20 July 2006
Members Trade Alpine Peaks for Rails
There is something about a steam train that brings out that
inner-train-loving kid in everyone, and it was no different on Saturday (15 Jul 2006) as members of the Alpine
Club of Canada gathered on a historic day to ride a steam train through the mountains.
It was a festive, joyous mood as more than 100 members of the ACC waited at the Field, B.C. train station for the arrival of the 1930
Canadian Pacific Railway Empress, one of the last remaining operating steam locomotives in North America, which would carry them to
Rogers Pass for the club's 100th Annual General Meeting.
"The crowd that was on that train was certainly the heart and soul of the Alpine Club, and we were only sorry that we did not have
a lot more space to take a lot more people," Bruce Keith, ACC's executive director, said Tuesday (18 Jul 2006).
Keith attributed the upbeat mood to the fact that everyone who had been invited to the AGM understood both the importance of the day and
what the steam train represented.
"The significance really relates back to the initial exploration of that area, long before there were roads, people came to that
area by train, it was the only way they could get there.
"In many ways it recreated a trip that many early mountaineers took to explore that area," Keith said.
When the train finally did arrive in Field, the rhythmic chugging of the locomotive and a long, loud blast of its steam whistle could be
heard long before it rounded a corner and appeared into view.
And as it did, conversations stopped as people rushed to the edge of the tracks with cameras ready as the gray and black locomotive
began to decelerate.
With photos taken, everyone heeded the call of "all aboard!" and lined up to find seats inside the restored 1930s and '40s
grandeur.
Smoothly, almost imperceptibly, the Empress pulled away from Field and passengers began to crane their necks to stare from the windows
as if Yoho Valley was a new and wondrous location and not the familiar route of the Trans-Canada Highway.
Smiles abounded and a CPR employee commented on the simple fact that "everyone smiles on the Empress," before implying that
anyone caught frowning would be dumped unceremoniously by the side of the track.
But then, it's easy to smile while riding the CPR Empress, as everything about it captures the imagination and turns staid adults giddy.
"Everybody was in a pretty good mood and we weren't even serving orange juice and champagne," Keith said with a laugh.
CPR provided the ACC with transportation to Rogers Pass as a gesture to recognize the club's auspicious early days when the railway
provided both free passes to Winnipeg for the inaugural meeting and discounted rates to allow members to travel to the club's first
General Mountaineering Camp.
It was also a move to recognize the partnership created recently between both organizations with the intent to create an environmental
legacy fund.
"As a result of that... when they found out we were planning our Annual General Meeting in Rogers Pass they immediately offered
their train to us for the day to take a crowd from Field to Rogers Pass and we immediately said, "yes", Keith said.
From Field the valley begins to drop away into Kicking Horse Canyon, and instead of fighting bumper-to-bumper traffic on
the Trans-Canada Highway, the railway descends alongside the Kicking Horse River, providing spectacular views of the gray
river and its white, foaming rapids.
As the train begins to climb away from the Columbia River, following the Beavermouth Diversion (built in 1974 with the completion of
Mica Dam) that climbs towards Rogers Pass, a large bald eagle appeared alongside the train for a few short minutes before turning away
from the tracks and soaring out over the water.
Further up valley, hidden waterfalls, like the aptly called Surprise Creek, appear momentarily and then are gone, swallowed by the deep
cedar forests of the Selkirk Mountains.
The train rolls on and the conversations continue to revolve around mountains, adventure, photography, writing, travel, climbing, and of
course, the train, and just how beautiful the mountains look from that train.
After passing over the 200-m long Stoney Creek Bridge, a steel trestle bridge that can be seen across the valley from the
TCH, the Empress enters the eight-km long Connaught Tunnel that forces Empress staff to chase people in off the observation
platform before they get asphyxiated.
Within minutes the Empress emerges from the western end of the tunnel into what has turned into a bright, sun-filled day
and begins to slow as it approaches Glacier Station, one of the last remaining log railway stations in Canada.
Even though ACC members gathered their belongings and began to move towards the exits, it was with a certain amount of
resignation: the rest of that historic day was waiting, but if everyone on board could, a trip to Vancouver aboard the Empress
would have certainly been welcome.
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