REVELSTOKE, B.C. - "It's as if the Illecillewaet River went completely mad," said Deputy Regional Engineer Bill Tripp. "Even during my 5 1/2 years as superintendent in the Revelstoke Division I've never seen it flooded that bad or that high before."

The unseasonably heavy rainfall, which began 11 Jul 1983 in the Selkirks, caused numerous mountain rivers, including the Illecillewaet, to swell.

The rail line descends from Glacier to Revelstoke in the Illecillewaet Valley and crosses the river 10 times in the process, the flooding caused large chunks of the railbed to sink and give way.

When the line was closed just after midnight 12 Jul 1983, no one realized how serious and extensive the damage was until nearly 12 hours later when Superintendent Jack White, Division Engineer Karl Jansens, Assistant General Manager John Linn, and Mr. Tripp surveyed the damage from a helicopter.

Over a 30-mile (48-kilometre) stretch on the Mountain sub-division, between Glacier and Revelstoke, there were about 16 trouble spots ranging from relatively minor, to several major washouts of more than 500 feet (152 metres). The track was also flooded in numerous spots.

Before service was restored nine days later, 34 trouble spots, eight of which were major, had to be corrected.

An itemized list of damage included scored bridge footings, mud slides, log jams, loss of the telephone and signal systems, flooding of the track, and flooding of a work camp," said Mr. Tripp. Upwards of 100 employees worked around the clock to repair the damage and the final cost of the clean-up is estimated at about $2 million.

"What they did from the time of the initial washout over the next nine days was to get the track into working order", he said, adding work crews now face a summer work program that will run into thousands of dollars to get the line back into top condition.

"That they were able to restore service so quickly is a tribute to the men who did the work, he said. "The rain would let up for a while, only to start again, so they had to battle that as well."

(Executive Vice-President R.S. Allison and J.P Kelsall, vice-president operations and maintenance, have extended their appreciation to the employees "for their outstanding efforts in repairing and restoring the Mountain subdivision" in a memo to J.D. Bromley, vice-president Pacific Region, and L.A. Hill, general manager operation and maintenance for the region.)

To further complicate matters, the bridge at Woolsey Creek on the Trans-Canada Highway was washed out and heavy equipment had to go down and around from Revelstoke to Cranbrook and back up through Golden, an extra 300 or so miles, to get to Glacier, he said.

"The worst problem was at mileage 108.9. This was overcome by tearing down a cliff and moving the rails. What we have there now is a 400-yard (366-metre) curve of track around the 199-yard (182-metre)washout," said Mr. Tripp, who was division superintendent here from 1975 to 1980.

The heavy rainfall caused problems with railway bridges, with some becoming blocked by log jams.

"It (the flooding) started to go down by Tuesday the 19th for the first time. At mileage 93.7 they diverted the river about 100 feet (30 metres) and got it away from the rail line. The channel was 1,500 feet (457 metres) long and it took all day the 16th to divert the river," said Mr. Tripp.

Led by General Roadmaster Louie Rota, B&B Master Jim Klett, Roadmaster Sam Gaetano, and Deputy Roadmaster Frank Morrone, the track and bridge forces did a "magnificent job", said Mr. Tripp. At the same time the rail line was being mended, Signal Supervisor George Martin and his men laid out thousands of feet of cable to restore the signal system.

Said Assistant General Manager Linn, "It's amazing how people got by on 3 to 4 hours sleep a night, 24-hour days were not unusual. The track maintenance people, bridge and building, signal people, the whole divisional organization was just excellent.

"Everyone just pitched right in. People were wet most of the time that they were working because the rain never really let up," he adds. "Saturday the 17th was the first day that there was no rain."

The rail line was re-opened 18 Jul 1983 but only three freight trains managed to get through before rain and the rampaging river caused additional damage at two locations. Regular service resumed 21 Jul 1983, with the exception on a brief interruption the weekend of 23 Jul 1983.

Diverting Rushing Waters:  Mileage 93.7 was not in serious condition until the second rainfall on
14 Jul 1983, which forced work crews to divert the swollen river away from the rail line with bulldozers.

This CP Rail News article is copyright 1983 by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is reprinted here with their permission. All photographs, logos, and trademarks are the property of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.