WORKING BROOKMERE YARD PART 2

Today you are called for an Extra East out of Brookmere.  The Agent has handed you the consist in the form of car cards and waybills.  In a sense this is a "Switch List" or "Train List" when grouped together in order with AAR car type, load, shipper and consignee.  You note that all but one of the waybills have the blue stripe with the text: "Penticton and East" across the top. Thus, there will not be any on-line switching to do on your run today.  The one waybill without the blue stripe is an idler flat for the overhanging load which of course will stay with the Gondola load of poles to its final destination.  A straight shot to Penticton.  You note the maximum consist is 16 cars including caboose, so your 13 cars is well within the limit. You scan the "Train Card" instructions which give a brief outline of the important things that need doing before you are ready to go.  Next, over to the Roundhouse.

The locomotive foreman has assigned Engine 3628 and you are pleased to have her 'cause she's a good steamer with a power reverse. This makes switching a lot easier.  You ease your iron horse out of the roundhouse and onto the Turntable.  You do not have to turn her today, just a short move for the 'table to the vacant engine lead, then back up through all the switches to get her over to the run-through track, which is Yard Track #1.

Trundling down the track and approaching the station, the fireman rings the bell until clear of the platform.  For the rest of your switching moves in the yard, the bell is not necessary.

Backing into the Caboose track, you couple on to your conductor's early "mobile home" which is conveniently the first in line.  We try not to disturb the slumber of the occupants of the other "cabeese" or did you hear about yet another game of cards in which an unknown quantity of lucre is most probably changing hands.

You set out your caboose on Yard Track #1, then reach into Track #2 for the cars on your switch list.  Looks like you are taking everything that is going east to Penticton.

Pulling them clear of the switch, your brakeman gives you the sign for backing them onto the caboose.

 

You push them well into the yard track.  The caboose is almost opposite the station which is convenient for the Conductor who has been inside, talking to the Operator. 

Following the information on the waybills, two more cars are retrieved from Yard Track #3 for the train.  That should do it for the switching.  Time to pump up the air, walk down to the station to meet the Conductor, check your watches and go over the Train Orders.

Only one Order today which is a combined "Runner" and a Meet Order on No. 91.  The Dispatcher is making your life easy today by fixing a meet with the opposing Westbound.  Could be she is running late or switching in Princeton.  No need to choose where to duck into a siding for No. 91 but you would not want to delay her.  Time to go.









Two longs on the whistle and bell ringing, you slowly pull out of Brookmere, stopping or at most crawling into the clear of the Yard Lead switch to let the Brakie back on.  Remember to re-line that switch back to "Normal".

The caboose rolls by.

This has been a morning in the yard at Brookmere for an Extra East on the Kettle Valley line in September of 1949.  This is a simple run for clarity and conciseness in illustrating procedures in Brookmere yard for train crews attending our operating sessions.  Recently, construction work in the yard has produced a detailed and working Locomotive Turntable which is evident in a photo in this post.  It was a great deal of work and thus delayed the writing of this post.

Coquihalla Man

WORKING BROOKMERE YARD: PART 1

Today we consider part of the operating procedures for Brookmere yard as it was worked in later steam days.  This is what we try to replicate in our operating sessions every month or two and we are pleased to report that a good time is usually had by all.  The description that follows is in part information for the crews who attend our sessions on Saturday afternoons - especially those new to the layout.  Today we will examine the movements for a freight train arriving at Brookmere from Penticton.  We are guided in this by information supplied by several KV veterans over the years, gleaned in particular from the conversations surrounding the display of the layout at the annual reunions about which we have written in the previous post.

Our photograph shows a train headed by Engine 3639, arriving in Brookmere with 7 cars in tow - a shorter train than normal for brevity and clarity in our illustration.  It is Fourth Class train No. 93 with its schedule highlighted in our Timetable reproduced below. 


