Today dawned grey and cool. The mountains surrounding Revelstoke were partially hidden by clouds when we left the hotel. Our plan was to visit the Railway Museum before heading west toward Kamloops. As we turned to go to the museum, our way was blocked by a very long coal train heading west, probably to Robert's Bank, to unload it's ten thousand or more tonnes of coal for shipment to China.
View from Revelstoke. Clouds over Mt. Begbie on the left.
The museum has various displays related to the Canadian Pacific Railway from the earliest days - the surveying of the route and construction of the railway, to the early days of operation, to the present. The major displays are a passenger car and a 1948 P2k 'Mikado' locomotive number 5468. The engine is in good condition, and with some serious refurbishment it could be put under steam. That is unlikely to happen.
Tender with 4000 gallons of oil and 10 000 gallons of water
CPR emblem
5468 from the front
running board of 5468
Builder's plate with superheater plate
Top view of 5468
Top rear view of 5468
While I was checking out the cab, a volunteer put me in the engineer's seat and had me go through the routine of starting and stopping the locomotive. The series of actions that an engineer was required to know in order to skillfully operate these behemoths. He also explained how the engine was fired and the work of a fireman in these creatures of steam. The engineer and fireman had to work as a team to keep the proper steam pressure for various running conditions. It took a tremendous amount of skill to run these machines properly.
The engineer on the right and fireman of the left had to master these gauges, levers, and wheels.
On the walls of the museum there are several paintings of 5468 in action. These reflect the romance of steam, although I suspect that most of the men who worked on these machines did not view their work in terms of romance. It was hard dangerous work, but the images are moving.
Winter scene of CPR 5468 and 2860 at Revelstoke station
5468 corssing the railway bridge at Revelstoke
Revelstoke Railway Museum
Shortly after leaving Revelstoke we hit the first of several traffic delays due to highway construction. While we waited one of the traffic controllers hiked over to chat with us and went to each motorcycle cleaning our mirrors. She starts work at 4 a.m. and works until 4 p.m. She says that she is making about six thousand dollars every two weeks and she is very happy about it.
The Trans Canada Highway runs through some incredibly awe inspiring landscapes. This country is overpowering and it must have been even more so in 1884 and 1884 when the CPR was being pushed through this country.
We stopped Craigellaichie, the spot where the Last Spike was driven on the CPR on the morning of November 5, 1885, one of the most important dates in Canadian history. It is interesting that while the photo of the official ceremony is the one we see, but the workers held their own Last Spike ceremony but this photo is not well known and most people don't even know about this.
There is a cairn at the site commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the completion of the railway. There are rocks from each province in the base. The BC contribution is a beautiful piece of jade. There are samples of rail, a caboose and a gift shop on site, but to me the most interesting part of the display is a piece of 60 pound rail manufactured for the CPR in 1883. The words Moss Bay on the rail have a significance of which I am not aware. Still, compared to the 148 pound rail used on the modern mainline. However, considering that modern trains weigh up to fifteen thousand tonnes, compared to trains in 1885 which might weigh seven hundred tonnes, it's not surprising that modern rail is two and a half times as heavy.
Plaque on the CPR Centennial Cairn
Me at the memorial cairn
Tom at the memorial cairn
Section of 1883 CPR rail.
We left Craigellaichie and rode on to Balmoral, a small village east of Sorrento. There a man who loves motorcycles has created a museum which includes a wide variety of bikes, including British marques such as BSA, Triumph, Ariel, Scott, Douglas. Pride of place goes to the 1911 Pierce Arrow which is one of only twelve of these motorcycles in existence. There are also bikes from the 1970s, '80s and beyond. In back there are many unusual motorcycles which are awaiting restoration. Of particular interest to me was an original 1972 Suzuki 750 GT Le Mans, the first modern liquid cooled motorcycle. I had one of these bikes that was identical with the exception of the colour which was a blue-green.
1972 Suzuki 750 GT 'Le Mans'
1911 Pierce Arrow in-line four cylinder motorcycle
Rollie Free setting a world land speed record at 241 kph in 1948
Vincent HRD like the one Free rode to the record at Bonneville Salt Flats
Norton Manx
BSAs
Norton
Honda CBX six cylinder 24 valve engine under rebuild
While this was a short day, we did as much museum hopping as riding. Since the day was getting late, we chose to head directly to Kamloops. Since we would be very close to my friends Jim and Sue Urquhart, I left the group and made a run to their place in Rivershore, east of Kamloops. When I arrived They were there along with Sue's sister, Colleen, and four dogs, Molly, Maggie, Mandy and Archie. For the first part of the visit I was submerged in dogs, which is a good thing.
Today was Sue's birthday, and while I didn't get to sing 'Happy Birthday' I was there to give her a birthday hug. Jim & had some time to chat as well, as as they were getting ready to go out for Chinese food, I took my leave.
I texted Garry to find out where they were staying. When I asked Jim where Four Points was, he commented that it was the most expensive hotel in Kamloops. When I arrived I called Garry to find out which room we were in. He told me that because hotels were full in Kamloops, we had a room that cost four hundred dollars a night. I was alittle upset but garry then told me that we were actually at the Quality Inn across the street, for a considerably cheaper rate. And finally, to my great disappointment, there were no saucy (sassy) waitresses today. ;-(
Tomorrow we are going to do some riding in the Nicola Valley with an end point in Cache Creek. With luck, the weather will continue to hold and we will have a safe, warm, and dry ride home on Friday.
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