Following numerous negotiations with the provincial governments of the day, and a decade after the first surveys, construction finally began in 1911. Constructed throughout 1911 - 1915, the Kettle Valley Railway was an engineering marvel of its time, and a triumph for the chief engineer, Andrew McCullough and his second in charge J.J. Warren. Upon their arrival in Penticton in June of 1910 they were confronted by a myriad of problems. Construction had been intermittent over the years, and J.J. Hill was breathing down their necks with his Victoria, Vancouver, & Eastern Railway. Hill had powerful allies in the British Columbia legislature who would not have been displeased if the KVR failed in its objectives. Hill's tracks had already reached Princeton, having passed through Keremeos and Hedley from Oroville on the Washington-B.C. border and he was now poised to push his line through to the desirable coal country of Tulameen and Coalmont.
After years of challenging and difficult ordeals, the first Kettle Valley passenger train reached Penticton on May 31, 1915. Through service was available from Midway to Merritt. The Coquihalla remained to be conquered, and it is here that the true genius of McCulloch came to the forefront. The Quintette Tunnels are one of the world's monuments to engineering genius. "Near Othello, five miles above Hope, a marvel of engineering and construction, the Quintette Tunnels were drilled; five in perfect alignment, and between each one, the Coquihalla zigged and zagged under steel spans." according to Eric Sismey. This section was completed, and the line was opened for through traffic in 1916.
Compromise was finally reached between the warring Canadian Pacific Railway and Great Northern Rail. Due to wartime exigencies, and perhaps also due to a growing weariness of all the bickering, the stretch of railway between Brookmere and Princeton had been undertaken as a joint effort. Upon completion of the line, the Great Northern only ran one train over it. The agreement with the Great Northern terminated in 1944 when the CPR purchased running rights over the entire line. In 1931 the CPR constructed the line from Penticton to Okanagan Falls, thereby eliminating barge service on Skaha Lake. The station on Fairview Road (Penticton South) was erected in 1941.
Rail travel to Penticton died a slow death. The decline had set in with the completion of the Hope Princeton highway in 1949. The last major extension of the Kettle Valley Railway was in 1944 when the line was extended from Okanagan Falls to Osoyoos. A severe snowstorm caused the unofficial abandonment of the Coquihalla Pass route in November of 1959. This coupled with declining revenues and the burgeoning costs of keeping the railway open during severe winters, caused the CPR to apply for official abandonment, which was granted by the Board of Transport on July 19,1961. Snowfall averaged 469 inches during the winter months on the Coquihalla. Declining patronage caused the CPR to apply for discontinuance of passenger service.
The last run was on January 17, 1964. In June 190 permission was granted by the Canadian Transport Commission to abandon the line between Spences Bridge and Penticton.
For more information on the building of the Kettle Valley Railway, from the only existing portion in service, visit the Kettle Valley Steam Railway site, and perhaps even book a train ride on the historic steam train that still runs!
Below is a downloadable copy of a memo apparently written by Andrew McCulloch in response to a request for a timeline of the building of the railway that also gives a few more details.
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