When the chance comes I’d like to hike the former Burlington Northern line from Nelson to Salmo & the abandoned Canadian Pacific Railway from Castlegar to Midway. Has anyone hiked it recently? I just wanted to know what conditions both lines are in especially any bridges & tunnels. [:)]
I’ve been on part of the line just west of midway, a few years back. Looked pretty good then, but you might wany to invest in a book called something like “Biking the Kettle Valley Railway” It’s a very good book, and has guided us through many a ride.
Matthew
I worked the Salmo-Nelson job (actually Kettle Falls, Wash-Nelson,BC) before the line was abandoned and there were no tunnels and no bridges (that I can recall) that would present a problem if they weren’t useable unlike some of the Milw trestles east of Avery.
I take it that the entire line from Kettle Falls, Idaho to Salmo, B.C. has been abandoned. The section from Salmo to Nelson has been abandoned for several years now. Someone was telling me that Burlington Northern pulled out of Salmo eitherin 2001 or 2002. Did they pull back to Kettle Falls?
I don’t know about BN, but CP has abandoned a lot of that line, pulled back to their main at hope on the west end, and, I think, Nelson or mear there on the east. The did that a while back, the KVR was never really that profitable, though it did run most of CP’s C-Liners an H16-44s!
Matthew
I lived in Nelson for the first 8 months of this year. Canadian Pacific does still operate one train a day through there. It operates out of Cranbrook & services Creston, Nelson, Castlegar & the smelter at Trail. A short line operates for 8.8 miles west of Castlegar but the line has been pulled up west of there.
Canadian Pacific pulled out of the Midway to Penticton part in 1971, the Penticton to Merritt to Spences Bridge section in 1989 & Midway to Castlegar in 1991. [:(]