Canadian Railroads > Watertower Wednesday, Coryell BC 1976

Coryell BC was a siding and water tower on the west slope of Farron Hill on CP's Boundary Subdivision between Nelson and Midway .

The eastward climb for trains was a sustained 1 to 2 percent grade and in steam days, this was a "pusher grade" where assisting locomotives were added at Cascade to push to Farron, the summit.

Water tanks were supplied at Fife and Coryell. In this 1976 view, the siding is gone , the main has been recently ballasted and ditched and the bridge and building gang would soon demolish the unused water tower.

Coryell was a hard scramble up a rocky slope from BC Highway 3, but Mel Patrick made the effort to take an image of an eastbound H-Liner powered train here. Later, John Signor used Mel's image to create the cover painting of John Garden's "Crow and the Kettle" book.

Today, the grade is a hiking and biking trail.

Fascinating.
Bob

Definitely like this most interesting watertower photo.
Thanks for posting.
ALLEN