In prototype terms she has 3 loads and 4 empties - the caboose always figuring in the car count as an empty.  This car count would have been supplied to the Dispatcher by the Conductor through the Penticton Operator which is the Initial Station for this train.  She is taking the main track, arriving at Brookmere in the early afternoon. As a scheduled fourth class train, even though she has right, she approaches at Yard Speed in anticipation that the main track may be occupied by another train or engine.  These latter are permitted to occupy the main without protection within Yard Limits (see Rule 93).  By the way, YARD SPEED is defined as "A speed that will permit stopping within one-half the range of vision."

In the case of our No. 93, the crew needs to know what to do with the cars in our train because the cars are going somewhere.  In order for these cars to be expedited to their intended destinations, they will be set out on the appropriate tracks in Brookmere yard. Those intended destinations are stipulated in the Waybills that accompany every freight car on a railroad.  For the model layout, we use a set of Waybills that is fairly standard for operating layouts.  They are accompanied by "car cards" that are somewhat of a substitute for a switch list.  We are considering developing a more prototypical looking set of Waybills and even a Switch List.  See Thompson's many posts one of which is here: http://modelingthesp.blogspot.ca/2014/09/waybills-part-34-one-piece-waybill.html

Here is the set of (model) Waybills (attached to Car Cards) for the train under consideration.  On the top right is the Locomotive Card with a brief description of its work and how to do it written on a Train Card.  In this case the back page of the Train Card specifies that No. 93 arrives in Brookmere on the main track and will spot its caboose on the [Princeton Sub] Caboose Track East and then yard the rest of the train.  On the top left is the Car Card and Waybill for a Pacific Fruit Express Refrigerator Car, PFE No. 62265.  The colour of the heading and text reflects the actual colour of the model car and its lettering, in this case an Orange car with black lettering. This feature is very handy for setting up consists before operating sessions and finding particular cars.  It is also meant to help our train crews.

The red stripe and text on the waybill states that the car is headed for California via the interchange at Huntington BC.  It is an empty (MTY).  In the pressure of the operating session, the red stripe is a quick and convenient way to establish where a car must be spotted in the yard.  In this case it is going to the Westbound through freight track along with 3 other cars (which also have red stripes on the waybills).  Two empty log flats have no stripe which means that they are "shorts" bound for a local shipper/receiver on the modeled part of the layout.  In this case they are destined for the log spur at Thalia.  On the prototype, the conductor would have a complete set of waybills in his caboose.  From the waybills, the conductor or a yard clerk in his originating terminal would make up a Switch List or Train List with every car entered on it with a few details about lading, consignee, shipper, weight and possibly special handling instructions.

This is the yard plan for Brookmere with the names of the tracks labeled.  This view conforms to the physical orientation of the layout with the roundhouse immediately in front of the viewer and East being to the left.  We have chosen to retain the currently modeled numbering of the yard tracks.  Our westward train, No. 93 is arriving on the main track from the left.

According to the KV men, the movements would be as follows (summarized on the Train Card):

• the caboose goes to the (Princeton sub) Caboose Track - East
• the 3 reefers and the single box car are headed west and thus they will be going to the passing track which is located on the far side of the main track
• the "shorts" will be spotted on the Yard Track #3 - or if it is full - Yard #2
• the Engineman will then take his locomotive to the shop tracks or the roundhouse 

Here is the sequence in photos.

No. 93 is occupying the main track and approaching the station.  Bell will start to ring as it gets closer continuing in all the back and forth movements needed to set out the caboose on the nearby Princeton Caboose track.  Once clear of the station the bell ringing can cease (Rule 30).
 
Cars on the left were set out by an earlier train from Penticton.  They will eventually be combined with our cars for a trip down the Coquihalla to Ruby Creek.  There a mainline crew will take the cars to Port Coquitlam and other points west.

On the right are some tank cars on Yard track #2 awaiting an Eastbound through freight.  Cars on Yard track #3 are "shorts" which will be delivered to various on-line customers to be served by the appropriate wayfreights for the Princeton Sub, Coquihalla sub, and Merritt sub.

All in all, today there are quite a few cars headed west but not too many for the east.




Setting out the caboose.  Note the yellow pin which is not to be found on the prototype.  This pin marks the centre of an uncoupling magnet.  No "picking" necessary.

