N.A.R. Cattle Car #20006

By the time the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1885, cattle ranching was well established in the Alberta district. While a portion of the product was consumed locally, markets in eastern Canada and England were rapidly developing. Ranching was a big business that required an efficient transportation system for live animals.

Ventilated stock cars with open slat walls were developed to carry livestock safely over the railways. From the mid-1800s onward, strict regulations governed the length of time an animal could be confined, food and watering requirements and sanitation. By law, all cattle cars had to be thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and white-washed before reuse.

The need for stockcars all but disappeared in the 1950s, eclipsed by refrigerated cars carrying frozen meat products.