Kootenay Ferries

[CN2972South]

lubicon1 said:

I could be wrong but I think Teck Cominco still ships their concentrate to the Trail smelter via Cranbrook too, but I may be wrong. Perhaps it comes up through the US.

Yes they do, they ship too much to truck it, and the only rail connection is the CPR via Cranbrook, Nelson, etc. A lot of the concentrate comes into Vancouver, into CN Thornton yard from the BNSF, where we take it to North Bend for the CPR and it eventually ends up at trail.

[CN2972South]

brianwilliams said:

To CNR:

Thanks for the insight into CP's Creston-Nelson-Castlegar operation!

The operations today, while still generating a lot of revenue, are nothing like they used to be. In the early 1990's CP hacked and slashed a good chunk of the operations in southern BC.

Service west of Castlegar to Grand Forks and Midway ended and the Boundary Sub was abandoned from Midway to about 5 miles west of Castlegar; the line to Nakusp and the Slocan Lake barge service was cut; the branch line to Slocan City was abandoned; and the remainder of the Kettle Valley Railway(Penticton-Okanagan Falls and Penticton-Princeton-Spences Bridge) was abandoned. As well, the CPR recently stopped running to Kimberly out of Cranbrook. CP also shut down the Nelson Diesel shops in the early 1990's in favor of the Cranbook roundhouse.

[BrianWilliams]

I did see the remnants of CP's Nelson hub this time (Aug 2006).

The loco shop is long gone; the Nelson station building was home to the region's management for years, and now it is a vandalized hulk.

I was happy to see one high-iron polished set of rails among the rust at Nelson, leading to Castlegar. Another disappointment, of course -- Castlegar's yard is mostly weed grown and empty, except for the Celgar stub and its few active holding tracks.

[BrianWilliams]

Cable ferry, or cable-guided?

I can't be sure about all the small inland boats, but I had a long chat with the skipper of Aberta's Bleriot ferry in June 2006.

The small barge is powered by a six-cylinder Cummins diesel. Its 240 horsepower is enough to move the boat with a full load across the Red Deer River in spring flood, when the river races at 30 knots.

The cables are essential for guidance. Our Glade Ferry, for example, is cable-guided but self-powered. Like Bleriot, it runs across a deep, swift river.

The Bleriot operator also told me: in the event of an engine failure, he has reaction vanes to power the boat across on the river's current alone. On our June crossing, he said our 5 minute trip could be half an hour without diesel power ... and don't try it in August. "Better to wade across" he said.