Real life Conductor "Kettle Valley Gus," who appeared in the last post, advised that the real life operation of setting out the caboose would not involve a backing movement of the train.  Rather, the conductor would pull the pin "on the fly" thereby uncoupling his car from the rest of the train as they approached the station and employing the handbrake to arrest their movement clear of the switch points.  The brakeman would detrain and throw the caboose track switch, after which, the conductor would release the handbrake allowing the caboose to roll on its own into the caboose track where it would be brought to a stop again with the handbrake.  There was a good enough grade east of the station for a car to roll away on its own.  (see grade profile here http://kettlevalleymodelrailway.blogspot.ca/2014/12/brookmere-early-railway-years.html)

No. 93 continues on the main track to the west end of the yard where it will stop to cut off the last two cars of the consist which are destined for the "shorts" track in the yard proper.  The other four westbound cars are now taken forward over the road crossing, bell once again ringing and a 14L being sounded on the engine's whistle (rule 14 L).

The four car cut is  backed into the "passing siding" which is not used at all for passing.  The cut is coupled up to any standing cars already there and brakes applied.  Derail is reset.  There are no model brakes and no model derail installed yet but perhaps one day the latter.

 Engine 3639 cuts off the westbound cars and couples back on to the log flats destined for Thalia.  They are pushed back onto the Yard lead and will be set out onto the Yard Track #3.  Now clear of the road crossing, the bell ringing is finished. 

 Spotting the log flats on Yard Track #3, coupling them onto the other two cars already there.  The pin for the uncoupling magnet is just visible.  As to the use of the yard tracks on the prototype, it seems that cars were actually set out on any track available.  We have had to adopt a standard practice of assigning cars to tracks 2 and 3 due to the "busyness" of the model yard in an operating session.  Realize that we do in four hours what the prototype did in 24. 

Having completed our work, Engine 3639 is parked on the shop track.  This is somewhat preferable to parking in the roundhouse where repairs and servicing were carried out.  The near shop track was normally left vacant for access to the turntable and the cinder-pit seen in the foreground.  On the layout, we have installed an electrical "isolator track and switch" allowing the newly arrived engine a respite from any electricity flowing through its veins.  This mutes the engine's decoder, thereby extending its life.  This view also illustrates that normally, a break was left in the parked railcars both in front and behind the station to permit access by the employees and public.

Now to book off, returning the Car Cards and Waybills to the Agent and advising him of the 2 cars laden with perishables that we have just set out.  Ready for another assignment?

Coquihalla Man

BROOKMERE TRAVELS TO BROOKMERE

Kettle Valley railroaders and their families held an annual get-together for many years on the second weekend of August - usually in Brookmere.  I was happy to attend most of them beginning in the late 80's but I felt like an intruder at first being a "model" railroader.  Many professionals do not have much time for rail-fans and modelers who try to show they know a lot about railroading or have too many questions.  One has to hang around without being annoying.  After a while I was tolerated and some of my questions did seem to elicit a considered response.  Eventually, I started to bring along models that I had worked up as accurate reproductions of the structures and equipment these men had worked with.  Comments and corrections were offered by them and they saw that I was sincere in my quest for historical and mechanical accuracy and perhaps they saw that here was an opportunity for the preservation of their little corner of history.  They were an interesting bunch that one of their number by the name of Alan Palm, eulogized in his poetry:

Yet back through the haze I remember with awe
We were the best damn railroaders this world ever saw.

 I was very fortunate to meet and talk with trainman Alan Palm at the one Brookmere meet he attended as for most summers he had other family commitments.  He was the perfect resource for a modeler with a great love of his job as a railroader on the Kettle Valley and a keen mind for detail which he was glad to share.  I pumped him for all I could get.  He wrote an interesting monograph of his days on the KV  that used to be available through the Penticton Museum.  I have read it many times.  It is well worth acquiring if still in print.

