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78-536: The Kettle Valley Railway ( reporting mark KV ) was a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that operated across southern British Columbia, west of Midway running to Rock Creek, then north to Myra Canyon, down to Penticton over to Princeton, Coalmont, Brookmere, Coquihalla and finally Hope where it connected to the main CPR line. It opened in 1915 and was abandoned in portions beginning in 1961, with

156-511: A heritage railway along a preserved 10-kilometre section from Prairie Valley Station to Canyon View Siding, near Summerland, British Columbia . This is the only active remaining section of the Kettle Valley Railway. The last freight haul on the KVR was in 1989, after which CP Rail obtained permission to abandon and remove the final section of rails. A heritage society sprang up in a bid to save

234-674: A 2-digit code indicating the vehicle's register country . The registered keeper of a vehicle is now indicated by a separate Vehicle Keeper Marking (VKM), usually the name of the owning company or an abbreviation thereof, which must be registered with the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF) and the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and which is unique throughout Europe and parts of Asia and Northern Africa. The VKM must be between two and five letters in length and can use any of

312-565: A commercial annex of the United States. Provincial and Federal officials quickly agreed that a second railway dubbed the "Coast-to-Kootenay" railway within British Columbia was required in order to help preserve Canadian sovereignty of British Columbia, and to also retain the valuable mining revenues within Canada. The route selected involved connecting the railroad with Vancouver. However, this

390-605: A diversion via Spences Bridge . In August 1909, the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway (VV&E), a Great Northern Railway (GN) subsidiary, was seriously contemplating a tunnel beneath Railroad pass. The new route was to diverge at Otter Flat from the Otter Creek proposal. Veering westward, the line would follow the Tulameen River, Eagle Creek , and an 13-kilometre (8 mi) tunnel. A temporary line could be built during

468-497: A general store. Whether the opening of the J.H. Jackson store affected these plans is unclear. Jackson was the inaugural postmaster 1907–1910. Also, that year, the Swedenmark sawmill opened. Following the erection of an addition to the hotel, a grand reopening occurred in early 1908. That year, the school opened in a log cabin, before the new schoolhouse was built. In 1909, Donald McRae began erecting his three-storey hotel, named

546-461: A hyphen. Some examples: When a vehicle is sold it will not normally be transferred to another register. The Czech railways bought large numbers of coaches from ÖBB. The number remained the same but the VKM changed from A-ÖBB to A-ČD. The UIC introduced a uniform numbering system for their members based on a 12-digit number, largely known as UIC number . The third and fourth digit of the number indicated

624-480: A number of "paper railways" emerged. These were railways that never progressed beyond the proposed stage. However some railroads did progress past the proposal stage. The CPR initiated the Nicola Valley Railroad in the early 1890s. This railway connected the town of Merritt with the CPR mainline at Spences Bridge . The Midway & Vernon Railroad was a paper railway that actually started construction. It

702-644: A permanent station was built at the Prairie Valley station providing a great access point for the railway. The railway initially operated with one 1924 Shay locomotive loaned from the BC Forest Discovery Centre in Duncan, British Columbia . It was originally operated by the Mayo Lumber Company on Vancouver Island, and was specifically designed to work on rough forestry trackage. Rolling stock for

780-543: A portion of the rail line. Their efforts were successful in preserving the section, and they proceeded to prepare rail operations. In the original position of the Summerland station, a maintenance building was erected. Sidings were placed at Prairie Valley, and at Canyon View (North side of the Trout Creek Bridge). Temporary stations were built at Prairie Valley, Canyon View and at the original Summerland Station. Eventually

858-685: A predecessor of the CNW, from which the UP inherited it. Similarly, during the breakup of Conrail , the long-retired marks of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and New York Central Railroad (NYC) were temporarily brought back and applied to much of Conrail's fleet to signify which cars and locomotives were to go to CSX (all cars labeled NYC) and which to Norfolk Southern (all cars labeled PRR). Some of these cars still retain their temporary NYC marks. Because of its size, this list has been split into subpages based on

