13 April 2009
Summerland to Host Feature Film Shoot
Producers for the film Gunless rode aboard the Kettle
Valley Steam Railway's 3716 train before selecting the
Summerland heritage site as a filming location for June.
Summerland British Columbia - A Summerland heritage
site will be featured in the upcoming film Gunless, which is being shot in the South Okanagan in the coming month.
The Kettle Valley Steam Railway has been selected as one of the filming locations for the upcoming movie shoot, confirmed Jon
Summerland of the Okanagan Film Commission.
Summerland took Brightlight Pictures and Rhombus Media production team members to sites on the railway in early April as producers
were in need of a historic rail bed for filming.
"We toured some of the rail line on foot and then took them out in our steam locomotive 3716 to several of the sites that weren't
as easily accessible," explained KVSR general manager Ron Restrick.
"We look forward to having the film crew here for about three days, sometime in June, and we extend our thanks to the Okanagan
Film Commission for bringing them to the KVSR so they could see what we have to offer".
Paul Gross, known for his roles in Passchendaele and Due South, will head to the Osoyoos in early May to begin production on Gunless,
a western-themed comedy.
Gross was tapped to play "the Montana Kid" in the film, which will revolve around the character - an American cowboy -
waking up in a Canadian town. That town won't be identified as Osoyoos or even a B.C. location, but it hinges on the differences
between the two countries and their inhabitants, producer Niv Fichman told the media. Canada's relatively mild demeanor will also be
in the satirical movie's crosshairs, he said.
The film's producers said they wanted to shoot in the Osoyoos area because it offers the unique topography they were after.
Gunless will be made on a modest $10 million budget, with help from Canada's Telefilm. It will be released in spring 2010.
Gross may also be remembered from his directorial debut, the 2002 flick Men With Brooms - a comedic take on the sport of curling that
broke Canadian box office records.
About the KVR
The Kootenays and the Okanagan were rich in resources that were in high demand - the Kootenays with its silver, and the Okanagan with
its fruit.
But, what the CPR provided wasn't efficient for those regions. Of concern to those in the South Okanagan was that CPR trains would
stop at Vernon's Okanagan Landing. Once there, they would transfer supplies and travellers onto Okanagan Lake sternwheeler ships, like
the S.S. Sicamous, and travel south to Penticton.
It was a slow process, and that's where the idea for the Kettle Valley Railway came in.
Specifically, the stretch from Midway to Hope was targeted and that's where the railway spanned. Survey work began in 1910 from Midway
to Penticton and Penticton to Merritt.
At the time, it was also decided that the line should also go through the Coquihalla Pass and work began on that subdivision a year
later.
Between 1910 and 1915 Andrew McCulloch, who at the time was 51 years old, was hired on as chief engineer of the development of the KVR.
The project got underway in 1910, and in five years McCulloch laid 510 km of track allowing for the first passenger trains to be put
in operation. One of the specific areas of trouble was the Trout Creek bridge, which was completed 25 Oct 1913.
It is the highest bridge on the original Kettle Valley line and the third largest of its type in North America. Upon completion, the
railway "changed the face of the Interior when it brought minerals and fruit to coast and then into the world market".
B.C.'s extreme weather, and the rise of more efficient modes of transportation are what eventually rendered the KVR obsolete.
Rockslides, washouts, and snow made the Coquihalla subdivision too costly and inefficient, and in 1959 it was shut down.
Air travel and automotive travel were also fast becoming more economical and efficient.
Eventually it was realized that the KVR's express service was too pricey to keep alive and by 1964 the final passenger run was made in
1972 the Carmi subdivision from Midway to Penticton was closed - although freight continued to run from Okanagan Falls to Spences
Bridge until 1989.
Although operations rolled to a stop in 1989, the Kettle Valley Railway Society was formed shortly after to keep a part of the
region's history alive.
Much of the track was lifted within a few years of the last train pulling through, but the Kettle Valley Steam Railway Society
preserved a 16 km stretch from the Trout Creek Bridge to Faulder.
Passengers start their journey on Princeton Summerland Road and finish on the historical Trout Creek Bridge.
The trains at the KVR stopped being a realistic form of locomotive travel long before the lines were ripped up, but to help passengers
get on an authentic trip back in time the society purchased the 3716.
The locomotive was built originally in 1912 by Montreal Locomotive Works.
To get it to Summerland, crews had to head there, disassemble the train, and package it onto five semi
trucks.
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