As progress on my home layout developed to the point of being presentable, I hit on the idea of taking the entire model of Brookmere rail-yard all the way to Brookmere itself.  I believe this was 1990.  With the help of my friend Colin, the layout was transported in a trailer and was set up in the old school which had become the village meeting place.  Here is the trailer in front of the school as we reloaded the display for our return home.  My version of Brookmere (and most of the rest of the layout) has been built in demountable sections of  6 to 9 feet long.  For this trip, only 3 of the 4 sections were ready.
It took a lot of time to set up but the effort and cost of the trailer rental was well worth the investment as it turned out.  The response was all I could hope for with many people coming for a look and staying for extended discussion (and not a few friendly arguments).  I had a small tape machine going and managed to get some of the conversations recorded.  The following year, I took all 4 sections up and got the same response and the information that was flowing.  Unfortunately, nowhere near enough was recorded or noted in writing.

A few photos taken by my friend Colin, of the first display are here presented.  As you can see, the interest of those gathered is tangible.  But the lighting was not at all flattering for the layout.

An overview of the layout which is only 3/4 present, the western end remaining at home.  Many structures are not represented or are unfinished.   The layout was operational although the visitors were not all that interested, preferring to talk about this or that adventure.  In the narration would come out a detail that I could ask further about.

Can't remember this particular discussion but obviously everyone is listening.  Several men commented on the inappropriateness of the snowplow because it was a mainline single wedge plow.  A friend loaned me the model along with the passenger cars sitting in front of the station. About the plow, I did not know any better but the criticism was just the sort of thing I needed to know.

I did learn about the turntable's unique qualities and and then how one of the inexperienced hostlers drove some brand new GP-7's through a set of doors on the roundhouse.

Many of my rolling stock models were generic  at that time and I was not particularly proud of them.




Here I am asking about the ashpit; specifically did it still exist in 1949?  Answer was that it was gone by late 1950.  One more reason to choose 1949 as my target year since it is a nice feature to model.  This from the fellow in the cowboy hat who was the young hostler mentioned in a previous post.  The one who sent three freight cars on a freewheeling trip down to Brodie.  Engineman Tubby Moore in the red cap argued with Conductor Gus about a few things in good fun but both were very informative about how they worked the yard.  Fireman Wilf (blue cap) had a few stories to tell and provided music on his accordion at the nightly campfire.  My recorder is in hand.  Hope I turned it on for this conversation.

Here are Wilf and Evelyn discussing things about life in the small railway village while looking at old photographs.  Evelyn grew up in Brookmere and had things to share about her childhood activities, one of which we will get to.  Wilf fired engines up and down the Coquihalla for three years or so.  Being a handy, mechanically-inclined fellow, he maintained the stationary engine for the hoist on the Coal Chute when it was situated on the main track in addition to his duties as a fireman.  To one of my questions he affirmed that his engines on occasion, did indeed run light down the Coquihalla sub for a push back up.  He quit in 1944, choosing to pursue a career in automotive mechanics.

On the second trip, the layout looked more complete but unfortunately, we have no photos of it.  Several fellows did a lot of taping and one of them made a short documentary of the Brookmere Campout experience with a short feature on our modeling efforts.

Next up will be some information on how the crews worked Brookmere railyard and how we work the model version.  Until then...

Coquihalla Man

BROOKMERE: TRANSITION TO THE DIESEL YEARS

With the coming of the diesels in 1953, Brookmere's physical plant continued to undergo development.  New diesel fuel facilities were built so that for a few years both steam and diesel structures were standing together.  But the steamers were fast disappearing once the process had begun.  The changeover in locomotive power was accomplished in most of one year: 1953.  Some of the steam locomotive facilities were removed after only being installed a few years before.  By the mid 50's the Bunker "C" service tank and standpipe were gone as was the huge unloading shed.  The ashpit was filled in and its service track removed about 1950.  The  sandhouse and coaling plant came down in 1960 according to Joe Smuin's book.  Thankfully, the picturesque water tank remained.  The not -so-picturesque Bunker "C" Oil Tank also remained and both stand to this day.

We provide here an aerial photograph from the diesel era when Brookmere yard and engine facilities were not seeing much use at all.  Nevertheless it is a good reference along with the drawings.  Note the absence of the Bunker "C" Oil Unloading Shed which stood for only a short time.  The track serving it has been shortened and converted to a diesel fuel service track which was connected to the new diesel fuel storage tank.  This latter tank is situated at right angle to the track and was painted silver.

