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Hi everyone, just a quick question, there was a Drive-up restaurant on Victoria west that you could drive up and order, then they would carry or skate the other out to you. Any idea what it was called?

I believe it was A&W when I moved here.

It was A&W just east of 26th St., I believe where the gas station is. I remember going there when I was very little

It was called Sage’s, now it’s Petro gas station

The A&W was on the east side of 25th St, not where the PetroCan or carwah is. There was also a railway track that ran down the middle of 25th St.  
Huck Munro built the car wash on the west side of 25th and it was called Munro's Carwash.

"There was also a railway track that ran down the middle of 25th St. "  
 
Wait, what?!

I grew up on McDermid Drive. A&W was at 25th and Victoria. At first you pulled in and a menu was right beside the car. When you were ready to order, you turned your headlights on and a lady would skate out to take your order. An intercom was installed later to take your order. And yes! and railway track right down the middle of 25th street. It started at the CN tracks and ran all the way to the water treatment plant. All the chemicals for water treatment were delivered by rail.

I recall buying large brown jugs of root beer and returning the empty jugs for "refilling"

My aunt worked there when she was a teenager and she took my brother and I there one day. My aunt sat us at a table and said she would be right back. The Great Root Bear showed up and gave us hugs and free rootbeer and then waved goodbye! My aunt returned a short time later. My brother always said it was her in the costume and she has always denied it.

After you posted I dug up an old map online and saw that yes, a train ran down 25th! But I wasn't sure why. Makes total sense that it ended up at the water plant.  
 
Thanks for sharing that! I learned a bit today!

Abbysmom Do you have the link to the map you found. I was looking but did notfind a good one.  
Thnx

Here are links to the ones I looked at. They are a bit finicky to zoom.  
 
https://flic.kr/p/6Ma1xb  
 
https://flic.kr/p/4uWuSR

Both are fantastic links, thanks for bringing me back, Abbysmum and wow, how old am I. I remember the rail line from the CNR tracks along the west side of 9th Street. There was a loading dock just behind the Princess Edward hotel. I think the bar at the Prince Eddie was called the Red Caboose if I can remember right. I was too young to go in of course. What I can't remember is the rail line going into the Fair Grounds. That maybe before my time. I do remember the old grandstand at the fair ground. Saw the Hell Drivers there!

Yes, indeed, a railway track ran down 25th st. We used to have to cross it to get to JR Reid school. Yes, the rare time, a train was passing, very slowly- we weren't stupid, we just waited. On even rarer times, the cars were parked right on the track. If it was a box car, bigger kids climbed up and went through it. Us little kids walked up to Park Ave or down to Van Horne Ave and went around. Nobody was ever hurt. Like I said, we weren't stupid.

The line to the fairgrounds makes sense though! If you think about how much livestock used to be transported via railcar back in the day. Not trucks like today.  
 
I find the map from 1964 especially fascinating, because a lot of what Brandon looks like now is there, but you can still see lots of what was there before. I live in Riverheights and we assumed the paths running behind the houses by the rail line were old rail beds, and turns out we were right! It's clearly marked abandoned rail line on the map. There's also a surprising number of gravel pits marked.  
 
I knew we had that line that went up 9th/10th, but didn't know about 25th St. So interesting how our city has changed over the years!

The big kids were lucky, because people do get hurt doing just that. You're lucky you only had to go up to Park/Van Horne. I read this piece a couple months ago, kids are still having to crawl through trains to get to school or else go a mile or more out of their way.  
 
https://www.propublica.org/article/trains-crossing-blocked-kids-norfolk-southern

ABBYSMUM said: "The line to the fairgrounds makes sense though! If you think about how much livestock used to be transported via railcar back in the day. Not trucks like today."  
 
If I remember correctly Royal American Shows also used to use that rail line to get some of their stuff to the fairgrounds.

Those are cool maps. The first one shows the Snye river and the bridge over it on 18th. I heard of them but often wondered where it was. The second one shows the dike road from 26th to 18th and the Snye is gone.  
Other neat stuff like a gravel pit south of the North Hill Motel.