Canadian Railroads > Kelowna BC sawmill to close

In 2015, CN abandoned the Lumby Junction (Vernon) to Kelowna portion of their Okanagan Subdivision. Today, much of that route is a hiking/biking trail.

When CN applied to abandon to Kelowna, they consulted the major shipper, Tolko Industries of Vernon about the future of the Kelowna sawmill. CN said they would continue to operate to Kelowna if the sawmill could guarantee 15 years of business. Tolko said they couldn't do that as the lumber supply to the mill was declining.

In early 2019, the mill went to a single shift and by late summer it suspended operation. Finally on November 8th , Tolko announced permanent closure putting 159 mill employees out of work. The mill has been a major source of woodchips for paper production for decades, and produced trainloads of woodchips and other forest products for both CN and CP (who had trackage rights from Vernon).

Kelowna is the largest city in the Okanagan valley of BC, and was once the centre of a large fruit packing industry. By the 1970's, lumber replaced fruit packing.

More recently, because of its mild climate, Kelowna has become a favourite retirement and resort location. The Tolko mill is on valuable Okanagan lakefront property and is likely a highly sought piece of real estate.

The image shows the large woodchip bins used for loading trucks at the Tolko mill. The railcar chip loader is in the distance. Some of the rail tracks remained on the mill property after CN abandoned.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/19 14:06 by eminence_grise.

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The high rise residence to the right side tells the story.

So is Canada running out of trees or running out of Land? I did witness Oregon running out of marketable trees in the 80's. Very sobering, causing major changes to the Lumber Companies and also the Rail Companies.

Google maps shows many unused rail sidings into various businesses in the area.  Hard to beleive none of those businesses want to use rail service.  The 2018 view shows the tracks into the sawmill as being devoid of rail cars and overgrown, and gated off tracks.  Exactly how long has it been since they shipped any product out by rail?  

The mill has been around since the 1920's, along with others in the area.  Even with reforestation programs, modern logging practices have resulted in a lack of nearby marketable timber. Several long established mills have closed in the last year. Lumber is still a huge part of the BC economy, however it relies on a healthy economy and new housing starts across North America for its survival.  Every decade or so, the BC lumber industry goes through adjustments and consolidations and each time, some older mills close.

Sadly, often sawmills are the sole employer in some communities, such as Vavenby BC , sixty miles north of Kamloops. When the mill closes, often the town dies.

Yes, that condo tower is likely the future of the mill site in Kelowna. 

P Wrote:
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> Google maps shows many unused rail sidings into
> various businesses in the area.  Hard to beleive
> none of those businesses want to use rail
> service.  The 2018 view shows the tracks into the
> sawmill as being devoid of rail cars and
> overgrown, and gated off tracks.  Exactly how
> long has it been since they shipped any product
> out by rail?  

The last train left Kelowna in 2013 , operated by Kelowna Pacific, a short line operator which leased the CN tracks.  When the contractor removed the CN tracks, industrial spurs such as those in the mill were often left in place because the industries had paid contractors to build the spurs, hence the rails etcetera were industry property.

In an abandonment decision related to CP's Sicamous to Armstrong route to the Okanagan, at least one shipper wanted to retain rail service, however the traffic generated was deemed unsufficient to justify retaining the rail line. In the case of the CN line, Tolko was the biggest shipper and when they declared that they did not see a long term future in rail shipping, the abandonment decision was granted.

Sometimes, rail museums and heritage lines benefit from the abandoned rail lines on industry property. The Revelstoke Railway Museum benefitted when a nearby sawmill offered the sawmill tracks "as is, where is". Several turnouts and hundreds of feet of rail and cross ties were donated on the condition the rail museum remove them.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/19 09:22 by eminence_grise.

Sad to see. The condo building is also absurd. Why build something that high in a place without that level of vertical development? I just did streetview around it and there are just a few super tall buildings that stick out like sore thumbs compared to all the lower buildings around them. As an aside, in Chicago there is a certain amount of luxury condo building that makes you wonder "who is really able to live in all of these?" But then I went to Toronto for the first time, and it's like there is 10 times more - glass condo high rises are everywhere. And I stayed in one, as an Airbnb, to get good views of Union Station. But that certainly made me wonder - how many are vacant and/or Airbnb's?

They made the station in to a Pub, so it's not all bad.

Kelowna is a lovely town, I can understand why people want to live there.

The US also has an active program selling residency green cards to foreigners for significant purchases of US real estate or investment in businesses.  It's a favored way for wealthy people to gain access to the US.