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Kettle Valley Steam Railway - Saturday, July 25, 2026
Summerland, British Columbia, Canada
The Mrs. and I were taking a leisurely car trip across Southern BC on
Highway #3, "The
Crowsnest". BC 3 follows the US/Canada border fairly closely in some
places...which would lead to an international railroad kerfuffle over 100 years
ago. More about that later.
Our first "railroad stop", however, was the "Greenwood
Road Tunnel" or "Tunnel
of Flags". The first image (a sign) pretty much explains the whole
thing...answering the question, "What the heck is this concrete monstrosity
doing out here in a field?" As the first above link says, "...a tunnel under nothing
and leading from nowhere to nowhere".
The second railroad stop was in little Midway, BC.
The Kettle River Museum was
Milepost 0 of the
Kettle Valley Railway. Baolu and I toured its museum, caboose, depot and
worker's shanty.
After an enjoyable overnight in Penticton (fish and chips! fruit stands!
Ogopogo!), we headed off
bright and early to catch the 9am train at Prairie Valley Station (Summerland,
BC). The Kettle Valley Steam Railway
features former
Canadian Pacific #3716, a 2-8-0 class N-2-b, built in 1912 by
Montreal
Locomotive Works.
This tourist line is all that's left of
the original Kettle Valley
Railway (10 miles/16 kilometers).
Here we see
KVR 3716
backing out of the engine house it shares with KVR 803 (an
Alco S6 diesel); as it
backs past the camera, you get a good view of the 2-8-0 "Consolidated" wheel
arrangement; approaching the road crossing, I take my best 3/4 view of the
locomotive.
A couple images of KVR 3716 whistling for Bathville Road. Baolu had the presence
of mind to make an audio recording of the engine.
CLICK HERE for a --o-
crossing signal.
KVR 3716 pulled up and coupled onto its train. Of course we took this
opportunity to pose with the 2-8-0. Thank you, whoever took our picture!
Details.
The consist of today's train was 5 cars: two former
Canadian Pacific smooth-side
coaches and three CP stock cars converted into open air cars...named Winslow,
McCulloch and Kirton. It being a beautiful, sunny day, NO ONE rode in the
enclosed coaches.
Let's get aboard and go for a ride! Here's a better view of the engine shed with
KVR 803 outside. This unit began life as
Southern Pacific 1050 (built by
Alco-Schenectady in 1956), spent 1981 to 2009 at
Neptune Bulk Terminals (North
Vancouver), finally coming to KVR in 2010. I like the
Canadian National-style
stripes on the long hood.
Baolu and Lindsay ham it up for the camera, just before departure.
This little critter appears to run on rubber tires (for parades, maybe?). Here's
a better view of boarded up ex-CP caboose #434432 resting on its own section of
track.
And we're off! Vineyards climb the hillside as we travel through Greater
Summerland; KVR 3716 pulls us backwards for the first leg of the trip.
At Canyon View (Road) siding, the steam locomotive swaps ends to pull us back to
Prairie Valley station.
But first, KVR 3716 is gonna push us back onto the Trout Creek bridge
Once more pulling forward, we'll stop near a crossing (Canyon View Road again)
where everybody gets off for more pictures.
KVR 3716 is truly "100 tons of people-magnet"; Some folks stood in line to get
their portrait taken with the business end of our iron horse.
Now heading back, we pass Dirty Laundry Winery. Hey, Baolu sez she's HEARD of this place!
Rocky walls and valley views on the return trip. Baolu takes a selfie with the
scenery.
Just like that, we're back at Prairie Valley depot. Time to hit the gift shop!
But first, a pee stop. The ladies room has a head-on mural of KVR 3716, with the
gents displaying a 3/4 view.
These wine goblets we brought home from KVR are yuge and very solidly built...for
glass, that is.
B got me this tea mug, already being used as of this writing.
Three Cheers and a Tiger for the Kettle Valley
3716!
Oh, yeah. Now for some railway history and intrigue (as your eyes glaze
over...).
Great Northern Railway's
James J. Hill and Canadian Pacific Railway's
Sir Thomas
George Shaughnessy were in a huge battle to push their respective railroads
through the area to tap the abundant minerals and forest products. The final
goal was to reach Vancouver, BC.
GN's shadow railroad in Canada was the VV&E (Vancouver, Victoria & Eastern)
whilst CP's subsidiary was the Kettle Valley Railway which built westward from
Midway, BC.
Canadian nationalistic pride versus Hill's enormous ego. Who would win? (The Canucks did, of course).
It was, after all, their country (above the 49th Parallel).
Barrie Sanford's book, "McCulloch's Wonder" (ISBN 0-921061-25-0, 1978) is the
best read I've found about the
Kettle Valley Railway's construction, operation and eventual abandonment.
P O S T S C R I P T:
It's not Kettle Valley Railway, but it was on our way to Langley, BC. Just
outside Keremeos, BC, was the
gianormous Bear Farm fruit stands (on both sides of
the highway) where we stopped to pick up some nice. fresh. fruit.
On the other side of town was the famous "Red Bridge" which used to carry
GN/VV&E railway tracks across the Similkameen River. The big sign explains it
all. Of course, we rode over and back just for the heck of it. Note the forest
fire smoke/haze in the background. Luckily for us, the Crowsnest Highway was open
all the way through to the Trans-Canada Highway at Hope.
THE END
All images (c) Lindsay Korst, unless otherwise indicated.
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