If you are not aware of it, there is a wealth of information being "published", so to speak, on the C-P-R e-mail discussion group. Recent topics relating to the KVR have included interior colours of passenger cars, CPR wood caboose paint colours, coaling towers, enclosed water tanks and Canadian Pacific wood observation cars. Active members include Joe Smuin, author of Canadian Pacific's Kettle Valley Railway. To join go to www.eGroups.com and do a search for C-P-R. I'm going to try and contact some of the people who have posted and see if I can re-post the information here.
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:
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.
Not really a new article, however, I found on ebay an old issue of Trains magazine (Oct. 1951!) that has a piece on the Kettle Valley in it. What is neat about this article is that it is not a modern look back but was written when the line was in active operation. The 4 pages include many never-before seen (to me) photos including one of the yard at Penticton and several taken along the line. Try an find a copy in the stacks of old issues.
For those of you out there that are model railroaders interested in modeling the Kettle Valley, Mainline Modeler has come out with a series of scale drawings and construction articles featuring structures from the KVR. The detailed drawings are done by Patrick Lawson and are very well researched. Hats off to Patrick and Mainline Modeler who, with this series of plans and articles over the past year, have been making it easier for those of us who wish to model the KVR as faithfully as possible.
In the September 1997 issue just out is a good article by Stan Mailer on changing brass locomotive models to more specific Canadian Pacific prototypes. There are several excellent photos including some that were taken on the KVR. Stan has created some beautiful models, although I personally would have to take several deep breaths and perhaps a stiff drink before taking a torch and solding iron to a brass locomotive!! There is also a set of Canadian Pacific plans for a standard section house. These section houses were a common sight all along the railway. Some of the KVR locations included Lear, Iago, Romeo, Brookmere, Tulameen and others.
In the August 1997 issue there is photos of a 100 ton coaling tower and 20,000 gallon water tower that was presented earlier in the June and October 1996 issues.
Drawings comprising 2 pages and showing the Kettle Valley Railway Coquihalla snow sheds appear in the April 1997 issue They also appeared in N scale in the NMRA Bulletin published in November 1996.
In the October 1996 issue is an article on a Canadian Pacific 100 Ton Coaling Tower. Included are detailed HO scale plans drawn from the actual CPR blueprints and several photos showing the tower as it stood in Spences Bridge in1966.
Also, in the June 1996 issue there are excellent drawings of a Canadian Pacific octagonal water tower. It is of a 20,000 gallon type common on the Kettle Valley and shows not only the exterior view but also the interior structure.
In a 3-part article in the February-April 1996 issues Robert L. Hundman takes the reader step-by-step through the building of a styrene model of a 60-ton coaling tower. Towers like this one were located at Iago, Osoyoos and Brookmere and would make a beautiful focal point for anyone modeling a
part of the KV.
An old back issue of the Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazzette (Jan/Feb 1982) had a 6 page article on the Brookmere water tower. The author, Brian Pate, built an excellent detailed model of the tower that comes apart to show the interior detail. The article has no plans but includes both outside and inside views of the tower as it was in 1980.
In the Canadian Railway Modeler issues May-June & August-September 1992 (Train 2, Track 6 & Train 3, Track 1) there is an excellent 2-part article on the division point yard at Brookmere. The first half covers the history and the second half focuses on Brookmere from a modeler's perspective and includes a detailed map of the yard, a scale plan of the station and operation timetables from the 1949-1958 period. You can order copies of these issues for $6.00 each (including shipping and handling) from their website.
There is an article in the the November 1994 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman that covers how Herb Mason kitbashed two brass locomotives into a accurate model of Canadian Pacific 2-8-0 #3512. Robert Turner provides historical information on the background of this locomotive that worked in and around the KVR. A beautiful model!
If you can find it there is an excellent article on the Kettle Valley
Railway in the June 1959 Model Railroader.
It's a construction article by W. Gibson Kennedy on building a complete 5 car Kettle Valley passenger train. Cars are transition era as used on the KVR in the 1916-1931 period. Cars included are:
"Trent" - 73' exotic cafe-parlour-observation car built 1907
"Rossland" and "Agassiz" - 72' standard sleepers built 1902 and 1905
65' standard all-smoker first-class coach
60' standard baggage-express car
60' mail and express car
Article includes a picture of a nice PFM (United) D-10 Ten-Wheeler, and a
CP archive photo of the Coast-Kootenay Limited rattling across the
magnificent wood trestle at Canyon Creek (now Pooley Creek). Great article!
Prototype Info
If you are not aware of it, there is a wealth of information being "published", so to speak, on the C-P-R e-mail discussion group. Recent topics relating to the KVR have included interior colours of passenger cars, CPR wood caboose paint colours, coaling towers, enclosed water tanks and Canadian Pacific wood observation cars. Active members include Joe Smuin, author of Canadian Pacific's Kettle Valley Railway. To join go to 