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936-413: A routing proposed by his subordinates through this section was unnecessarily long or complex. McCulloch recalculated the requirements and decided that a straight section of track through this area was required; in order to achieve this, five closely aligned tunnels would be required. He also determined that two bridges would need to be built between three of the tunnels. These tunnels were eventually known as

1014-569: A sawmill at West Midway. After 1976, Kootenay Division crews handled whatever work was required west of Midway. In fact, even though the Carmi Subdivision had closed to through service between Penticton and Carmi, BC, train service was maintained as far west as Beaverdell until late 1976. After 1977, no trains went past West Midway. One of the major landmarks on the former line are the Othello-Quintette Tunnels , which are lined up in

1092-709: A straight line, cutting through the Coquihalla River 's gorge near Hope. They are open in summer for sightseeing. Andrew McCulloch , who oversaw the engineering projects which resulted in the complex series of bridges and tunnels through Coquihalla Canyon, was an avid reader of William Shakespeare . As a result of an anniversary of the Bard's death in 1916, McCulloch had a role in naming Coquihalla Subdivision stations after characters in Shakespearean literature, such as Iago , Romeo , Juliet , Lear , Jessica , and Portia . Shylock

1170-417: Is the section through Myra Canyon. Myra Canyon is located south of Kelowna on Okanagan Mountain. The section of line originally transited between Midway and Penticton . When the railway was built, the section of railway between Myra station and June Springs station required 18 wooden trestles and two tunnels in order to traverse the deep canyon. For years after the abandonment of this section of rail line,

1248-601: The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) completed the transcontinental railway in 1885, the route cut through the Rocky Mountains at Kicking Horse and Rogers Passes, then followed the Fraser River for the remainder of the distance to Vancouver . This selected routing was significantly to the north of the mining towns within the Southern Interior. Those critical of the CPR believed that the railway should have been routed along

1326-467: The Dewdney Trail , through the southern portions of British Columbia in order to fulfill politician pledges to keep Americans out of British Columbia should they ever attempt to dominate mining operations in British Columbia's South. However, geography was the main reason the CPR followed the transcontinental railway route that it had selected. Too many mountain ranges stood between Alberta and Vancouver in

1404-504: The 26 letters of the Latin alphabet . Diacritical marks may also be used, but they are ignored in data processing (for example, Ö is treated as though it is O ). The VKM is preceded by the code for the country (according to the alphabetical coding system described in Appendix 4 to the 1949 convention and Article 45(4) of the 1968 convention on road traffic), where the vehicle is registered and

1482-453: The 65-hectare (160-acre) reserve. John H. Jackson accessed his ranch across the Tulameen by boat but also installed a rope across the river to aid travellers crossing during high water. That May, Eastwood Smith & Co opened a store. A June advertisement for the government auction of townsite lots was the earliest newspaper mention of the new official name of Tulameen. Until the later 1920s,

1560-588: The Boundary Subdivision (Nelson-Midway) was ever part of official KV territory. Former Columbia & Western territory was always administered by the Kootenay Division. In later years of operations after 1962, the Kootenay Division administered the Carmi Subdivision all the way west to the east end of the yard at Penticton, BC. Much of the KVR was built in response to the construction of the Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern Railway (VV&E). The VV&E

1638-798: The CPR Spences Bridge-Nicola line in early 1916. The KVR connected this line up the Coldwater River valley to connect with the KVR mainline at Brodie, BC, just west of Brookmere , BC. (After the closure of the Coquihalla Subdivision in late 1959, the Brookmere-Merritt-Spences Bridge line became the connection to the CPR main line.) After the end of the First World War, additional spur lines connected Copper Mountain with Princeton, Oliver with Penticton. (In 1944,

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1716-576: The Copper Mountain Mine closure spelled the end for this line. The second part of the KVR to be abandoned was the Coquihalla subdivision. In 1959 there was a large washout and the line was closed for some time. The CPR officials in Montreal decided to close the line permanently. Many say that their decision was short sighted. In the late 1940s/early 1950s the CPR invested quite a lot of money in upgrading

