Clearing the Line

Photogravure Supplement

A tribute to the engineers of the mountain division of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This supplement shows some of the difficulties that face the engineers of a division that has never lost a passenger’s life.

AFTER A WASH-OUT. A wash-out is caused by heavy falls of rain, snow, or rock damming the natural outlet of streams, which then race down in a torrent. This picture shows a railway yard at Coquitlam after a torrent has swept through it, twisting the track and damaging the goods vans standing in the yard.

A TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION left behind after a mighty torrent has swept on its savage journey

A TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION left behind after a mighty torrent has swept on its savage journey, is shown in this photograph.

Part of a Canadian mountain-division track after a wash-out

BUT THE TRAINS MUST RUN. The engineers must work day and night to clear the road. This illustration shows part of a mountain-division track after a wash-out. No time was lost in erecting the temporary track that can be seen above the wrecked line.

A rotary snow plough in front of a pusher engine THE GREATEST MENACE against which the Canadian Pacific engineers have to contend is that of snow. This illustration shows a rotary snow plough, in front of a pusher engine, working through a tremendous snowdrift.

A WEDGE SNOW PLOUGH then cleans the cut.

The track clear of snow and ready for service

THIS PICTURE SHOWS the track clear and ready for service.

A REMARKABLE ENGINEERING FEAT was carried out at Salmon River in March, 1930, without one train having been cancelled. The following four illustrations show how a bridge was demolished and a new one erected in its place, and put into service on the same day.

THE PARTLY DEMOLISHED BRIDGE over the Salmon River

THE PARTLY DEMOLISHED BRIDGE over the Salmon River is shown in this picture.

THE REPLACEMENT BRIDGE over the Salmon River

THE REPLACEMENT BRIDGE over the Salmon River.

THE OLD BRIDGE over the Salmon River at the moment of its demolition

THE OLD BRIDGE over the Salmon River at the moment of its demolition.

The old bridge falls into the Salmon River

HAVING SERVED ITS TIME the old bridge falls into the Salmon River.

A STRIKING EXAMPLE of the skill with which the Canadian Pacific Railway clears its tracks is shown in this picture of the west portal of the Connaught Tunnel - the longest tunnel in Canada. This portal was filled to the brim, as shown, when the head waters of the Illecillewaet River broke loose and brought down with them the debris seen. The line was clear again in five days - a remarkable achievement and one of which the Canadian Pacific engineers might well be proud.

A CPR single-track wedge snow plough used to clean the track

ONE OF THE WEAPONS. This picture shows a single-track wedge snow plough used to clean the track.

A CPR locomotive negotiating a flooded track AND ONE OF THE BATTLES. This picture illustrates a locomotive negotiating a flooded track. Avalanches, floods, old bridges that have now become out of date, and a hundred other problems must be faced by the engineers of the Canadian Pacific in their ceaseless work of keeping the giant trans-continental expresses to their schedules.

You can read more on

“The Conquest of Canada”

and

“Floods, Fire and Earthquake”

and

“The Track’s Heavy Artillery”

on this website.