Here’s a quick look at the Rusty Relics Museum, located in Carlyle, Saskatchewan. The museum has indoor and outdoor displays, and is centered around a 1909 Canadian Northern Railway station. During the summer it also houses the town’s tourist booth.
The outdoor attractions include the ex Canadian Pacific Railway caboose # 437072 (built in 1943), a former bunkhouse and speeder shed, and various railway paraphernalia.
I have to assume the station was moved here, as it was the Canadian Pacific Railway line that ran behind the station, not the Canadian Northern line.
I did not go into the station, so I have no photos of the interior. From photos on TripAdvisor, it looks like a typical small town museum, good or bad. It doesn’t appear to be railway-themed inside.
Carlyle’s Railway History
Carlyle was served by both the Canadian Northern Railway and the Canadian Pacific Railway at one time. Today, only CN passes by the town.
The CPR
The September 1938 CPR employee timetable shows that a daily-except-Sunday first class passenger train #55/56 ran between Regina, SK and Souris, MB.
The CPR timetable shows a railway crossing at grade with the CNR at mile 85.8, which was 0.6 miles from the station. You can still see the traces of it today just east of the town.
The photo below shows the CPR station in Carlyle, along with a water tank and a Northern grain elevator. Visit prairie-towns.com for larger and more photographs of Carlyle.
In later days, what was known as the CP Arcola subdivision passed through the town. The last train ran in 2013 and the rails were removed starting in 2017.
The CNR
The November 26, 1911 Canadian Northern Railway timetable below shows Carlyle at mile 37.1. At that time Carlyle was served by a thrice-weekly first class passenger train #27/28 from Brandon.
It’s interesting that there was a water tank 4.4 miles southwest of the town. There’s a small lake there, about 200m from the track. There must not have been a good water supply in the town itself, so the CNoR had to take its water from there for the steam engines.
Today the CNoR line is the CN Lampman subdivision and it still runs past the town. Here’s the highway 13 crossing at railway mile 36.61.
Just One More Thing
Interested in more Saskatchewan train stations?
Visit the Saskatchewan train station page!