This photo should be compared with the drawing below which shows the railyard as it was after the installation of the Diesel fuel facilities. The long shadows make it a little difficult at first to interpret.  Still standing are the Water Tower, Enginemen's Bunkhouse, the Bunker "C" oil tank, diesel fuel storage tank surrounded by the berm, Engine House and Turntable, Depot, Houses (including those for staff of Trans Mountain Pipeline) and School.  A few cars sit on the service track near the Engine House and 6 more in the yard.  Perhaps it is a lonely caboose that sits at the east end of the yard.


Here is the title block for a plan originally drawn up on February 4, 1953 and revised to show the "Existing Diesel Fuel Oil Installation" as of January 12, 1959.  Note the slightly different hand of the word "Existing" that suggests that it has been inserted after an erasure of the word "Proposed" along with possible corrections to the drawing itself to more accurately reflect what was eventually built.  The drawing itself is presented below in two parts.  The first part is the plan view with specifications.

This part of the drawing is an elevation or section at A-A, showing details of the installation.  Very helpful for modelers.  The Unloader and Dispenser can be seen in one of the coloured photos below. 




 
Here are a two low level aerials from a later time; perhaps the late 60's as the Engine House still stands.  The Trans Mountain houses with their families are gone but the other residents soldier on.  Looking West, only the main track and passing track are bare.  The snow covered yard tracks show little sign of life.  Is that a box car on the right?

Looking East, the topography is evident.

Three photographs follow which were obtained from my friend, the late Glenn Lawrence who visited Brookmere in the fall of 1968 under a very blue sky.  This trip was his second, the first being in 1954 when he took a few shots of the yard in black and white.   This time he took a lot more and in colour.  My copies were printed from slides by London Drugs and the colours are decidedly on the blue part of the spectrum.
Here we are looking west from under the eaves of the Depot and all visible structures are no longer in use.  From right to left we see the Engineman's Bunkhouse, the pumphouse and stands for the diesel fuel service, and the Water Tower.  Missing is the Diesel Fuel Storage Tank.  Just out of sight to the right would be the large Storage Tank for the Bunker "C" oil which is still standing today.

 Looking East, we see the Engine House, the Depot, and south of the water tower, the front of the "new" school.  Note that several switches have been removed leaving only the one yard track on the north side of the depot in service and one lead to the turntable.  They would soon be lifted along with the rest of the yard and service tracks.

A third shot by Glenn shows us the Engine House and Turntable.  Fortunately, Glenn took many more photos that day which provide great detail for us modelers and these we will post eventually when we treat of the individual structures of Brookmere. 

I have been exceptionally busy with work since I unretired last November and went to work at the Vancouver airport (YVR) working much overtime and Saturdays as well.  Now that is finished and I am out of "recovery".  But, I do have more work in February.  Hopefully, I can get some work done on the layout and tell you about it.   Until next time.