1794-558: The Dominion, which was completed in 1911. In 1911, James Schubert purchased the store owned by J.H. Jackson. At that time, Otter Flat remained the common name for the community. In 1913, W.S. Garrison bought the livery, stage business, and barn from Jackson. Squatters , who had erected buildings on public land, were given 30 days notice to remove them. Replaced by train service, the stage from Coalmont via Tulameen to Merritt ceased in 1916. McRae closed his hotel in 1917, and fire destroyed

1872-478: The Hope mountains, the eastward flowing stream was commonly known as Railroad Creek by 1901, indicating a potential railway route. That summer, Edgar Dewdney conducted a government survey for such a line via Railroad pass and Otter Flat. In 1902, on completing his surveys of alternative east–west routes over the passes (namely Allison (longest), Coquihalla, and Railroad (shortest), Dewdney rejected all of them in favour of

1950-623: The KV. That month, GN erected the station building. In 1931, a 4-metre (13 ft) high log loading platform was installed at the station. In 1991, the remainder of the abandoned track southeast of Spences Bridges was lifted. Lying to the east, the former railway right-of-way has been converted to the Kettle Valley Rail Trail segment of the Trans Canada Trail . Following the 2021 Pacific Northwest floods , at least five washouts of

2028-423: The KVR. The Kettle Valley Railway between Merritt and Midway was opened for service on May 31, 1915. On that date, the first two passenger trains commenced service. The Kettle Valley Railway was its own entity, but in practical reality, under the thumb of senior CPR management after about 1912. The Canadian Pacific Railway eventually took over operations of the KVR at the beginning of 1931. The former KVR territory

2106-610: The Kettle Valley Railway started in Hope up the steep Coquihalla Valley through the narrow rocky canyon to Coquihalla Pass, transited through GN track via Brookmere , Tulameen , to Princeton ; again back on CP track up the grasslands at Jura, through the light forest to Osprey Lake, and down to Summerland , Penticton , Beaverdell and terminated in Midway . An additional, earlier-constructed CPR branch line connected to Spences Bridge , and Merritt . The KVR took over administration and operation of

2184-582: The Kootenay region of British Columbia, as well as forestry products and fruit from the Okanagan. Finished goods were primarily brought into the Southern Interior on trains heading Eastbound. During the Kettle Valley Railway's lifespan, on numerous occasions it was called upon to act as "The Second Mainline" when washouts, avalanches and rock slides closed off the main CPR line through the Fraser Canyon . CPR recognized

2262-746: The Kootenays. It was stored in Port Coquitlam in 1966, and was restored in 1975. It was used as a backup locomotive to the Royal Hudson until it was retired from BC Rail's service in April 2001. The train now travels to the middle of the Trout Creek Bridge. Plans also were to extend the run to Faulder along the final portions of remaining original trackage. The Steam Railway owns track to Faulder. However, tours do not run to that location. Kettle Valley Railway

2340-590: The Metrolink system—even though it is operated by Amtrak. This is why the reporting mark for CSX Transportation , which is an operating railroad, is CSXT instead of CSX. Private (non-common carrier) freight car owners in Mexico were issued, up until around 1990, reporting marks ending in two X's, possibly to signify that their cars followed different regulations (such as bans on friction bearing trucks) than their American counterparts and so their viability for interchange service

2418-508: The Osoyoos Subdivision from Okanagan Falls to Osoyoos. This was due to the loss of fruit traffic to trucks. The remainder of the former KVR was doing quite well. In the early 1970s, at various times when forest products were shipping at peak rates, trains were operated between Penticton and Spences Bridge daily. This traffic gradually diminished as the 1970s progressed. Train service declined correspondingly. In early 1983, wood chip service

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2496-402: The Osoyoos Subdivision was extended another 10 miles to connect Oliver with Osoyoos.) In the late 1930s until into the 1960s, the portion of the former Columbia & Western Railway from Midway, through Grand Forks continuing through to Castlegar was also periodically referred to as being part of the KVR as well. However, with the exception of some isolated track at Grand Forks, BC, no part of

