Historic Ogden Shops news

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Historic Ogden Shops news

Postby newsposter » Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:40 am

Historic Calgary rail yard ends era
100-year-old Ogden shop sparked early growth in city
By Kim Guttormson, Calgary Herald April 26, 2011

Ogden, the Canadian Pacific rail yard that created an economic engine for a young Calgary and spurred the city's growth, is losing the repair shop that started it all.

Beginning in August, locomotives and rail cars will no longer be overhauled and rebuilt at the facility.

"It's the end of an era," said Jerry Thompson, who represents 154 employees at Canadian Auto Workers Local 101. "Ogden shops has been there for 100 years."

The transition will be finished by May 2012, a century after ground was first broken at the Ogden site.

Creation of the Ogden yards "was easily the most important single contributing factor to economic growth within Calgary before the oil boom of the 1950s," historian Max Foran has written. "With the establishment of the Ogden facilities, Calgary achieved its dream of becoming a major railway centre."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/H ... z1KvmbYsAg
Last edited by newsposter on Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby newsposter » Fri Nov 23, 2012 4:04 pm

If you have been waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding the closure of the historic CPR Ogden shops, it does appear that the footwear is hitting the floor with the rumoured move of CPR headquarters jobs out of downtown Calgary's Gulf Canada Square to the Ogden shops location, as a cost cutting measure. Here is an excerpt:

...One union official said the head office move was to a nearby Calgary rail yard that CP owns. Details are expected Dec 4 and 5, along with an announcement of further job cuts, when Harrison outlines his plan to improve efficiency at CP.

“They’re moving the headquarters to Ogden, which just makes sense,” said Bill Brehl, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Maintenance of Way union.

“We’re a railroad. What were we doing downtown hanging out with the oil barons? Our place is to be in a rail yard,” said Brehl, who was told of the plan by Harrison.

Brehl said the company will rebuild the century-old Ogden yard, constructing offices there. CP decided last year to close the Ogden repair shop, constructed in 1912 on land south east of Calgary’s city center. It moved locomotive and train car repair elsewhere.

A CP spokesman declined to comment when asked to confirm the move...


Does this mean the shops will be demolished or somehow be re-used? Or does it affect the buildings at all? Will this be a great opportunity for heritage, or a threat? We'll have to wait for a more official word. The news story, and the link to the heritage inventory entry is below.

CP Railway plans move of downtown Calgary HQ to cut costs: unions
By Susan Taylor and Nicole Mordant, Reuters November 23, 2012 1:14 PM

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/R ... z2D5aw9aSy

Heritage inventory link:
http://www.calgary.ca/PDA/LUPP/Pages/He ... urceId=559
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Postby newsposter » Fri Jan 18, 2013 3:07 pm

From Harry Sanders, CHA Historian Laureate, an 1913 newspaper highlighting the opening of Ogden shops and the Ogden district. Originally tweeted Jan. 18, 2013

http://twitter.com/harry_historian/stat ... 5705827328
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