I am starting this thread to feature my interest in the Canadian Pacific Railway and their crossing of the Rocky Mountains and Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada.
The project, the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Mountains of British Columbia, Canada (MBC), was started in January of 2009 with my acquisition of Trainz 2009 and has since been ported over to Trainz 2010. The intent is to model the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Mountain Subdivision from Field in the Rocky Mountains, over Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains, to Revelstoke, a distance of 127 miles. The addition, east of Field, of the Kicking Horse Pass from Stephen at its summit and, west of Revelstoke, the approach to Eagle Pass in the Monashee Mountains brings the total distance to 150 miles.
Topographical maps from The Atlas of Canada and base maps have been used to reproduce the mountain ranges. I have maintained distance and elevation except for the summit of Rogers Pass where I found that it looked better if I brought the peaks heights down, and distances from track in, to a third of actual (Trainz does have its distance viewing limits). Track has been laid circa 2010 for the entire route, rough scenery completed, and addition of detailed scenery commenced working west from Stephen. As detailed scenery is completed I will post pictures on my website (http://homepage.mac.com/doug56/MBC). You can also now view the region thanks to Google’s photographing, and posting this past year, the entire route of the Trans-Canada Highway, which parallels the Canadian Pacific main line through the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia.
I would like to represent the crossing of the Rockies and Selkirks at four periods in time. This should be facilitated by having to complete the terrain only once.
The first time period, 1887, is dated shortly after the route was completed in the late 1885. Originally the route actually went through the Rogers Pass and had 31 snowsheds in 9 miles, which I will feature (Colorado71’s snowsheds, particularly KUID 387564:379 and KUID 387434:380, will come in handy here!). This time period will also allow me to feature the spectacular wooden trestle bridges which were, at the time, the largest wooden structure every build. Van Horne, the General Manager, was impatient and going bankrupt, so used the readily available timber rather than building more expensive cuts, tunnels, or iron bridges. On this route I will also feature the Rogers Pass station in its original location, which was destroyed by an avalanche in 1899, and the spectacular double loop containing four magnificent trestles just west of the pass. In the Kicking Horse Pass I get to model the famous Big Hill with its 4.5% grade.
The second time period, 1910, will feature Rogers Pass at the turn of the century after the station was moved to it’s new, less avalanche prone, location. When I visited the Revelstoke archives two summers ago I was fortunate to obtain the track plan of the Rogers Pass station and yard circa 1909 (thus my choice of 1910). On this route I will be able to add industries, notably mining and logging concerns. If I am fortunate to obtained information and track plans of the actual locations and I will incorporate this into the route. I plan to also incorporate the track at Revelstoke, which originally lead down to a wharf on the riverbank (track plan obtained from the Revelstoke archives). In the early days steam wheelers came up river as far as Revelstoke to transport supplies south to mining concerns on the Arrow lakes. However, since they could not ply the Columbia River in the fall and winter when water levels were too low, a short, 25-mile branch line was built in 1893 to the head of Upper Arrow Lake, which I will feature in this second time period.
The third time period, 1935, will feature the age of steam, after the completion of the Connaught Tunnel in 1916. Bridges will be upgraded to stone and steal. The steal arch bridge, which traverses Stoney Creek exists already in Trainz (kuid 109522:32104). It will also feature the sizable roundhouse and yards at Field and Revelstoke used to service and turn helper locomotive added at these locations to get trains over the passes. These yards at Field and Revelstoke will provide the opportunity for interesting yard work, even though the bulk of train movements will still be transcontinental through-traffic to and from portals at the end of the subdivision.
Finally, the fourth time period, 2010, will be post construction of the Macdonald Tunnel, opened in 1988. I am presently using Google maps to create the existing double track and yard locations as best I can. Unit trains will be feature in this era. The Canadian Pacific Railway has double tracked roughly half of the route, which leaves 13 section of single track to make operation interesting.
There also is now a large coal staging yard on the south side of Golden, which will also be featured. This provides a nice location for staging yard work in the middle of the route. This will provide for yard work of a different kind. One of the things I like about Trainz is the open-ended (endless?) possibilities.
If all goes well I will probably release the route in stages. Not sure at this time whether 1887 will come first followed chronologically by 1906, 1935 and finally 2010. I started the project focusing on 1887 but found I like running 100 car unit trains so have shifted to the 2010 era.