Coquihalla Man

BROOKMERE: PLANS FOR THE LATER STEAM YEARS

Brookmere was a busy Division Point both during and immediately after the war years until the end of steam in 1954.  Today we look at the layout of Brookmere during this period.  As mentioned in the previous post, after dieselization in 1953, the train crews were much reduced and terminal activity suffered substantially due to the efficiencies of the diesel locomotive.  But for the "golden age" of steam railroading under consideration, it was a very interesting time and the veterans talked warmly of this part of their service time.  With the prosperity of the post war era and the technological developments taking place, the physical plant of Brookmere was long overdue for an upgrade and indeed the entire southern mainline was receiving many improvements in the 1940's (cf. Sanford, Steel Rails and Iron Men, chapter 8)
The west end of the yard tracks were redesigned with a yard lead and substantial changes made to the service tracks and buildings.  This happened most likely in late 1943 to early 1944 which is the period between the date of the track-plan shown in the last post and the date of the one reproduced today.  For further detailed information we rely on and heartily recommend Joe Smuin's Kettle Valley Railway Mileboards.
Before going further with the commentary on the drawings presented here, we should point out that there are some other fainter lines appearing in this drawing which we believe are simply draftsman's doodling; for instance there never was a wye in Brookmere as the lines suggest and there were no additional yard or service tracks added to the existing three yard tracks within the "wye".  We speculate that CPR designers and draftsmen were looking at ways to provide turning facilities for the new locomotives coming on stream for the southern mainline in the late forties.  These new locos were principally, the 5200 mikados with their large 10,000 gallon tender which made them too long to fit on the 70 foot turntable.  The drawing shows a faint circle surrounding the existing turntable and this suggests that they were considering a larger table.  This was not to be of course, and we understand that for the few occasions when a 5200 had to be turned, it was run down the grade to Brodie using the wye junction to do the deed.
There were two permanent changes to the east end of the yard that were made: yard track #3 which had formerly been stub-ended was connected to the other two yard tracks; a caboose track for the Princeton subdivision crews was built between Yard track #1 and the main line.  The interesting wavy offset to the yard tracks was retained in order to get around the station.  Track Centres are 60 feet near the Station. 

The western half of the plan shows the substantial changes that occurred between 1944 and 1949.  As mentioned above, there is now a yard lead on this end.  In addition, a service track has been installed north of the yard lead for the new coal plant and the relocated sand house.  The elevated service track has been removed and the old coal chute demolished.  There is a story behind that which we will get to eventually.  A major improvement to the working conditions of the engine crews was the erection of a vastly more comfortable Engineman's Bunkhouse.  A duplex residence was constructed for the  Locomotive Foreman.  These upgrades had probably occurred in 1944 or '45. More were to come.

The original date on this drawing is June 12, 1944, with changes noted to April 16, 1949.  However, many items on the drawing were built later than this last date as we shall see.
There were two significant events in 1949, which are reflected in the construction of new engine facilities.  These are drawn on the plan.  The first was the destruction of the Engine House because of a boiler explosion on March 21, of that year.  A new and larger Engine House (the third one) was soon constructed to replace it.   Also in that year was begun the conversion of the Kettle Valley steam engines to burn Bunker "C" Oil.  Most locomotives had been burning coal to that point.  Although the Coaling Plant remained for a few more years, Oil Tanks and service pipes were installed along with the requisite service track and unloading shed.  Although not showing on the plan, a boiler house appears in photos of the time which would have provided steam heat to the Bunker C Oil to enable it to flow especially in cold weather.  The Sump drawings show the heating coils.  Best guess for this building is that it was a standard No. 2 Pump House [16'x32'].
The buildings and track plan can be seen more clearly on the following enlargement. 

Moving roughly from left to right on this plan we will identify the buildings on the plan above:

1. House (Dwelling) [36' x 20']
2. Derail on the Service Track
3. Sand House [12' x 32']
4. Coaling Plant - 60 ton [tower proper 18'x18'] (blt 1944)
5. Engine House for Coaling Plant [11'x13'] (not Round House)
6. Engineman's Bunkhouse [23' x 60'] (blt 1944)
7. 20,000 gal. Water Tank [22'-6'x22'-6'] (blt ~1915)
8. 5,000 Barrel (bbl) Bunker C Oil Storage Tank [36' diam] (blt 1949)
9. Sump [20' diam] , Pump House and Steam lines (for the Bunker C) 
10. Oil Unloading Track and Shed (later a Car Shed) [18'x100'] (blt 1949 or 1950)
11. Service Tank and Standpipe (blt 1949)
12. Cinder Pit and Depressed Cinder Service Track [280' long] (filled in ~1950)
13. Oil House [12'x18'] and Store House [10'x12'] (and possibly Book-In Shack)
14. Turntable [70' long] (blt 1913)
15. Engine House [100' long - middle two tracks with service pits] (blt 1949)
16. Water Box (in ground?)
17. Road Crossing
18. Station [24'x74'] (blt 1917)
19. Double Privy [~4'x9'] (Public Toilets) and sometimes a Coal Shed for Cabooses
20. Watchman's Bunkhouse [10'x36'] (an Old Car body)
21. West Caboose Track (and storage track)
22. Various Private Dwellings with owners' names noted
23. Equipment Lighting Building (not sure this existed in 1949)
24. Roadmaster's House [36'x25'] (blt 1945)
25. Agent's House [24'x32'] (blt 1917)
26. Locomotive Foreman's Duplex House [~26'x56']
27. New School (not sure the "new" i e current one existed in 1949) 

