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Canadian Pacific's Big Hill By Floyd Yeats
Canadian Pacifics Big Hill By Floyd Yeats
INTRODUCTION
In 1985 the Canadian Pacific Railway celebrates the centenary of the completion of its mainline, the last spike having been driven at Craigellachie, B.C. on November 7, 1885. The first through transcontinental train left Montreal on June 28, 1886 and arrived in Port Moody six days later.
This volume represents a tribute to the Railway on such an important occasion. We have chosen 20 miles of the original mainline for such a purpose because within that short stretch is one of the greatest concentrations of engineering and operating problems. A photographer's dream, there is an excellent variety of equipment in the selection of pictures that we have included and while it has not been possible to include all types of motive power that operated on the Hill, we believe that all the major classes are illustrated.
As of November 1883, the end of track was at Laggan, later renamed Lake Louise, and extremely difficult country lay ahead. First, it was necessary to get up to the Continental Divide at Stephen (5,332 ft.) and this required a six mile climb with grades of up to 1.8%. Having almost reached the summit by the end of the 1883 construction season, the builders were faced with the steep sided valley of the Kicking Horse River and the 1,260 foot descent from the Divide to Field, a distance of ten miles.
Several options were considered for the grade beyond the summit. One of these, involving a line high on the slopes of Mount Stephen with a tunnel through the shoulder of that peak, would have been several hundred feet above the present site of Field and thus the town would never have been built. Eventually it was decided to lay track to Stephen and then straight down to Field with a 4.5% grade and three safety switches as a preventive measure against runaway trains and cars.
Field was named after an American businessman. Cyrus W. Field, who visited the area in 1884. The Company reached this location in that year. having built several bridges and a short tunnel on the way. This line was used until 1909 when the famous Spiral Tunnels were opened, reducing the grade by 50% and adding four miles of track.
I had the privilege of working with many train and engine crews who operated on the old Hill including my father, George Yeats. I will never forget the stories of runaways and accidents that they told, and I have to agree with my father that those were the days of wooden engines and iron men.
I was born in Field in 1919 while my father was pushing on the Hill as a fireman and although living there for only two years, I guess railroading got into my blood. In 1938 at the age of 18, I started on the C.P.R. and spent the next 41 years working all directions out of Calgary with a large part of that time west of the city to Field. My last seven years with Canadian Pacific were spent working on Trains No. 1 and 2. the "Canadian-, east and west of Calgary and I got to know and love the mountains, especially Field Hill.
To me this is the most fascinating 20 miles of track on the whole C.P.A. and I would like to dedicate this book to the many old rails I knew and worked with over the years, such as Billy
Adamson who started in 1898 and spent his whole life on the Hill; others include Otto Flegal, Harry Chapman, Bill and Smokey Dietz, Orville Sinclair, Seth Partridge, Dick Gain, Jim Rourke, Eddie Lemeaux, my uncle Russell Jamieson and many other fine train and engine crews. Last but not least, this is for my father, George Yeats. who worked from 1907 to 1947, spending much of his time on the Big HIII.
For some time I have thought that a well illustrated book should be written about Field Hill, as to my knowledge this has not been tackled. Since 1985 marks the hundredth anniversary of through service, this seemed an appropriate time. I have received encouragement and a lot of help from my friends Don Bain and Martin Booth of the B.R.M.N.A. and am grateful for the assistance of Nick and Willie Morant of Banff, Bruce Chapman of Ottawa, Doug Phillips of Calgary and Lance Camp of Port Coquitlam. In addition to contributing photographs, Jan Booth did all the typing. while Geoffrey Lester provided the map. My thanks to all the photographers and those who made prints available. This has been a labour of love and I hope readers will find it an interesting and enlightening account of railroading on the Big Hill for the last hundred years.
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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