 2009 |
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 19 September 2009 Spiralling Through Kicking Horse Pass  As one end of this potash train exits the spiral tunnel, another part of the same train is yet to enter. 
Field British Columbia - As Calgary's glass towers disappear into
the distance, prairie gives way to rolling foothills, and the Rocky Mountains take over the landscape, I stand on the back of Canadian
Pacific Railway's Mount Stephen car on the same platform where world leaders and royalty once perched.
The distinctive On this excursion, three diesel locomotives power the "In the railway industry, it's known as the holy place of railroading," says Doug Welsh, a retired When British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871, it was on the condition that prime minister John A. Macdonald agreed to tie it by rail to the rest of fledgling country. CP plugged away at the project, but faced a significant challenge on the steep western slope of the Rockies. The railway could have found an easier route by looking farther north, but it didn't want to chance abandoning territory to tenacious American railroaders to the south. Under pressure to complete the transcontinental railway, CP was excused from the railway rule of track that the grade not exceed 2.2 percent. Trains were not supposed to climb or descend more than 2.2 feet for every 100 feet of track (the railway still operates exclusively in imperial measures), but CP would be allowed a 4.5 percent grade. What was supposed to be a temporary fix, which was completed in 1884 and became known as Big Hill, lasted 25 years. The first train that attempted a descent, however, lost control and plunged into the Kicking Horse River below. Three crew members were killed. To prevent future tragedy, spur lines were built to divert runaway trains. Even still, tackling Big Hill remained daunting. That didn't deter Lady Agnes Macdonald. In 1886, the year after the last spike was driven in at Craigellachie, B.C., she joined her husband, Sir John A., on a By the time they reached what is now known as Lake Louise, she marched up front, feeling restless. She hopped on the cowcatcher, a fender to sweep away debris and wildlife, and, despite the danger, rode it down the Big Hill and all the way to Vancouver. "She might have looked Victorian, but she was a little wild on the inside apparently," said Kristy Putman, a Parks Canada interpreter based in Field. The Big Hill also proved inefficient and expensive. It required more locomotives and additional crew to move trains through. The laborious process also slowed the transportation line. CP's assistant chief engineer, John Edward Schwitzer, inspired by the Baischina Gorge railway tunnels in Switzerland, designed a pair of looping tunnels through the pass that also kept to the spirit of a 2.2 percent grade. An upper tunnel was blasted through Cathedral Mountain, spinning trains through 991 metres of rock, arriving at the exit at a different elevation. The lower tunnel, also with portals at different elevations, was blown through 891 metres of Mount Ogden. For trainspotters, this is an iconic location in North American railroading. Canada has been described as a country linked by a ribbon of steel, and this spot has been called the bow. For shutterbugs, it is perhaps the premier way to capture a train in motion. If a train is long enough, it will appear to spiral over itself as the engine leaves one portal while the tail has yet to enter the other. Without the luxury of modern technology or computers, workers carved out the tunnels at both ends, deviating only five centimetres off the mark when they met in the middle. The Now, only those aboard Royal Canadian Pacific, a luxury rail service chartered by luminaries including Bill Gates, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas (with a Like other trainspotters, Ruth Gair, Schwitzer's All along our journey, rail buffs - also called foamers for their I notice a large gathering as we prepare to pass Morant's Curve, a curved segment of track that stretches along the Bow River near Lake Louise, made famous by Nicholas Morant, a photographer for CP. I wave. They wave. I feel like a rock star. I have driven this route along the Nature seems closer, bigger, and more perfect. As we chug along at 64 kilometres an hour, the aroma of pine needles and the hum of the wheels hang in the air. Passengers are whisked inside as we slow to enter the first Spiral Tunnel. The car darkens. The smell of soot, diesel, and metal sneaks in. We are travelling in a circle, entering each tunnel at a different elevation than we will exit. In both tunnels, and in both directions, I feel neither the curve of the track nor the change in altitude. When we emerge from the dark, passengers with cameras flood out the doors and hang their heads out openings to take pictures before the tunnels fade from view. I watch the foamers collapse their tripods, pack up their gear, and wander away. When I finally get home, I can still feel the sway of the railcar beneath my feet. And the trip through history swirls in my head. If You Go GETTING THERE By train: Rocky Mountaineer, By car: Field, B.C., is 206 kilometres west of Calgary on the WHERE TO STAY Visitors can camp, stay in a bed and breakfast, or travel to nearby Golden, B.C., and Lake Louise, Alta., for hotel accommodations. But there are two premier mountain retreats in the area: Cathedral Mountain Lodge Yoho Valley Road, Yoho National Park; WHAT TO DO Hike to see the "stone bugs" workers stumbled upon during construction of the railway in the 1880s. Trilobite fossils were later determined to be more than 500 million years old and a major clue to the origins of life. Burgess Shale, one of the most significant fossil sites in the world, celebrates its centennial this year. You will need to be reasonably fit although you won't need serious climbing gear. Open, weather permitting, until the end of October. Dawn Walton.  |
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