Canadian Pacific’s Trans-Canada Limited (1919-1930)

In the late nineteenth century, something stood in the way of mining and selling the riches discovered in the interior of British Columbia: mountains-and lots of them. While politicians and financiers wrangled over money and public support, engineers sought solutions to the obstacles presented by the terrain. Hundreds of men worked under dangerous conditions to make the Kettle Valley Railway a reality. In this updated edition, Barrie Sanford presents a unique pictorial history of the legendary Kettle Valley Railway. From its construction to its turbulent life- span and eventual demise, the magnitude of the engineering needed to build and run the line is celebrated in this classic railway history.

It was not your standard railway. Instead of wending its way through the valleys, along the river banks and paralleling the mountain ranges like most railways, the KVR ran across the mountain ranges, down into the valleys, and then up the other side again. Instead of avoiding steep grades, sharp curves, heavy snow, and cold weather, the KVR faced all of these. Instead of traversing through a land rich in people and trade, it operated in a region in want of inhabitants; those who lived there were settled in communities no larger than a few thousand. No wonder it has been called Canada's most expensive railway. Williams has focused his historian’s eye not only on the visionary engineers who oversaw the work, but also on the everyday lives of the immigrant labourers -- the “navvies” -- who blasted the tunnels, laid the tracks and built the soaring trestles on a spectacular rail line that has become one of Canada’s most scenic historic treasures.