Enjoy the pics!
Cayden
The project, the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Mountains of British Columbia, Canada (MBC), was started in January of 2009 with my acquisition of Trainz 2009 and has since been ported over to Trainz 2010. The intent is to model the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Mountain Subdivision from Field in the Rocky Mountains, over Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains, to Revelstoke, a distance of 127 miles. The addition, east of Field, of the Kicking Horse Pass from Stephen at its summit and, west of Revelstoke, the approach to Eagle Pass in the Monashee Mountains brings the total distance to 150 miles.
Topographical maps from The Atlas of Canada and base maps have been used to reproduce the mountain ranges. I have maintained distance and elevation except for the summit of Rogers Pass where I found that it looked better if I brought the peaks heights down, and distances from track in, to a third of actual (Trainz does have its distance viewing limits). Track has been laid circa 2010 for the entire route, rough scenery completed, and addition of detailed scenery commenced working west from Stephen. As detailed scenery is completed I will post pictures on my website (http://homepage.mac.com/doug56/MBC). You can also now view the region thanks to Google’s photographing, and posting this past year, the entire route of the Trans-Canada Highway, which parallels the Canadian Pacific main line through the Rocky and Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia.
I would like to represent the crossing of the Rockies and Selkirks at four periods in time. This should be facilitated by having to complete the terrain only once.
The first time period, 1887, is dated shortly after the route was completed in the late 1885. Originally the route actually went through the Rogers Pass and had 31 snowsheds in 9 miles, which I will feature (Colorado71’s snowsheds, particularly KUID 387564:379 and KUID 387434:380, will come in handy here!). This time period will also allow me to feature the spectacular wooden trestle bridges which were, at the time, the largest wooden structure every build. Van Horne, the General Manager, was impatient and going bankrupt, so used the readily available timber rather than building more expensive cuts, tunnels, or iron bridges. On this route I will also feature the Rogers Pass station in its original location, which was destroyed by an avalanche in 1899, and the spectacular double loop containing four magnificent trestles just west of the pass. In the Kicking Horse Pass I get to model the famous Big Hill with its 4.5% grade.
The second time period, 1910, will feature Rogers Pass at the turn of the century after the station was moved to it’s new, less avalanche prone, location. When I visited the Revelstoke archives two summers ago I was fortunate to obtain the track plan of the Rogers Pass station and yard circa 1909 (thus my choice of 1910). On this route I will be able to add industries, notably mining and logging concerns. If I am fortunate to obtained information and track plans of the actual locations and I will incorporate this into the route. I plan to also incorporate the track at Revelstoke, which originally lead down to a wharf on the riverbank (track plan obtained from the Revelstoke archives). In the early days steam wheelers came up river as far as Revelstoke to transport supplies south to mining concerns on the Arrow lakes. However, since they could not ply the Columbia River in the fall and winter when water levels were too low, a short, 25-mile branch line was built in 1893 to the head of Upper Arrow Lake, which I will feature in this second time period.
The third time period, 1935, will feature the age of steam, after the completion of the Connaught Tunnel in 1916. Bridges will be upgraded to stone and steal. The steal arch bridge, which traverses Stoney Creek exists already in Trainz (kuid 109522:32104). It will also feature the sizable roundhouse and yards at Field and Revelstoke used to service and turn helper locomotive added at these locations to get trains over the passes. These yards at Field and Revelstoke will provide the opportunity for interesting yard work, even though the bulk of train movements will still be transcontinental through-traffic to and from portals at the end of the subdivision.
Finally, the fourth time period, 2010, will be post construction of the Macdonald Tunnel, opened in 1988. I am presently using Google maps to create the existing double track and yard locations as best I can. Unit trains will be feature in this era. The Canadian Pacific Railway has double tracked roughly half of the route, which leaves 13 section of single track to make operation interesting.
There also is now a large coal staging yard on the south side of Golden, which will also be featured. This provides a nice location for staging yard work in the middle of the route. This will provide for yard work of a different kind. One of the things I like about Trainz is the open-ended (endless?) possibilities.
If all goes well I will probably release the route in stages. Not sure at this time whether 1887 will come first followed chronologically by 1906, 1935 and finally 2010. I started the project focusing on 1887 but found I like running 100 car unit trains so have shifted to the 2010 era.
Enjoy the pics!
Cayden
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