Kettle Valley Railway West
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2016
- Gold Trails and Ghost Towns - Kettle Valley Railway West (#809): After more than 50 years of operation the railroad line was abandoned. While the rails no longer exist, the right-of-way is virtually intact with tunnels, bridges and trestles marking the historic route.
Thank you for your hometown stories of our beautiful British Columbia
Just love these old BC stories, I'm from the old kingdom of Wessex in Southern England and, an old guy Jack Hargreaves had a similar style of show where he explianed and visited very old areas going back to the black death era.
I loved this show!
The old rail line and tunnels is a public trail now, Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park
I love going there. My favorite walk with my pooch.
I wish the great stories of the brave, hard working men, who undertook the seemingly impossible were tought of in school. I just may have gained a keen interest in the schoolwork if so.
It is so beautiful
In 1910, construction began on the Kettle Valley Railway in British Columbia. One section from Brookmere to Merritt was a subdivison of that famous railway, which saw its final train passage in 1989.
But during those years the railway recorded a train derailment in 1926 that has been called “one of the worst disasters in local history.”
An article in the Merritt Herald stated, “…the self-sacrificing feat of conductor J.C. Quinn, trainman F.E. Stringer and brakeman C.A. Johnson, in exhausting every human effort to stop the train with hand brakes when they were facing certain death, will live on in the annals of the Kettle Valley Railway.
“Through the wild Coquihalla Pass, with its yawning chasms, its tunnels, its curves and bridges, they remained at their posts and went to their death standing by Engineer Robert Marks, who never left his locomotive.”
There was a second engine in the middle of the train pushing ahead and hauling a long line in the rear. It was then that fireman Barwick, seeing that the train was going too fast, heroically crawled out on the cowcatcher of the second engine which was careening out of control at this point.
On that morning of Labour Day Sunday, an estimated 10 lives and $200,000 (the value in 1926) worth of coal, lead and machinery were lost.
The wreck occurred just north of Hope. Fireman Ray Letts of Penticton, who survived the disaster by either jumping or being thrown off the train, later spoke of the first signs of trouble.
“When we reached the top of the hill at Coquihalla to come down the grade we did some switching and then took on another twelve cars of coal,” he said. “We tested the air brakes there and left about 7:20 a.m. I first noticed the train making excessive speed at Iago, about 11 miles from Coquihalla and just previous to this I heard engineer Marks whistle for us to apply the hand brakes.”
Witnesses later claimed that by this time the train was travelling between 40 and 50 miles per hour.
There was a second engine in the middle of the train pushing ahead and hauling a long line in the rear. It was then that fireman Barwick, seeing that the train was going too fast, heroically crawled out on the cowcatcher of the second engine which was careening out of control at this point.
After cutting off the airbrakes he stood in a precarious position, struggling to pull the pin to loosen the coupling between the two sections. He succeeded but was unable to do anything to save the front portion of the train.
Witnesses later claimed that by this time the train was travelling between 40 and 50 miles per hour.
It left the tracks and plunged down a 30-foot embankment where it burst into flames. Fuelled by a tank full of oil which spilled over the ruined cars, the train, bridge and mountainside exploded in a ball of fire. The detached coal cars also plummeted against the mountain.
By the time relief crews arrived from Hope, the fire had destroyed everything, reducing the remains of Marks, Quinn, Stringer, Johnson and other individuals who were observed “stealing rides on the train” to bones and ashes.
“The train rushed by me in two sections,” he said. “First came the front engine with flames pouring from the brakeshoes, a number of box cars and on top of these I saw Conductor Quinn. Then came a bunch of cars loaded with coal. They went into the ditch. I never saw a train go so fast in my life. It was too fast to suit me or anyone living. Just after it went by I heard a horrible crash.”
-Tony Rascalla, a section foreman who witnessed the event
Engineer Marks was identified by the number of his watch. Two of the victims were believed to be Ralph Rachlyeft and Bert Walton, young boys from Vancouver.
A coroner’s inquest was held after the accident and it was standing room only in the courtroom for the next three days.
Tony Rascalla, a section foreman who witnessed the event, testified. “The train rushed by me in two sections,” he said. “First came the front engine with flames pouring from the brakeshoes, a number of box cars and on top of these I saw Conductor Quinn. Then came a bunch of cars loaded with coal. They went into the ditch. I never saw a train go so fast in my life. It was too fast to suit me or anyone living. Just after it went by I heard a horrible crash.”
There was much lauding of the feats of the crew members, especially engineer Marks, who never left his locomotive.
They all “exhausted every human effort to stop the train with hand brakes and other methods even though they were facing certain death.”
The terrific speed of the runaway train was caused by the fact that the 40 cars were loaded with coal and also with bar lead from the Trail smelter, which was being sent to the coast for shipment to China. In all, there was more than 2,000 tons of freight.
The jury found that the derailment was brought about by the partial failure of the air brake system from undetermined causes. This resulted in their inability to hold the train under proper control on the down grade for a number of miles before the accident.
Hello Back in the old days on channel 6 or. 8 I watched as many of your programs as I could that was before VCRs and we had what they called Rabbit ears . Very glad I found the programs now on u tube 😁🇺🇸 Cjd wash state . Ps I just signed up THANK YOU 😷🙏 one more p s. Your program are the very best bar NONE 🤔😁 Happy days are here again 😁😁
So awesome thank you!
Thanks!
thank you
J.J. Hill was a bad Mother Coal Chucker. That's why I run Great Northern boxcars on my layout even though it's a Santa Fe layout.
wow
In Memory of Joe Smuin!