2574-680: The Quintette tunnels. These tunnels are a popular tourist attraction, and are located along the existing Coquihalla Highway (however they are not visible from the highway). These tunnels are also known as the Othello Tunnels because they are near the Othello Railway station, named for the Shakespeare character, as is the case with other stations on this stretch of the railway named by McCullough. The Kettle Valley Steam Railway has been operating

2652-657: The VKM BLS. Example for an "Einheitswagen" delivered in 1957: In the United Kingdom, prior to nationalisation, wagons owned by the major railways were marked with codes of two to four letters, these codes normally being the initials of the railway concerned; for example, wagons of the Great Western Railway were marked "G W"; those of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway were marked "L M S", etc. The codes were agreed between

2730-531: The acquiring company discontinues the name or mark of the acquired company, the discontinued mark is referred to as a "fallen flag" railway. Occasionally, long-disused marks are suddenly revived by the companies which now own them. For example, in recent years, the Union Pacific Railroad has begun to use the mark CMO on newly built covered hoppers, gondolas and five-bay coal hoppers. CMO originally belonged to Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway ,

2808-407: The area was a noted attraction, with its relatively gentle grade, it became a hiker and cyclist haven. Years of disrepair on the trestles began to take its toll on the line. In some cases vandals had removed railway ties on the larger steel bridges, thus creating large gaps. Hikers and cyclists wanting to cross the trestles would be required to walk on sections of steel no wider than a foot across where

2886-488: The benefit of having a second railway transiting through British Columbia, so beginning in the late 1930s and up until 1959, they set off on an upgrade program that saw the weight-bearing strength of the rails increased, as well as bridge and trestle improvements which brought the railway closer to mainline standards. The first portion to be abandoned was the Copper Mountain Branch in 1957. The loss of traffic due to

2964-455: The coast. Following First Nations trails from Otter Lake, he took the longer one in 1846 but the shorter one was adopted in 1849 as part of the Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail . Campement des Femmes became one of the five HBC stopping places on the journey between Hope and Otter Lake. The remains of the former fort were still visible over 50 years later. In 1958, a cairn was erected at the site of

3042-401: The contents were sold in 1936. That year, a new one-room school building was erected. In 1940, placer mining activity increased. In 1958, the centennial celebration was held, and the original log school building was moved to the elementary school grounds. In 1963, BC Hydro transmission lines arrived, and Otter Lake Park was established. On the east side of the Tulameen pass over

3120-656: The expected five-year construction period. The track would emerge at Dewdney Creek in the Coquihalla Valley. The tunnel route option appeared uncertain by late September and was considered an indefinite possibility by late December. A hospital existed during the railway construction. Following tardy progress, when the northwestward advance of the VV&;E rail head from Princeton reached Tulameen in May 1913, passenger and freight service by construction train commenced. By August 1914,

3198-571: The firefighters, the fire claimed 14 of the 18 trestles within Myra Canyon. In addition, the bridge decks of two of the metal bridges were also destroyed in the fire. Soon after the Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in 2003, the BC provincial government announced that it would rebuild the damaged and destroyed trestles and bridges. In addition, safety improvements including stabilizing rock faces along

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3276-448: The first letter of the reporting mark: A railway vehicle must be registered in the relevant state's National Vehicle Register (NVR), as part of which process it will be assigned a 12-digit European Vehicle Number (EVN). The EVN schema is essentially the same as that used by the earlier UIC numbering systems for tractive vehicles and wagons , except that it replaces the 2-digit vehicle owner's code (see § Europe 1964 to 2005 ) with

3354-440: The former Campement des Femmes and HBC fort. By 1886, prospectors had created quite a township at Otter Flat, where a new sawmill provided building material. Infrastructure comprised two stores, two saloons, a branch post office, news depot, and bakery. That year, the province reserved 65 hectares (160 acres) for a future townsite, and Thomas Rabbitt opened the second store, but two years later, moved to Slate Creek , which at

3432-522: The former KVR line essentially became a wandering, low-trafficked branch line. All rail service stopped from Midway to Penticton (including the famed Myra Canyon section) in May 1973, with the trackage being labelled as abandoned in 1978. Rails along this section were removed in 1979-1980 as the result of a grant of abandonment from the Canadian Transport Commission. In 1977 the CP abandoned part of

