the HLB.
In 1997 the overhead wire had been extended across the HLB to the terminus at
Grandin, and #247 was now running across the HLB by mid August 1997.
The ERRS acquired space inside of the former Strathcona bus barns and started
work in 1998 to turn it into a 3 track car barn. This work was completed in
August 1999.
During the 2003 operating season the line was cut back to just north of the HLB
to allow the construction of the Ribbon's of Steel trail, including an extension
of the HLB line to just south of Jasper Ave. The earth ramp upto the HLB used
originally by southbound (eastside of bridge) streetcars was used to access the
car.
The extension opened in May 2004. A passing track as also been added to allow 2
cars to operate.