We offer one more plan which is dated June 15, 1949.  This was part of a drawing showing the "Proposed reinforced concrete fuel oil sump and unloader at Carmi & Brookmere".  The word "Proposed" is important when it comes to interpreting CPR drawings as sometimes the proposed structure would not be built at all or at least major details or dimensions varied.  In the case where the work was carried out, eventually the drawing would be updated and the word "Existing" would be substituted to show this.  However, this last drawing does reflect what was actually built and the detail is not obscured by a draftsman's doodles.  Unfortunately, as with the previous drawing, some of the dimensions are impossible to decipher.  Curiously, the Engine House does not appear.  Perhaps the CPR was undecided about how to replace the one destroyed in the boiler explosion a few months earlier.

We will continue our look at Brookmere Division Point in later years with some photos and details on the track layout and buildings in the next post.

Coquihalla Man

BROOKMERE: THE EARLY RAILWAY YEARS

Otter Summit arose as a settlement a few years prior to the First World War.  Its name was officially changed to Brookmere in 1915.  Kettle Valley Railway tracks had reached this location from the west in 1911.  From the east, tracks were laid by the Vancouver Victoria and Eastern Railway and Navigation Company (V V&E, a Great Northern Railway subsidiary) and the rails joined in October, 1914.  It became a Division Point for the Kettle Valley Railway some time after the establishment of regular freight and passenger service.  Engine terminal facilities were built and housing for the operating and maintenance staff as well.  Private houses followed most of which changed hands many times over the years as railway employees came and went.

Brookmere Station in 1932 looking East.  Okanagan Archive Trust Society # KVR 154

Brookmere came into being because of the railway, eventually acquiring in addition to the railway facilities, a hotel, a community centre, a school and a store with a gas pump.  In steam days it was a busy place.  In the early '50's, Trans Mountain Pipelines built homes for maintenance staff and supplied them with electricity from a generator.  With dieselization in 1953, CPR train crews were greatly reduced and after  a few more years Trans Mountain pulled out, all the homes being removed and the staff relocated.  Through trains on the Division were abolished in 1961 and the railway business further declined.  Local section crews were also reduced.  With the closure of the railway agency in 1966, only a few Kettle Valley veterans continued to reside there as retirees.  And so the town's permanent population dwindled to a hardy few.  But, with the Coquihalla highway providing easy access to civilization, summer and winter recreation in the area became increasingly popular and the village acquired a number of seasonal residents and other retirees as well.

Our post today presents several track plans with photos to show Brookmere through the earlier railway years.  The drawings were acquired from the CPR Engineering department in Vancouver very shortly before it shipped out its copious filing drawers full of plans old and new to a basement somewhere east of the Rockies.
Brookmere is a peaceful place with a few surviving relics of the town's railway past, chief of which is the old water tower.  This is quite appropriate in that the water tower would have been one of the first permanent structures erected in the town.  Just about every traveler passing by takes a photograph of it.  Joe Smuin in his book, KETTLE VALLEY RAILWAY MILEBOARDS, states that the water tower was built in "late 1914 or early 1915 and rebuilt in 1945".  So, it could be officially classified as an antique, being 100 years old.  Or is this a case of the proverbial hammer whose head has been replaced a couple of times and the handle several more.  This photo was taken in the 1960's by my friend, Glenn Lawrence.