3510-519: The home country may also be included. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) assigns marks to all carriers, under authority granted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board , Transport Canada , and Mexican Government. Railinc , a subsidiary of the AAR, maintains the active reporting marks for the North American rail industry. Under current practice, the first letter must match the initial letter of

3588-593: The large deposits of red ochre in the valley. First Nations used this for dyeing fabrics and for war paint. Campement des Femmes (Woman's Camp), opposite the mouth of Collins Gulch , was where the First Nations men left the women and children when they went on the summer hunt or to battle. Likewise, the men stayed behind when the women went berry picking. Before the signing of the Oregon Treaty in 1846, Alexander Caulfield Anderson surveyed alternative routes to

3666-544: The library. The Tulameen Days held on the August long weekend experienced violence with a stabbing in 2000 and a crowd threatening police with beer bottle projectiles in 2017. The school closed in 2006. In 2012, high water flooded residential basements. The next year, the Coalmont Energy coalmine containment pond at Collins Gulch breached, releasing 30,000 litres; 7,800 US gallons (6,500 imp gal) of coal slurry into

3744-465: The line and clearing rock also has taken place. The trestles have since been rebuilt and the trail is fully open to the public. There are indications that plans for further improvement are in place, such as a restroom located at approximately the middle of the trail. When constructing the railway through the roughest portion of the Coquihalla Canyon, chief engineer Andrew McCulloch determined that

3822-507: The line. including many new bridges. (Others, better-informed, knew that the 1950s upgrades were part of a larger corporate strategy: it aimed at getting rid of unprofitable lines such as the Coquihalla Subdivision.) Through freight was discontinued throughout the line in 1961, and the last passenger train operated in January 1964. With the end of scheduled through-freight service in September 1961,

3900-460: The local economy. During the 1950s, the Squelch mill was the main industry for the community. In 1959, strong winds almost blew apart the tie and planing mill at Manning. A National Forest Products mill operated at Tulameen in the early 1960s. In 2000–01, the original log school building was dismantled, the roof and rotten logs replaced, a door and windows added, and the structure reassembled behind

3978-559: The long closed Otter Flat Hotel. In 1922, the Campbell store burned down. In 1924, an ice jam caused flooding of the Schubert store and other buildings. About this time, Britton hall was erected for social events. In 1927, the Dominion Hotel reopened after a 10-year closure. In 1928, A.E. Whish purchased the Schubert store. The relaunch of the Dominion Hotel appears short lived, because

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4056-415: The mark, which consists of an alphabetic code of two to four letters, is stenciled on each piece of equipment, along with a one- to six-digit number. This information is used to uniquely identify every such rail car or locomotive, thus allowing it to be tracked by the railroad it is traveling over, which shares the information with other railroads and customers. In multinational registries, a code indicating

4134-504: The name Tulameen City was also often used for the location and Otter Flat for the general area. The July 1901 auction generated the sale of 55 lots. In 1903, DeBarro and Thynne dissolved their partnership. The Otter Creek bridge, which burned in 1904, was soon repaired. In 1906, Charlie DeBarro sold the Otter Flat hotel to W.J. Henderson. The Eastwood store having closed, the premises were leased by H.L. Roberts, who proposed to reopen as

4212-557: The owner of a reporting mark is taken over by another company, the old mark becomes the property of the new company. For example, when the Union Pacific Railroad (mark UP) acquired the Chicago and North Western Railway (mark CNW) in 1995, it retained the CNW mark rather than immediately repaint all acquired equipment. Some companies own several marks that are used to identify different classes of cars, such as boxcars or gondolas. If

4290-405: The owner, or more precisely the keeper of the vehicle. Thus each UIC member got a two-digit owner code . With the introduction of national vehicle registers this code became a country code. Some vehicles had to be renumbered as a consequence. The Swiss company BLS Lötschbergbahn had the owner code 63. When their vehicles were registered, they got numbers with the country code 85 for Switzerland and

