Nakusp Rail Society

The last train to Nakusp British Columbia was close to thirty five years ago and with that a chapter closed. The line into town remained in service just shy of a hundred years, so it wasn’t a total wash. As a memorial to this past, the wonderful folks at the Nakusp Rail Society have put up a display of vintage train equipment down by the lake for everyone to enjoy. It’s just to the north of downtown, near the campground, by the beach, next to the park and right in front of the sports arena.

A more stunning location, here in this little interior community, could not be imagined. Look west and its such a scenic backdrop that you just might forget trains…for a ten or twenty seconds, anyway.

There’s three railcars in the consist and they were placed here just a few years ago. They’re all Canadian Pacific Railway ex-company service cars and include a comparably modern caboose, an ancient snowplow, which looks like a caboose with a bad attitude and in between, it’s an odd looking beast called a spreader (it’s an oldie too). Don’t worry, we’ll fill you in on it and everything else once we’re done.

The former Brouse station on display here reminds us that train travel was once a big thing. Serving the small community at the next stop down the line south from Nakusp, it displays the passenger timetable as it looked in 1914. Passenger trains? You’ve heard of them in legend or maybe your grandparents spoke of them, right?

Visiting the Nakusp Rail Society display!

If you wanted to travel any distance a century ago, you did so by railway. On a branch line such as this service was infrequent at best, here once per day, per direction back then. It might not have been always convenient, but you worked with it and life went on.

The Nakusp line, called the Nakusp and Slocan Railway, but operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway, goes back to the 1890s. Running between Sandon at the far end, it meandered north to Nakusp and the majority of traffic forest products and ore from any number of mines. The line got trimmed back over time, and traffic dwindled year to year, but still it was surprisingly long lasting. They didn’t call it quits until the late 1980s! That the area is so remote helped here and with few highways, the railway might sometimes the only option for shippers back then. Even so, freights the last few decades were short and sporadic. Passenger service ended by the 1950s, but by then we doubt if anyone noticed.

This stretch of track was isolated from the rest of the CPR network and the connection to the outside world was by rail barge. The transfer location happened at a little town called Rosebery (see: Rosebery BC Then & Now ) and the water-gap ran between it and Slocan City where a connection could be made with the CPR’s Crowsnest Line. This barge operation was necessary due to rugged terrain and no doubt a big operational headache. It must have been expensive to run too, but it worked and did so for countless decades. The former roadbed’s a rail trail and travels though some nice country.

The snowplow, #400648, dates back to 1921 and only retired about a decade ago. Plows don’t often get used and such can seemingly last forever. Pushed by locomotives, a crew member would ride up there in the cupola and keep and eye on the track ahead. Even deep drifts stood little chance and while it might take a couple stabs to clear the worst accumulations, little would stop it. Wings on either side could extend outward to cut a wider swath. Take a bite!

On our visit in the summer of 2021, this wedge plow was approaching its hundredth birthday and just think about how different the world was back then. Steam locomotives ruled the rails when it was new and that’s quite eye opening!

Railway snowplows are not used so much today and instead railways may call out an army of mobile loaders and dozers to clear blockages. Running trains more frequently can also prevent snow build up.

CPR #434614 is from 1977 and so a late model caboose. In the old days, you’d see one at the end of every freight, but the railways started phasing them out in the 1980s. Even so some lasted in service well past that date for specialized reasons, such as local runs or on maintenance trains, for example. We found photos of this one in service into the 2000s and it was looking pretty rough back then. It’s nice they fixed it up and everything else on display here.

Marker lights indicate status and most often displayed red to mark the tail end of a freight, moving or not. Green would tell other passing trains it had stopped on a siding.

A caboose in the past might be a home away from home for the tail end train crew but in modern times mostly used as a rolling office or platform for switching moves. We lit it up so it appeared the boys were putting in a little overtime and burning the midnight oil.

The middle car serves an unusual purpose and called a Jordan Spreader. Canadian Pacific #402811 was outshopped in 1913 and it can be used variously for fighting snow, to profile the roadbed, or both. The wings on either side can extend outward in addition to downward, acted on by air cylinders (that tank holds the supply) and this allows a high degree of control.

Made by the Jordan company, a specialized maker, the railway still owns a number of these and similar machines are still made today (by a legacy firm). Much like the snowplow, these are only used from time to time (but essential) and similarly might last in service well beyond what might be considered normal.

This one came via the Revelstoke Railway Museum and for the longest time, well into the 1990s, stationed out of Cranbrook in BC’s southeast.

What was the world like when it left the manufacturer? Let’s see…autos were a something new, planes a real novelty, wages were a couple bucks a day and your life expectancy under sixty years. You get the idea!

The snowplow is a century old.

The Nakusp Rail Society was founded a few years back and have done a lot of good in a short period. This nicely done display is a testament to their dedication and determination – kudos!

Those things in BIGDoer yellow? By the way, we approve that colour! They’re wheel stops to keep a car from rolling past the end of track and making a mess. The W post? These tell the locomotive crew to blow a whistle in anticipation of a grade crossing or other locations where there may be people about. Timken equipped? These are roller wheel bearings made by the Timken firm and they provided a smoother, safer ride verses older friction bearings. In addition they were less maintenance intensive, and similarly less prone to fail, so it became a win-win for the railways.

Upper Arrow Lake and the scenic Monashee Mountains are a backdrop to our shooting position. Turn around and take in Beautiful British Columbia. People in Nakusp are so lucky to look out over this incredible view every day and for that we’re a bit jealous.

Know more (new windows): Nakusp Rail Society and a little about the line into town: Nakusp & Slocan Railway

Drop by often and enjoy new content posted regularly

They’re saying…

”You constantly amaze with the things you find to post. Thanks for doing what you do.” Wayne Bengtsson (our pleasure).

Vintage train equipment.
Ex-Manitoba Sugar – Played on it as kid and that’s cool!
Coleman Collieries #DL11 – It once worked at a nearby coal mine.
Canadian National Railways #1392 – Getting loaded on a truck (oh, the humanity) for a trip out of town.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: July, 2021.
Location: Nakusp, BC.
Article references and thanks: Nakusp Rail Society and Canadian Trackside Guides.

You don’t see many photos of us, but when you do it’s like this.

A strange thing called a Jordan Spreader.

#402811 has been around since 1913!

The last train to Nakusp BC was in the late ’80s.

The BIGDoer-mobile always manages to sneak into a photo.

The passenger schedule as it was in 1914.

We approve this colour.

Timken roller bearing equipped.

Take a bite!

Wings fold out to plow snow or profile the roadbed.

Blow your whistle.

Behind our shooting position, this amazing view.

Looks like the tail end crew is working late.

This caboose is relatively modern and from the ’70s.