Nostalgia & History > All that remains of the CNor Birch Island BC station

Dee's General Store has served the several hundred residents of Birch Island BC for many years.  Birch Island is a small farming community north of Kamloops BC on the CN main line Clearwater Sub., and is located beside the North Thompson River.  A decade or so ago, the wooden truss road bridge over the North Thompson was washed away by ice in the spring run-off, isolating half the village unit a Bailey bridge could be built and later a replacement concrete highway bridge.

Dee's has been there for many years, and so has the station name sign on the rafters inside the store above the Sifto Salt and Fry's Cocoa (a UK hot chocolate mix).

A friend who is in his mid 80's can't remember when Birch Island had a station building, but he remembers the station sign in the store for most of his forty year career as a CN locomotive engineer.

I Googled this and based on what I could find it was closed and/or removed in 1964:

http://railway.site.100percenthost.net/index.php?title=Birch_Island,_B._C.

It was opened for passenger service in 1915 - this has some more thorough information about historical railroad activity around the town and a mention or two of the station:

http://www.exporail.org/can_rail/Canadian%20Rail_no512_2006.pdf