GRAND FORKS, B.C.; JULY 17, 1990
A string of wood chip cars has been loaded at a Grand Forks sawmill (above). After the aban- donment of CPR trackage to Grand Forks, most of this traffic went by truck or over BNSF, which maintained its rail connection to Grand Forks. Among the equipment that at one time was based in Nelson were the plows, flanger and Jordan spreader used in the railroad’s snow fighting efforts (below left), and this CPR steam crane and boom car (below right).
provide an important link in a through route across southern British Colum- bia, it also supported an area of indus- try and settlement that was served by several branchlines. The most impor- tant of these was the Rossland Subdivi- sion between Castlegar and Trail where the huge Cominco (Consolidated Min- ing & Smelting Co.) smelter was locat- ed. Built in the 1890’s, the line followed the Columbia River south to Trail, then climbed up the mountainsides via switchbacks to the mines around Ross- land. At first the line between Trail and Rossland was three-foot gauge and called the Trail Creek Tramway. How- ever, in 1898 it was rebuilt to standard gauge, but it retained its steep grades, sharp curves and switchbacks. The lead and zinc smelter at Trail, now owned by Tech Cominco, continues to be an important source of traffic for
NELSON, B.C.; DEC. 1, 1988
the now-abbreviated rail service in the region, but traffic is much lower than in years gone by. Nonetheless a daily train still operates from Cranbrook to Nelson, Castlegar and Trail. The cur- vature and grades still call for several SD40-2’s or equivalent power, so the trains remain impressive. After the decline of copper mining and smelting in the area by the early 1920’s, the lumber industry gained prominence and much of the originat- ing traffic for the Kootenay Division came from lumber and poles. Most communities had one or more sawmills or pole yards. Agriculture, including fruit growing, was another source of traffic for the railway. Later, in the post-World War II
years, with the development of the pulp and paper industry in southern B.C., wood chips became an important
NELSON, B.C.; SEPT. 1974
commodity. A large mill just north of Castlegar became the destination for many carloads of chips, and the mill it- self also required chemicals for the pa- per processing, and of course cars to ship out the finished paper. This mill, originally built by Columbia Cellulose and called Celgar opened in 1961 and went through a major reconstruction in late 1980’s and early 1990’s as processes were modernized and mill capacity increased. The mill continues to operate but was acquired in 2005 by Mercer International and is now called Zellstoff Castlegar. Passenger services on the Kootenay Division lasted past the end of steam using conventional equipment. There were daily trains, called the Kootenay Express and Kettle Valley Express, that ran between Vancouver, B.C., and Med- icine Hat, Alberta, via the Kettle Valley and Kootenay Divisions. The westbound train was No.11, and the eastbound, No. 12. In the diesel years these trains used a mixture of wooden and steel equipment and often consisted of as many as a dozen cars, including sleepers and a buffet parlor. Power was typically C-Liners equipped with steam generators. Cars were added and dropped off as needed, and the buffet-parlor normally only ran be- tween Penticton, B.C., and Lethbridge, where it was used from there on the connecting train to Calgary.
These trains made a lot of their rev- enue carrying mail and express, and of- ten there would be more passenger service boxcars and baggage cars on the front of the train than passenger equipment bringing up the rear. In fruit harvesting season, express bag- gage cars with special rooftop ventila- tors were often part of the trains. In earlier days, these trains used wooden cars, made famous by the models creat- ed by Gib Kennedy in the 1950’s and subsequently imported in brass by PFM and Van Hobbies. There was also a connecting passen- ger train between Rossland, Trail and
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
51
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100