Procter to Nelson

When I was a child, the CPR ran a passenger service between Procter and Nelson (and beyond). From early in the century until 1953, the train was pulled by steam engines—thereafter diesel. Although I watched both frequently, I only rode this portion of the line once. On that occasion, in the summer of 1957, I was the only passenger on the train—no wonder the service was doomed. The following year, the CPR switched to Budd cars (diesel engine and passengers in a single car) and in 1964 dropped passenger service entirely.

Since 2009, the Kootenay Rail Service Society has been working to reestablish passenger rail service between Procter and Nelson. Greg Nesteroff has written stories about this for the Nelson Star. One was illustrated with a picture of the old Procter Station; a second with a picture of an impressive mainline steam engine that seems to have passed along our local line exactly once, and that in 1937.

Of course, if service were reestablished, a steam engine would not be used; to do so would be far too inefficient and polluting. Yet, since the latest story in the Nelson Star had used a picture of a steam engine that was distinctly uncharacteristic of the line, I thought it would be fun to show the typical engine.

Below is not only the engine of my memory, but it was a longtime standard on the line both for passenger and freight use. I was standing beside my cousin, Denis Daly, in 1949 when he took this picture at Troup (located between Procter and Nelson).