Pat's Creek Trestle

There is very little historical information on the trestle built to span Pat's Creek, but just about everyone who has been to Peace River has travelled right through it. It is, of course, the trestle that you drive under when leaving Highway #2 and coming into the towns main entrance, near the Travellers Motor Inn and the NAR Station... And, yes! There is a creek there but it has been piped and routed underground and now forms part of Peace River's hidden infrastructure.

Google Earth is great!

Pat's Creek is named for a metis man, Patrick Wesley, who owned the land adjacent to the creek in the present day town site. In 1910, after contracting smallpox and being cared for by the Anglican minister's wife, Mr. Wesley passed away, willing 5 acres of his land to the Anglican parish on the condition that he be buried in the shadow of the new church to be built there, the present day site of St. James Cathedral and Athabasca Hall.

Patrick Wesley

I assume that the original trestle was built in early 1916 when the rails reached the location where the station was built. Originally built without the "underpass" feature that allows vehicles to cross, the trestle was modified at a later date to accommodate the highway that followed the creek down from the prairie above. The highway was moved in the late 60's to its present location due to land slides and the old right-of-way now serves as an interpretive walking trail. The creek used to cross under the bridge beside the roadway you see in the photos below until it was diverted underground.

What would I do without "Street view"?

During the period I'm modelling (1979) this was the only entrance from Highway #2 into the southern portion of town. The newer exit off the highway further to the west was, at the time, not a roadway but used by the NAR to cross under the highway to the short switchback that allowed access to the riverside industries along the east bank of the river (on the, unheard of, 6% grade... better have some sand boys).

Did I mention that I really like this Google Earth thing?

I will be modelling the trestle with the Hunterline 81' Pile Trestle kit, two Hunterline Pile Pier craftsman kits and one Micro Engineering 40' deck girder bridge.

Beautiful kits... and Canadian made too!

I haven't started work on this one as yet but I plan to as soon as the Peace and Heart River bridges are ready for track. So, wish me luck (this is my first wood craftsman type construction) and check back on this post for updates.

Mike