Canadian Railroads > Kettle Valley and (exGN,BN) question

Does anyone know if the old Kettle Valley RR in BC ever connected to the exGN (now Cascade and Columbia) line that runs from Wenatchee,WA to Oroville,WA? And, if so, did the railroads ever interchange cars there? Thank you

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Interesting bit of history here.

The GN route that ran from Wenatchee to Oroville WA. was built after the GN's VV&E (Vancouver,Victoria & Eastern) was built right along the US/Canada Border.

This east west route ran from Marcus WA., on the Columbia River west to Ferry WA/Midway BC and over the Okanagan mountains to Oroville WA, and then continued west crossing the border at Nighthawk WA/BC up the Similkameen valley to Princeton and Brookemere.

This line was built at the height of competition between the GN and CP in southern BC. JJ Hill of the GN retired during the period of construction and his son, Louis Hill chose not to continue the battle with the CPR and set about abandoning those GN lines in BC which were not money makers.

The GN route from Marcus to Oroville had little on line traffic. With the retirement of WC Van Horne from the CPR, Hill's former rival, the CP also chose not to continue the conflict. GN offered the Marcus/Oroville line to CP, which had lesser grades than the parallel CP Kettle Valley Carmi Subdivision, but CP chose to keep their route because it had some on line traffic.

During this period, GN built the line from Oroville to Wenatchee WA so they could continue to operate their line west from Oroville and abandon the eastern portion from Oroville to Grand Forks BC/Danville WA.

During these years, the fruit growers of the southern Okanagan valley in BC asked the GN to build a line north from Oroville WA. to Penticton BC. A charter for the "Penticton Railway" was obtained by the GN and it was fully surveyed.

With the decision to abandon the VV&E east of Oroville, the GN reconsidered its plans in BC, and the Penticton Railway plans went dormant. CP picked up the charter and built the line north from Osoyoos BC, leaving only three or four miles around Osoyoos Lake to connect with the GN at Oroville. Prior to WW2, the CP Osoyoos Sub. terminated at Okanagan Falls , and a lake barge operated by CP carried to cars to Penticton BC. In 1944, the CP Osoyoos Sub. was completed along Skaha Lake to Penticton. The CP station at Osoyoos was placed so that the line could continue south to Oroville WA., with the tracks simply terminating beyond the station.
This station is preserved but not in its original position.

The CP Osoyoos Sub. was abandoned in the late 1980's when a large sawmill at Okanagan Falls shut down. The Okanagan Falls to Osoyoos portion had previously been abandoned after all the orchard traffic was transferred to CP trucks in the late 1970's.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/13 18:35 by eminence_grise.

Thank you for the great information.

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