The book "The Kettle Valley and Its Railways" by Hal Riegger is a great book with many wonderful photos not seen elsewhere, however, because of the inaccuracies in the text and captions its value is diminished. Recently Joe Smuin made available Dave Wilkie's additions and corrections to the book. Here is what Joe had to say about them:
"These corrections were made by the late Dave Wilkie, who at the time of his death in late 1997 or early 1998, was probably the foremost railway historian in British Columbia. Dave was a resource person for Mr. Riegger while the book was being written. Unfortunately, from
what I understand was no fault of the author, the manuscript corrections requested of Dave did not make it into the finished book, resulting in
many unfortunate inaccuracies in the text. Dave supplied me with eight pages of corrections many years ago. Seeing the recent interest in this
book, I think that it is important that readers have access to the corrections and I'm sure that those of you who knew Dave will share my belief
that he would not have objected to my sharing them with you."
Joe scanned the 8 page document and posted it as a PDF file. In the interest of greater readability I have transcribed the file and formatted it for the web. Click on the link below to go to the corrections.
"The Kettle Valley and Its Railways" by Hal Riegger
Additions and corrections required for second printing by Dave Wilkie
Artist Al Reynish of BC specializes in scenes of the CPR in Southern BC, in particular, the Kettle Valley. He combines a sharp eye for detail with an extensive knowledge of the area to combine different views with different locomotives and trains to create new and unique pictures - not just renderings of existing photos. For an example check out the Winter/Spring issue of CP Tracks as it has Al's illustration of a Kettle Valley 4-6-0 and 2-8-0 by the watertower at Brookmere.
Al has also done up a series of bridge drawings of every bridge and trestle that was on the Coquihalla line. Invaluable to historian and modelers alike, Al starts with detailed route maps showing the location of every bridge and snowshed. He then has drawn each bridge in several diff. views with descriptions of the construction and eventual fate of the bridge. Several bridges have the as-built drawing and then another drawing showing the later modifications or re-builds. He also has drawings and info on the various footings, water barrel platforms. You can contact Al through the info below to inquire about prints of his artwork.
Al Reynish
Apt.#208, 2037 151A Street
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
V4A 7C6
(604) 538-5458
kvartist@xcellinternet.com
The Canadian Pacific Railway Special Interest Group has released a re-packaged set of the bridge drawings on good quality paper, cerlox bound with a sturdy cover. The cost is $25 (CAN) plus shipping & handling ($8 in Canada, $10 for addresses in the US).
Make cheques payable to "CPSIG" and send with your order to:
Kettle Valley Bridge Drawings
c/o 8 Fleetham Court
Caledon East, Ontario
Canada
L0N 1E0
Here is a scan of a page from the bridge drawings booklet showing the trestle at Dry Gulch to give an example of the depth of detail and information contained in the drawings.
Copyright Al Reynish. Not to be used without permision.
In the July/August issue of Vintage Rails there is an excellent article by John C. Illman on a Canadian Pacific circle trip in 1952. He leaves from Vancouver and travels on the mainline through the Fraser Canyon and over the Rocky Mountains to Calgary and returns by way of the Kettle Valley line. He describes his trip in detail with beautiful B&W photos to accompany the text.
- There was series of six articles titled "Kettle Valley Memories" by Peter Abel, in the Canadian Pacific Railway Special Interest Group's magazine... CP Tracks. There are detailed track route drawings by Roger Burrows to go along with the text and many excellent photos. Look for the magazine at your local hobby shop or see below to find out about membership.
- There was an great article in Beautiful British Columbia
Magazine, Fall 1994 issue titled "Steaming the Kettle" by Anne Mayhew, with photos by Joey Walker. (Although it must be said that the Myra Canyon trestles have been repaired and walkways installed since the photos were taken, thanks to a lot of hard work by the Myra Canyon Trestle Restoration Society.)
- Also of interest to anyone interested in the KVR is the CBC Television's production of Pierre Burton's "The National Dream" (if you can find a copy) where filming of scenes depicting the construction of the Canadian Pacific through the Fraser Canyon were shot on the trestles of Myra Canyon. This marked the last time a train would run over this stretch of track... by 1980 the tracks would be gone!
- Michael Gee has put out a series of books of railway poetry entitled "Steam Railroad Poetry" including some that were inspired by the Kettle Valley Railway. The book also contains lots of photos of steam locos taken at the STEAMEXPO held in Vancouver.
You can get a copy of his second book by sending $15.95 to:
Michael Gee
111-10160 Ryan Road
Richmond BC
V7A 4P9
or can contact him at Michael_Gee@bc.sympatico.ca
That covers the cost of the book and handling & shipping costs. He is currently working on a third book and although the first in the series is out of print he is considering a second printing if there is enough interest.
The Canadian Pacific Special Interest Group (CP SIG) publish a quarterly newsletter called CP Tracks that includes articles on locomotives, rolling stock, structures, etc. from the steam era to the present. Currently they have just completed running a 6-part series on the Kettle Valley Railway. They are currently looking into having their own website and there is also an e-mail disscusion group. Go to www.egroups.com and do a search on "cpsig" to sign up.
Click here for a listing of CP Tracks back issues and ordering info.
Membership is $20 per year and includes four issues of CP Tracks. If anyone is interested in joining the CP SIG they can contact one of the executive members below.
Memberships Canada and Foreign:
Roger Chrysler
73 Forest Road
Brantford ON
N3S 6W5
(519) 753-9413
grandcs@brant.net
Memberships United States:
Jim Moore
25852 McBean Parkway
Suite 187
Valencia CA USA
91358
(805) 253-1208 (fax)
transitwiz@aol.com
Reference Books
