The L Lead The L Lead, although classified as the same track, was split into two sections - north and south of the Bow River. Each section served customers on the Red Deer Subdivision, but the southern section only served customers northwest of the main track (the LA Lead served southeast customers). The northern section served customers on any side of the track.
General Information: Built: Pre-1920s Partially Removed: 1973, 1998 Beginning Point (North): Mileage 3.82, Red Deer Subdivision Beginning Point (South): Mileage 1.10, Red Deer Subdivision End Point: End of track General Direction: Southwest
Customers (c.1968) Maple Leaf Milling Calgary Brewing School Board Conforce Prod. Red Top LTD. Union Packing Shell Oil Loflan Bros. Co. Hutchings Pfizer Co. Continental Can Marine Pipe & Dredging Map See my full map of every rail line to exist in Calgary here! Trackage coloured pink/magenta indicates the L Lead Due to the large span of the L Lead, the top map shows L Lead trackage north of the Bow River and the bottom map shows L Lead trackage south of the Bow River
North of the Bow
Two L Lead Maps
The L Lead was unofficially split into two sections.
South of the Bow
More on the L Lead (North) Similar to the H Lead, the L Lead tracks north of the Bow branched off from various places on the Red Deer Sub, rather than serving industries with a single industrial lead. There may have also been an airport spur - but I can't find any information whatsoever to back this up. Today there is a single customer remaining who continues to receive rail service. This customer served as the destination of CPKC's first revenue run of their hydrogen-powered SD40-2F, 1001. See more on that here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxrAqjEwEZk
More on the L Lead (South) The southern L Lead followed the Red Deer Subdivision southwest into Calgary, serving industries on the northwest side of the track. The LA Lead also followed the Red Deer Sub in the same way, but on the other side of the main tracks, serving industries southeast of the line.
The southern portion of the L Lead served two notable places, the first of which is the Calgary Brewery (see Google Maps link), but believe it or not, the building housing Two Wheel View and Fair's Fair Books (see Google Maps link) was served by the L Lead. The building still retains two loading docks on the side where CP would have rolled cars up to, which you can see in the gallery below. The last of the active southern L Lead trackage was removed in 1998. A small amount of original south L Lead trackage remains on the Calgary Brewery property and has not been in use since 1992. The rest of the lead has been completely removed.