notes from song writer Dave Baker on Kettle Valley Railroad (continued)
Built in the early years of the twentieth century, the Kettle Valley Railway spanned southern B.C. from Hope to Midway where it joined the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR then ran through the Crow’s Nest Pass onto the plains of southern Alberta. Many miles of the railroad traversed very rugged mountain terrain. The Kettle Valley Railway includes trestles and tunnels that are, to this day, the finest examples of early twentieth century railway engineering.
Many communities in southern B.C. owe their growth and livelihood to the Kettle Valley Railroad.
The line has been abandoned in sections The first section to suffer this fate was the Coquihalla Subdivision in 1960. The rails were removed shortly thereafter. The rail line from Penticton to Castlegar was abandoned in 1972 and the rails were removed in 1980. The remainder of the rail line from Spences Bridge to Penticton was removed in 1990. Today, only the railway right-of-way, the trestles, and the tunnels remain. They remind us of another time when steam engine whistles echoed through the remote mountain canyons.