Canadian Railroads > Sightseer Sunday - Rocky Mountaineer at Ashcroft, 2002

About a year ago I started posting Rocky Mountaineer photos under the "Sightseer Sunday" subject; the most recent one was on March 4, at https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4501167. Let's just say some things have happened, the string got interrupted, but I recently had a chance to scan a few more, so the string is resumed.
1. From the old days of white with stripes scheme, this is westbound Rocky Mountaineer #609 at 0912 on July 10, 2002, coming out from under the highway bridge at Ashcroft. The lead unit is 8011, and we never did catch/record the identity of the second one. The highway climbing out of the valley to the right is 97C to Merritt, and along the way, the enormous Highland Valley copper mine. At this time, the transloading of the ore to rail happened on CP, in the facility you see on the right (east) side of their yard at the foot of the grade. It's highlighted by the white covers on the gondolas. This business has moved (it seems like entirely, not 100% sure) over to CN (handled by #417), and I think this had happened, or was in transition, by 2010. The highway disappearing into the middle distance takes you to Cache Creek, and to the left, at the foot of the tan bluffs (seen better in the next photo) is the leg that takes you to Highway 1 south of Cache Creek.
2. In the closer shot that highlights this beautiful train, you see CP in the foreground, and the one photo element we had to get in this shot, the old "beehive" burner in the background. The highway leg climbing south out of Ashcroft is important, saving you many kilometres and lots of time (compared to going out to Cache Creek) if you want to chase CN westbound. Which we did; the result will be the next post in this series on a Sunday, maybe next week, maybe later. Locations and views like this suck you back to the Ashcroft area; weather isn't always so cooperative.
Fred



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/19 22:59 by feclark.

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Beehive burners were at one time ubiquitous in this province.  When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s there were hundreds of
them scattered all over the place.  Here in the lower mainland there were so many that they caused far more air pollution
than anything we see today; perhaps with the exception of some of the forest fire smoke we've seen in the last couple of years.
In the fall and winter when we had heavy fog the combination of the fog and the fine particulate material from the burners
created a true "smog" that was thicker than anything we get today.  I can remember walking to school and not being able to
see more than 15-20 ft. in front of me.  It also seemed that the smog was very pervasive--it could hang on for weeks at a
time.

That burner in Ashcroft used to be a part of a thriving little mill,  I couldn't tell you when the mill closed but I know it was there
for may years...

Keith Robertson
Langley, BC

Interesting photos, thanks.

LKeithR Wrote:
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> Beehive burners were at one time ubiquitous in
> this province.  When I was a kid in the 50s and
> 60s there were hundreds of
> them scattered all over the place.  Here in the
> lower mainland there were so many that they caused
> far more air pollution
> than anything we see today; perhaps with the
> exception of some of the forest fire smoke we've
> seen in the last couple of years.
> In the fall and winter when we had heavy fog the
> combination of the fog and the fine particulate
> material from the burners
> created a true "smog" that was thicker than
> anything we get today.  I can remember walking to
> school and not being able to
> see more than 15-20 ft. in front of me.  It also
> seemed that the smog was very pervasive--it could
> hang on for weeks at a
> time.
>
> That burner in Ashcroft used to be a part of a
> thriving little mill,  I couldn't tell you when
> the mill closed but I know it was there
> for may years...

Thanks for the background on burners. For anyone from BC or anywhere else who lauds that government's stance against all that diry Alberta oil, take a drive east on the 97C until you get to the nasty great tailings pond at the copper mine. Incredible sight we caught one year detouring Kamloops-Merritt-Ashcroft on account of a bad accident on the #1 Highway just west of Kamloops.
Fred



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/30/18 22:59 by feclark.