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This page last updated July 15, 2010
Bits from my sketchbook along the GNR in 2000
 |
Above: the old section foreman's house at Brookmere in 2000, when it was still painted "CPR Red" – it has since been painted green and modified with shutters (thanks to Joe Smuin for clarification of the building's purpose).
Below: I was driving north along the road between Tulameen and Thynne Lake and spotted what was obviously a railway building, recognizing its hipped roof and tall windows. Before being moved to its current location it was the Manning section house, at Manning Creek, about half way between Princeton and Brookmere. |
(above) The GNR bridge crossing the Similkameen River west of Keremeos, now used for road access to Cathedral Lakes provincial park. Train service to Princeton began across it late in 1909. The bridge was damaged in the ice jam and flood following the torrential rains of the "Tropical Punch" storm of January 19, 2005.
Notes from Neil Roughley, 2003: "From what I know, there are only 7 GNR stations left in British Columbia: White Rock (the second station, built 1912), New Westminster (the third station, built ca. 1958 and the only one still in use by the BNSF), Tulameen (built ca. 1914), Princeton (built 1909), Salmo (the second station, built 1923, but the first of GNR design since it did not build the original line), and Kuskonook (built ca. 1899). In the 1980's the Similkameen station (built ca. 1907) near Cawston was sitting in a field along the highway; it may still survive today." And, "the GNR building at Colebrook was a section house."
"The Manning section house was built c. 1914."
(A complete history of the GNR and KVR can be found in Barry Sanford's McCulloch's Wonder.
An abridged history is published in my Vanishing British Columbia)
It is very difficult to get any sense today of the scale of the railway operations in Brookmere. The right-of-way, now part of the TransCanada Trail, seems to be just an impossibly narrow slit through the forest. The village of Brookmere, which once boasted in addition to the railway operations a hotel and numerous commercial facilities, is now just a straggle of small buildings, many of which are unrestored cabins, along the roadway. There is still an unfortunate number of junkpiles and old cars, but some paint-up/fix-up activity is beginning, and hopefully new owners will fix up the old places rather than build new ones so that the village retains some of its remaining historic character. The Brookmere station and roundhouse survive only in photos.
In the years between the end of passenger service in 1964 and the opening of the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5) in 1986, Brookmere was quite remote, but is now easily accessed from the highway at the Coldwater Road exit. It is possible to see the old railway roadbed from that point, as it makes "The Loop" – the point where the railway ended its northerly climb from Princeton and headed southwesterly, upstream along the Coldwater River toward the Coquihalla Pass and eventually Hope.
A photo of Harry Fontaine sitting in the Section House at Brookmere in the 1950s (?), from Don who now owns it.
| Note & photos from Les Murphy, 2010: My
parents, Jack and Katie Murphy along with partners Russ and Leona
Coburn bought property in Brookmere in 1979 from previous owner Jim
Shear. These 12 acres contained what was left of Brookmere's railroad
yard. The Brookmere station was moved and converted into a duplex, it
was used as our weekend residence from 1979 until it burned down in
1986. My father, Jack Murphy (with lots of help) moved the station off
the CPR right of way to the old roundhouse foundation. The CPR threatened to demolish the Brookmere water tower unless it was moved from their right of way as well. My dad single handedly moved the tower to it's present location around 1987. I can remember climbing around inside the water tank as a teenager. The inside of the tower had to be removed to make moving it easier. I have a bed made of the clear cedar boards that formed the tank. I also know of at least 3 sundecks around Merritt made from that wood!   ***
Undated photos sent in by Jon Peret of the Brookmere station and Brookmere hotel, 2010:   ***
Note and photos from Don McKay, Surrey, BC, 2007: Most of the pictures [below] I bought at a Train Meet and were taken by R. Mitchell. I have some of my own but haven't come across them since I moved. I lived in the same place for 53 years and moved from three bedrooms with a basement to a two bedroom rancher so I have stuff boxed that I am still finding places for. |
Brookmere Station (demolished), a classic simple GNR design. Photo R.Mitchell, date unknown
Foundations of the Brookmere Roundhouse. Photo Don McKay
Remains of the Brookmere turntable. Photo Don McKay
Brookmere water tower. Photo Don McKay
| Kingsvale (demolished), where the KVR met the southbound spur line from Spences Bridge in the mountains north of Brookmere. Photo by R. Mitchell, date unknown |
| "Brodie on Brodie Loop Junction for continuing down the Coquihalla to Hope or Loop back to/from Merritt and Brookmere. Another bought picture with no date or stamp. Building unoccupied and someone took out the upper window." -- Don McKay. Everything has since been demolished. The loop is clearly visible as a pathway, as it were, from the Coquihalla highway. |
Princeton Station (now a Subway restaurant). Photo by R. Mitchell, date unknown
| A photo in Don McKay's collection stamped "Stan Style May 1960." Osprey Lake is the middle of the 3 lakes on the high plateau between Princeton and Summerland. I recall the water tower still standing there in the early 1980s when we had a cabin on Siwash Creek, not too far away, but everything's been demolished since. |
The freight house (?) along the lake at
Summerland with the paddlewheeler dock in the background (demolished).
