CPR’s Boundary District
diesels) were competing with each other for orders from the CPR. The railway patronized all three and placed substan- tial orders for streamlined cab units and road switchers, which, for those of us who like these first-generation diesels, is
fortunate. Canadian Pacific also
bought MLW yard engines. At one time or another, diesels from all three builders worked over the Kootenay and Kettle Valley Divisions, but after a short time, CP assigned most of its CLC (Fair- banks-Morse) diesels there. They were based at Nelson for servicing and most maintenance,
where an impressive
diesel locomotive serving facility was built in the 1950’s. General Motors units were concentrated on the main line, and the MLW road diesels, although not their switchers, were soon concentrated in central and eastern Canada. Not only did the Kootenay Division
TRAIL, B.C.; SEPT. 1998
years three or four units were common on longer trains. Ore trains between Grand Forks and the mines at Phoenix often had two engines, and there the CPR even used one or two of its Shay lo- comotives. Al Welch described these in the April, 2006, RMC. The construction and operation of these railways and the mining and smelting developments are chronicled in detail in my book, co-au- thored with Dave Wilkie, called Steam Along the Boundary, the Canadian Pa- cific and Great Northern and the Great Boundary Copper Boom. The Kettle Valley Division to the west and the Kootenay Division were both dieselized in the early 1950’s at a time when Canadian Pacific replaced its fleet of aging steam locomotives on a district-by-district basis. These two divi- sions presented some of the toughest operating conditions on the entire sys- tem.
Steep, curving mountainous
grades with helper districts, heavy win- ter snows, and widely separated small towns and communities all character- ized a railway that was costly to build and expensive to operate. These quali- ties also made it a prime candidate for dieselization where the efficiencies of the new diesels could be exploited to the full. Of course the qualities that made it a difficult and expensive railway to con- struct and operate also make it a partic- ularly interesting railway to reproduce in model form, and one with many oper- ating possibilities.
The early dieselization of the Koote-
nay Division and the adjacent Kettle Valley Division meant that the locomo- tives purchased reflected a period when three primary builders, General Motors, Montreal Locomotive Works (producing Alco designs) and Canadian Locomotive Company (building Fairbanks-Morse
50 MAY 2013
BEAVERDELL, B.C.; MAY 1974
The huge smelter at Trail (top) continues to be served by Canadian Pacific trains. It has been a key customer on the railway since the late 1890’s. A year short of its retirement, CPR 8603, a CLC H-16-44 (above), handles a two-car train at Beaverdell, B.C. By the 1980’s, GMD locomotives had replaced the earlier FM designs. This GMD SW1200RS at Castlegar (bottom) primarily serviced the Celgar pulp and paper mill, which was locat- ed just north of the community along the banks of the Columbia River.
CASTLEGAR, B.C.; AUG. 1988
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