Submitted by Kat Beeson
Long ago in a little valley in the mountains, lay the sleepy town of Valemount. The CNR line, next to a narrow dirt road, ran through it.
On a ranch near the town there lived a young girl who often rode her horse to school, and on the ride home she loved to race the train.
This race became well known and predicted by the train staff. The conductor would move through the passenger car announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, in a short while if you look out the windows on the left side of the car, you will see something very special.”
As the conductor announced, “We are about one minute out,” the passengers would crowd to the windows.
The engineer would blow the whistle and the race was on!
The sight of a young girl, long black hair flying behind racing her spirited horse against the train never disappointed the travelling audience.
They waved and cheered the rider on.
“Better than the Kentucky Derby any day,” one passenger said.
I wonder sometimes if there were people who rode the train just in hopes of catching sight of that infamous race.
The young girl in this true country tale was Jean Bailey Osadchuck. She and Goldie ran this race, when weather permitted from grades one through eight.
Jean has traded her horse for a bicycle these days and says she has not raced the train recently.
The end and a new beginning …
