Collection paa-7676 - Alberta Pioneer Railway Association railway collection

The Canadian Railroad Historical Association Rocky Mountain Branch in Edmonton, Alberta was established as a branch of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association (CRHA) in Montreal, Quebec, which was founded in 1932. The CRHA is a non-profit charitable organization that looks to preserve and disseminate information about railway heritage in Canada, and to acquire artifacts and archival material that depicts the historical or technological development of Canada's railways. The CRHA Rocky Mountain Branch was founded in 1960 by Paul McGee, a member of CRHA since 1955. Some of the first projects undertaken by the CRHA Rocky Mountain Branch were the refurbishment of Edmonton Radial Railway streetcar number 1, and the restoration of Northern Alberta Railways (NAR) locomotive number 73 which was donated to the CRHA in 1964 by Premier Steel, a subsidiary of Stelco. On January 15, 1968 the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association (APRA) was incorporated under <em>The Societies Act</em> to take responsibility for providing a labour and operating force while the CRHA Rocky Mountain Branch was to control the administrative details of the operation. At that time, the executive of APRA was the same as the executive for CRHA Rocky Mountain Branch and for a time, all members had to be a member of CRHA Rocky Mountain Branch before becoming eligible to join APRA. The space needed for the operation and maintenance the Association's rolling stock was initially provided to the CRHA Rocky Mountain Branch by the City of Edmonton at the Edmonton Transit Cromdale Car Barns at 116th Avenue and 80th Street in Edmonton, Alberta. In the early 1970s the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association moved its rolling stock to 24215 34th Street in Edmonton, transferring the Canadian National (CN) St. Albert railway station building to the site which later housed part of the Alberta Railway Museum which was opened by APRA in 1976.