Speaker/Lecture Services
Over the years Donald Bain has given a
large number of talks on the Canadian Pacific Railway. This started over ten
years ago when he was asked to put on a two day course for The Friends of Yoho
in Field. This concentrates on the Big Hill - the line between Field and Lake
Louise. On the first day, Don shows approximately 300 slides of the Hill as
it was in its early days, after the Spiral Tunnels were constructed and as it
is now. On the second day, the group meets at Morant's Curve, four miles east
of Lake Louise and accessible from the old highway. This is where Nicholas
Morant, CP's Special Photographer, took a number of famous shots of steam and
diesel-headed trains. From there, we move west to Lake Louise and visit the
railway station, which is now restored and the site of a very nice
restaurant. The walls are covered with historic photographs of the railway
and are well-worth a visit.
We examine the old tramway road bed and
the remains of the tramway bridge over the Bow River, before moving on to the
east end of the Stephen Siding. Here is where the TransCanada Highway bridge
had to be specially weighted to stop the hydraulic pressure in the sub-soil
from popping the pilings out of the ground. As Parks Canada, in its wisdom,
has closed the old highway from Lake Louise to Wapta Lake, we hike the half
mile to the Continental Divide - the highest point in the CP mainline at 5,332
feet. This is where Divide Creek is located, with one portion going west to
the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean while the other half heads east to
Hudson Bay. Of course, it isn't natural but it makes for an interesting
discussion. There is also the cairn erected to commemorate James Hector's
discovery of the Kicking Horse Pass.
Lunch is normally had at West Louise
Lodge and then we cross the bridge at the beginning of the Kicking Horse River
and visit the diversion of the line made necessary by the construction of the
TransCanada Highway. When the road opened the road and railway were side by
side and snowplows moved the snow efficiently from the road to block the
railway and vice versa! This is also the location of the thin beds of coal
which were deposited by hard-working steam locomotives. Small particles of
coal were swept though the firebox without being burned and fell beside the
railway. They are still there. This is also the site of Chinamens' Grave
where the story is that two cooks made meals unacceptable to the navvies
building the line through here in 1884 and paid the ultimate sacrifice. That
may or not be true but there is a grave right beside the track on the side of
Wapta Lake.
Next stop is the location of the first
runaway switch which was used to divert out-of-control trains on the Hill
prior to the abandonment of the original grade. We visit the western portal
of the Upper Spiral Tunnel and we see the "Elephant of Field Hill." We go down
the abandoned grade to the third runaway switch. (The second runaway switch
was located near the west end of the Yoho Siding and was obliterated when the
Spiral Tunnels were built.) On this grade you can see the abandoned 2-6-0
narrow gauge locomotive used in the construction of the Spiral Tunnels.
In the campground at the base of the
Hill we visit the bake oven used to prepare food for the navvies in 1883 and
then return to Field for an explanation of where the roundhouse, turntable,
etc. were located and you can see the old line westward to Muskeg Summit.
Most people don't realize that Field required pushers in both directions when
the line was constructed. A diversion beside the Kicking Horse River in 1905
removed the grade and Field then supplied pushers only to eastbound trains
until the end of steam.
The course is held each year on the last
weekend in August and data can be obtained from The Friends of Yoho, P.O. Box
100, Field, B.C. V0A 1G0. There is plenty of accommodation in Field but it
tends to book up early. Meals can be obtained at the hotel, the local shop or
the CP Bunkhouse.
In addition, Don has given many slide
show talks on the railway to diverse audiences as far apart as Vancouver and
the National Railway Museum in York, England. In 2002, he gave talks in
Calgary, Lake Louise and Vancouver. If you would like more information,
please contact Don through
BRMNA.
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