Educational Tours

Educational tours can be arranged on an individual basis or for groups (subject to the availability of volunteers). There is much history, both past and "living", to learn about during a visit to the streetcar museum, the streetcar barn or on a streetcar ride across the top of the High Level Bridge.

Tours can be tailored for specific groups based on different interests and ages (e.g. school classes, seniors or streetcar enthusiasts).

On a visit to the Streetcar Museum and Streetcar Barn learn about

  • The evolution of streetcars from horse drawn cars to modern Light Rail vehicles
  • The history of the street railway era of public transportation in Edmonton (Edmonton Radial Railway)
  • Route and track maps showing the development of Edmonton's streetcar system.
  • The construction and history of the High Level Bridge.
  • Unusual Edmonton streetcars - library and observation cars, snow sweeper cars, water sprinkler cars, freight cars.
  • The everyday life of a motorman - memories from the good old days
  • Fares charged and tickets used during the streetcar era.
  • How a streetcar works
  • Electricity and its associated hazards (especially important for school groups).
  • Safety around railways and streetcars (especially important for school groups).

Things to see and learn about on a streetcar ride across the High Level Bridge

  • Farmers Market in Old Strathcona (Saturdays only)
  • C & E (Calgary & Edmonton Railway) station - a replica of the first railway station in Strathcona at the "end of steel" in 1891. The building houses a very interesting museum of the C&E Railway and the C.P.R.
  • Fort Hill (original Calgary trail) which led to John Walter's ferry across the North Saskatchewan River. In pre-railway days, the stagecoach took five days to travel to Calgary!
  • The only tunnel on the CP rail system in the Province of Alberta.
  • John Walter's House - home of the Edmonton entrepreneur who owned and operated the ferry across the North Saskatchewan River prior to completion of the High Level Bridge in 1913.
  • Kinsmen Park with its football fields and baseball diamonds, built on the site of a large lumber yard (also owned by John Walter).
  • Top deck of the High Level Bridge, the highest river crossing by streetcar in the world. The 755 m (2,478 ft) long and 49 m (160 ft) high bridge is an engineering marvel, now almost 100 years old.
  • North Saskatchewan River - the original "fur trade highway" to Hudson Bay.
  • The dramatic skyline of downtown Edmonton.
  • The former roadbed of the Edmonton, Yukon & Pacific (EY&P) Railway, which originally linked the south side C.P.R. in Strathcona to the Canadian Northern Railway on the north side in Edmonton across the Low Level Bridge. Despite the grand name, the company never owned more than a few miles of track!
  • Location of the last "operating" site of Fort Edmonton (below the Legislature Building).
  • The Alberta Legislature Building, constructed at the same time as the High Level Bridge.
  • The Ribbon of Steel, a multi use trail shared by the streetcar, pedestrians and cyclists running from Grandin to Jasper Plaza, the streetcar terminus.

Attractions in easy reach of the 90th Avenue streetcar stop (south end of the bridge):

  • River valley walking and bicycling trail system.
  • Rutherford House, the home of Alberta's first Premier.
  • The University of Alberta campus.
  • Kinsmen Park

Attractions in easy reach of the Grandin Plaza streetcar stop

  • The Provincial Legislature Buildings and grounds. Guided tours through the legislature building are offered daily free of charge.
  • The historic Grandin area of the City of Edmonton.
  • The river valley trail system.
  • Easy connection to the LRT for a ride into the heart of downtown or the south side of Edmonton

Group and School Bookings For details and bookings please phone 780-437-7721 (or fax 780-437-3095)