In 1930, the Canadian Pacific Railway built a line as far as Cremona called the Colicutt line. The line was to go further West but the beginning of the Depression put a damper on those ambitions. Instead, the rail line terminated here with a ‘Y’ to allow the train to turn around. This railway made it much easier for farmers to get their crops to market, and made Cremona a hub for local activity.
With the line being built, many businesses were established and the village grew. Some of the buildings on the other side of Railway Avenue (Hwy 580) were built during this time. Some buildings from the ‘Old Cremona’ area were prompted to move due to the rail line coming in including the old cheese factory, which was relocated to its current location in Cremona. Cremona took shape based on where the rail line was placed.
So imagine that you are standing on Railway Avenue 50 years ago. Ahead you would see a blacksmith shop, an oil house, and two grain elevators. As time passed, the use of this rail line decreased and in 1982 the line was abandoned by Canadian Pacific Railways. Without the rail line, eventually the last of the grain elevators was demolished by October 1992 and with it, a piece of history for the village was lost too. This Nature Park/Trail preserves some of that history as the trail lies on top of the abandoned railroad bed. This Nature Trail commemorates a special part of history for Cremona.