4368-459: The place is by road about 84 kilometres (52 mi) south of Merritt and 27 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of Princeton . Initially called Otter Flat, the location was later renamed after the river, which was originally designated as the north fork of the Similkameen River by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) but as Tulameen by First Nations . Tulameen means "red earth", referring to

4446-415: The railroad name. As it also acts as a Standard Carrier Alpha Code , the reporting mark cannot conflict with codes in use by other nonrail carriers. Marks ending with the letter "X" are assigned to companies or individuals who own railcars, but are not operating railroads; for example, the TTX Company (formerly Trailer Train Company) is named for its original reporting mark of TTX. In another example,

4524-429: The rails had extended only 3 kilometres (2 mi) northwestward toward Brookmere , where the last spike was driven that October. The Kettle Valley Railway (KV), a Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) subsidiary announced the station name as Tulameen. When scheduled CP service via Tulameen and Spences Bridge to the coast began in June 1915, GN handed over all general freight and passenger traffic northwest of Princeton to

4602-408: The railway was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002. From August to September 2003, lightning sparked the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park. This fire rapidly grew in strength and size and made its way southeast across Okanagan Mountain. This fire engulfed many portions of the KVR between Penticton and McCulloch Lake. Despite concerted efforts by

4680-428: The railway was donated from BC Rail . These railcars are Canadian Pacific in origin, but were used by BC Rail for service on the Royal Hudson . The most recent locomotive addition to the Kettle Valley Steam Railway is a Canadian Pacific Montreal Locomotive Works 2-8-0 . This locomotive, originally delivered as number 3916, it now is number 3716 and runs on the KVSR. It was built for the CPR, and operated primarily in

4758-402: The railways and registered with the Ministry of Railways , Government of India . Tulameen, British Columbia Tulameen is an unincorporated community in the Similkameen region of south central British Columbia , Canada. On the lee side of the Canadian Cascades , the village is north of the Tulameen River , west of Otter Creek , and at the foot of Otter Lake . On Coalmont Rd,

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4836-444: The railways and registered with the Railway Clearing House . In India, wagons owned by the Indian Railways are marked with codes of two to four letters, these codes normally being the initials of the railway divisions concerned along with the Hindi abbreviation; for example, trains of the Western Railway zone are marked "WR" and "प रे"; those of the Central Railway zone are marked "CR" and "मध्य", etc. The codes are agreed between

4914-426: The reporting mark for state-funded Amtrak services in California is CDTX (whereas the usual Amtrak mark is AMTK) because the state transportation agency ( Caltrans ) owns the equipment used in these services. This may also apply to commuter rail, for example Metrolink in Southern California uses the reporting mark SCAX because the equipment is owned by the Southern California Regional Rail Authority —which owns

4992-463: The river. Months later, the covered ice rink opened. During the 2021 Pacific Northwest floods , some houses were flooded, the community hall housed victims, and groceries were helicoptered into the community of about 200 permanent residents, which lacks cellphone coverage. In summertime, over 100 seasonal residents augment the population. The Trading Post comprises a general store, restaurant, post office, and gas bar. Other local services include

5070-541: The southern portions of British Columbia, and CPR had selected what they felt was the path of least resistance. Once silver was discovered within the region in the spring of 1887, thousands of Americans flooded into the BC's Southern Interior, and essentially took control of the region. These miners quickly found that it was much quicker and cheaper to get their supplies from the recently completed Northern Pacific Railroad that transited through Spokane. Once word caught on, British Columbia's Southern Interior essentially became

5148-440: The surviving portion west of Penticton seeing their last trains in 1989. Much of the railway's original route has been converted to a multi-use recreational trail , known as the Kettle Valley Rail Trail , which carries the Trans-Canada Trail through this part of British Columbia . The Kettle Valley Railway was built out of necessity to service the growing mining demands in the Southern Interior region of British Columbia. When

5226-420: The ties were removed. This would not normally be an issue, but many of these trestles and bridges were hundreds of feet in height. After a fatal accident involving a cyclist on one of the trestles, many people petitioned to have the bridges and trestles made safer. These upgrades included repairs, the installation of handrails and planks so that people did not have to jump between each railway tie. This section of

