"The Skyline Limited: The Kaslo and Slocan Railway - an Illustrated History of Narrow Gauge Railroading and Sternwheelers in the Kootenays"

[AgentKid]

Paul_D_North_Jr

I meant between Stroudsburg and Monroe County, PA on the one hand, and British Columbia, Kootenay, Slocan, GN, CP, etc. on the other.

Oops. . . never mind!

Bruce

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

AgentKid

Paul_D_North_Jr

no possible connection between them that I can imagine.

  I meant between Stroudsburg and Monroe County, PA on the one hand, and British Columbia, Kootenay, Slocan, GN, CP, etc. on the other.

Anyway, thanks for that thumbnail history, Bruce !

- Paul North.   

[AgentKid]

Paul_D_North_Jr

no possible connection between them that I can imagine.

During J. J. Hill's leadership of the GN he made a number of incursions into southern BC. Being Canadian himself, he felt there was no problem exploiting Canadian resources if he could make a profit out of doing so. This construction was one of the principle motivations that prompted the Canadian Government to agree to give the CPR money to build in southern BC in exchange for the CPR agreeing to the Crowsnest Pass Rate, grain handling agreement.

I don't have time to go into it now, but a number of sections of CP's "Kettle Valley Line" were actually built by GN(or their subsidiaries) and taken over by CP. There was one section built jointly by GN and CP, and after one trip over the route by GN exec's, they never sent a train over that section again. To their credit however, they did honour all the financial commitments they had made toward the continuing operation of the line, until it was abandoned.

"TrainBoy16-44" (Matt Hicks) has posted several pic's on this forum that are near or were originally built by GN.

Bruce

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

As this may be of interest to some of our memebers, I am posting it here too just so no one misses it on the other less relevant threads where I also posted this info:

 "The Skyline Limited: The Kaslo and Slocan Railway - an Illustrated History of Narrow Gauge Railroading and Sternwheelers in the Kootenays" by Robert D. Turner and David S. Wilkie, Sono Nis Press, 1994 - 296 pages:

"This is the dramatic story of the Kaslo & Slocan Railway-the Great Northern's narrow gauge-in the rugged Slocan Mountains of BC's West Kootenay district during the 1890s and early 1900s. Here too is the superbly illustrated account of the beautiful sternwheelers that connected the K&S with other Great Northern branch lines. The Skyline Limited is a fascinating chapter in the stories of the Great Northern and the Canadian Pacific."

From: http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Skyline_Limited.html?id=OB9_AAAACAAJ 

I was more than a little surprised to find a copy of this book in the railroad section (Dewey Decimal System Call Number 385.xxx) of the Eastern Monroe County Library in Stroudsburg, PA the other day . . . no possible connection between them that I can imagine. 

- Paul North.