Photo by R.
Mitchell, date unknown
Penticton Station (extant). Photo by R. Mitchell, date unknown
Osoyoos Station (note from Richard: moved about 300 metres north of its original position and is used by a sailing club). Photo by R. Mitchell, date unknown
Myra Canyon Station/Section House 1980s. Photo by Don McKay
On the Coquihalla section of the line, Bridal Falls trestle after a spring snowstorm. Photo by Don McKay
On the old Coquihalla Road, 1978: Christine, my Baja bug and a ruined snowshed. Photo by Michael Kluckner.
The snowshed more recently. Photo by Don McKay
| A
final photo
from Don McKay's collection, location unknown although he guesses it
might have been the one at Oliver. Can anyone confirm? Note from Rick Kwitkoski, Sorrento, 2009: The hills in the background are very much like the ones to the west of Oliver and then this photo is looking to the north-northwest, thereabouts. If this is Oliver what is the season? It looks to me like there is some snow on the hills in the background. That would make the time of day later afternoon by the way the shadows are laying across the platform on the east side of the station. The Oliver station has been made over into a tourist information centre. The railbed behind it is a walking path and a municipal campground is behind that. We moved to Oliver in September 1972 and the spur line to Osoyoos still had trains running on it then. Short ones. My father had purchased an orchard just south of town and right above the railway line. We enjoyed the trains. The tracks south of OK Falls to Osoyoos were some of the first to be removed. It was sad to see them go but then, I was off to University and not too nostalgic about stuff at that point in my life. |
| Note from George T. Foster, 2009:
I'm a writer in Seattle who is researching the Vancouver, Victoria and
Eastern railroad (part of Great Northern system) of a century
ago
and one of its earlier proposed routes up the Tulameen River and
through the mountains to the Coquihalla River and downstream to Hope
and on to Vancouver. Where the tunnel was proposed (and even perhaps
started) remains a mystery, at least to me. Old issues of the Similkameen Star
give the location as Eagle (now Britton) Creek, but that seems unlikely
given the terrain, while others say it is farther upstream on
the
Tullameen, perhaps up what some maps refer to as Railroad Creek. Of
course, the VV&E eventually made an agreement with the Kettle
Valley (CPR) to share its track over Coquihalla Pass via
Brookmere. A 1973 Canadian Energy, Mines and Resources map
shows
that before the Coquihalla was built, a highway was proposed from Hope
up the Coquihalla River and around or across Tulameen mountain
and
up that river to Princeton and beyond. Does that ring a bell?
Any
information would be appreciated. Thank you. Note from Archie Pateman, 2009: Just wanted to let you know that I wrote and recorded a song with my band The Breakmen based on Brookmere BC, and it is currently getting some terrific international radio play as part of our new album, When You Leave Town. The song loosely evokes some of the town's history and is in a country music format (true Merritt style!). www.sonicbids.com/thebreakmen |