5304-423: The time was closer to the main mining activity. By 1891, Otter Flat was described as the remains of a good sized mining town. Early that decade, Jack Thynne established a ranch to the west, which was a stop on the Merritt–Princeton stage route. During the sawmill relocation to Granite Creek in 1895, the transporting raft rocked, and the equipment plunged into the Tulameen. In 1896, the bridge across Otter Creek

5382-429: The trail between Princeton and Tulameen require extensive reconstruction. In 1910, the Tulameen Lumber Co was established. That year, Columbia Coal and Coke purchased the sawmill to provide lumber for construction activities at Coalmont and the mine. In 1942, Tulameen Sawmills was established. From 1947, the Squelch and Son mill was producing rough lumber. In 1949, a sawdust fire was contained. Logging dominated

5460-486: Was featured on the historical television series Gold Trails and Ghost Towns , season 2, episode 8. Because the CP route through the Rockies had been upgraded to modern steel bridges, the CBC miniseries The National Dream filmed its opening and a number of scenes where wooden trestles were wanted on the Myra Canyon section of the Kettle Valley Railway. The locomotive used was Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 No. 136, disguised as CPR 148. Reporting mark In North America ,

5538-408: Was folded into the CPR's BC District at that time as the Kettle Valley Division. Rail service on the KVR consisted of both passenger and freight trains. Passenger service over the line consisted for many years of the Kettle Valley Express and the Kootenay Express , which carried passengers between Vancouver, BC and Medicine Hat , Alberta . Freight carried on the KVR consisted primarily of ore from

5616-514: Was hoped that the Midway & Vernon railway would connect Midway (the westernmost station of the CPR-owned Columbia and Western Railway ) with Vernon . However, due to funding issues, construction on this railway was stopped. However portions of the completed railway grade were included in the Kettle Valley Railway when the section between Penticton and Midway was completed. The core portion of

5694-564: Was impaired. This often resulted in five-letter reporting marks, an option not otherwise allowed by the AAR. Companies owning trailers used in trailer-on-flatcar service are assigned marks ending with the letter "Z", and the National Motor Freight Traffic Association , which maintains the list of Standard Carrier Alpha Codes, assigns marks ending in "U" to owners of intermodal containers . The standard ISO 6346 covers identifiers for intermodal containers. When

5772-568: Was moved to trucking and from that point onwards, rail traffic quickly diminished to a couple of trains per week. Penticton station building and mechanical servicing facilities were closed at Penticton in the spring of 1985. From that time until the end of train service in March 1989, train crews working the Princeton Subdivision west of Penticton, were headquartered at Merritt. About 2 miles of former KVR track also survived westward from Midway to

5850-541: Was never an official KVR station name. A spur just below Portia was unofficially known as 'Shylock Spur.' On the Smithsonian Folkways FW03569 1961 recording, "Bunkhouse and Forecastle Songs of the Northwest," Stanley G. Triggs sings a song called "The Kettle Valley Line" while accompanying himself on the mandolin. One of the most popular sections of the hiking trail along the former Kettle Valley Railway line

5928-411: Was not an easy task, as two mountain ranges stood in the way. Construction was some of the costliest per track mile when compared against most other North American railway projects, costing almost $ 20 million, and it took nearly 20 years to complete. Construction of the railway was not undertaken all at once, or even by one single company. In the process of realizing a completed "Coast-to-Kootenay" railway,

6006-508: Was owned by Great Northern Railway . Although the CPR and the GNR had indulged in fierce competition in Boundary, West and East Kootenay Districts, that competition was cooling considerably by the time the construction of the KVR began in 1910. By 1913, prodded by the provincial government, the GNR had reached formal construction and then as regular operations loomed, joint track operations agreements with

6084-467: Was replaced. By 1900, hard-rock and placer mining were well established in the area. In 1974, 99-year-old Euphemia Rabbitt, the matriarch of Tulameen, died. Her late husband Thomas is remembered in the names of Rabbitt Creek and Mount Rabbitt. In 1900, DeBarro and Thynne opened the Otter Flat Hotel primarily as a fishing and hunting resort. In 1901, the government surveyed a townsite on

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