Our first plan is a copy of an original by the V.V.&E.  Unfortunately , the title block is missing but I would suggest that the drawing dates from 1915 or shortly thereafter as the station is named "Brookmere" with Otter Summit in brackets.  It shows the KVR track in a bold line from the left and the V.V.&E. track coming in from the east or right as a finer line.  Note the "V.V.&E. Jct" label where the two lines connect on both the plan view and the profile.  The lot 659 is/was owned by L. H. Brooks who gave his name to the station.  He was the original homesteading pioneer in this area.  The water tower is denoted by the dot near the junction switch and the first "depot" which was a KVR structure.  Naturally, it faces the KVR track.  According to Smuin, it burned in 1917, being replaced by a new station building that lasted until 1986 when it also burned.  The KVR track ends right at the property lot line.  As yet there is no yard trackage, nor engine house but the turntable is in so that engines could be turned for the return trip to Merritt and points west.  The Great Northern style of signifying headblocks (the long switch ties on which switch stands were mounted) is with a round dot in contrast to the CPR style which used a diamond symbol.  The letters "H.B." also designate the headblocks.  The circle with the number 241 designates the VV&E mileage from Marcus in Washington state (Smuin p. 2-30).  On the grade profile on the lower left of the page will be seen the crest of the grades from east (-1.1%) and west (+1.0%).  This short stretch of track in front of and to the west of the depot is the only level track for many miles in both directions.  Of interest is the stream that divides into Otter Creek to flow east toward Otter Lake at Tulameen and Summit Creek to flow west to the Coldwater River.  The westward flow was later called both Pass Creek and Brooks Creek.  From it a 3" wood pipe fed the railway's water tank and town's residences.  The curve approaching the station from the west has a curvature of 2 degrees.

The next drawing was done by the CPR and dates from 1933 with emendations to 1943.  We must present it in three parts to provide enough detail.  I was told by a veteran that the single ended yard track 3 was elevated but cannot really understand why unless it was built level as the rest of the trackage sloped eastward.  Because of the yard sloping at both ends, derails were required to keep rolling stock from rolling away.  Two are noted on the plan.
This brings up a story to illustrate how important derails can be.  A gentleman who worked as a hostler in Brookmere, told me that one very dark night in 1950, a freight crew was performing terminal switching in the yard.  Unfortunately, they left three freight cars standing in the path of the hostler who was moving an engine in the darkness to the water tower (I can attest to how dark Brookmere can be in the wee hours).  On the night in question he ran into those three parked freight cars sending two of them careening down the four mile grade to Brodie where they jumped the tracks on the sharp curve near the section house.  The section foreman had been alerted to throw the junction switch to keep them from going further on the main line.  The young hostler quit his employ soon after the investigation.

 Here is the west end of the yard in 1933-43.  This trackage was changed soon after 1943 to extend the yard tracks and the yard lead.  The 1944-49 plan will be presented in the next post.  The curvature on the mailine west of the station is now 1 degree, 30 minutes.  That is greater than a 45 foot radius in HO scale.


  Here is an enlargment of the heart of the plan for clarity.  From this one should be able to discern the dimensions of buildings and spacing of tracks among other things.  Note the three stall Enginehouse and the location of the Coal Chute and Sand House on the main track.  To the west of the Coal Chute is the Boiler Room which powered the bucket hoist for the coal.

The service track for the coal and sand was slightly elevated as can be seen in the following photograph which dates from the 20's.  The yard tracks in the picture appear to be of a different alignment than the drawing of five or ten years later.  The sawmill in the foreground burned in 1925 according to Smuin.  There are some concrete foundations in this area today which could well be those of the mill.  Photographer unknown.

From the archives of the Okanagan Archive Trust Society, here is a shot of the Brookmere enginehouse.  The photographer is standing next to the Station building to his left.  The old freight cars have been made into crews quarters.  Taken about 1932, this is file No. KVR092 of the OATS  collection.  Photographer unknown.

Another shot from the Okanagan Archive Trust Society, being KVR 158.  It was taken by Bill Presley in 1935 and shows the Eastbound Kettle Valley Express train No. 12 waiting at the station.  The coal chute and sand house are in the background and located to serve engines on the main line as the drawings show.  They were later removed and a new coal chute built near the yard lead as will be seen in our next post on Brookmere in later steam years.



Until next week,

Coquihalla Man