Canadian Railroads > CN 5771 Along Moose Lake, BC

This afternoon, as a colleague and I drove west into British Columbia from Jasper, Alberta, we shot CN 5771 along Moose Lake, BC. Image attached.

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A little bit of history here. Both the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern used the Yellowhead Pass to cross the Rockies.

Along the shore of Moose Lake, they shared a single roadbed. There are pre-WW1 pictures showing two train order offices facing each other across what appears to be double track. The Cnor went bankrupt first in 1916, and the Canadian Government had the Army lift much of the parallel tracks in Yellowhead Pass as part of a "steel for the war effort" campaign. The University of Alberta has a website which closely details the amalgamation of the two lines west of Edmonton. Generally, the present CN west of Jasper is built on the GTP route, and Highway 16 is on the CNor alignment. Jasper AB was the GTP Division Point called Fitzhugh, and the CNor had a Division Point at Lucerne on Yellowhead Lake.

The two lines split at Redpass Junction at the west end of Moose Lake, with the CNor going south and west to Vancouver and the GTP going to Prince Rupert.

Prisoners of War were used by the National Parks to build roads and buildings within Jasper and Banff in both World Wars.
Turks and Armenians rebuilt the Cnor and parts of the GTP rights of way into a road within Jasper Park in WW1.

Jasper was developed as a resort by Sir Henry Thornton of the Canadian National. There is some evidence that Charles M.Hays of the GTP had plans to develop the area before meeting his fate on the "Titanic", including a Chateau style hotel at Miette Hot Springs, designed by Rattenbury, the architect of the Empress Hotel in Victoria.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/12 13:27 by eminence_grise.

Phil, I sure hope TO gives you a free subsciption because your commentary makes this whole thing worthwhile.

Rick

Phil's our resident rail historian..Don't you have one.

Dale Miller
Langley, BC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/18/12 07:31 by bcr4601.

Having trucked through that area off + on over the years, it's been on the bucket list to get up there for a few days of photography. Nice shot.

That's a beautiful shot. I've been there several times...thanks for the history lesson.