QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy ENCORE ! ENCORE ! as seen originally on pg 262 PART 1 BC RAIL TUMBLER RIDGE SUB Completed in 1983 to tap the coal resorses of the highgrade Tumbler Ridge Coal Field ,eighty miles away on the east side of the Rockey Mountains. The Tumbler division leaves the BCR mainline at Wakely, mile 537.2 on the Chetwynd subdivision. Wakely was named after the BC railways chief engineer, that president and CEO Mac Norris brouight out from the CPR. Wakely left the BCR and returned to CP to complete or at least start the Rogers Pass tunnel project in 1975. From the jct switch at Wakely, the line crosses to the north bank of the Parsnip river and follows it upstream to the Table river. Between Table and Whitford siding s the line reaches it's maximum eastern gradient of 1.5% as it climbs the 5.6 mile long Table MTN tunnel. Between the Table and Wolverine tunnels the railway is located in a high alpine valley at 3815 feet altitude, in which the headwaters of the Sukunka River flows. Once through the 3.7 mile long Wolverine Tunnel, it's a steady 1.2% downgrade to the crossing of the Murray River outdside the townsite of Tumbler Ridge. There were two coal loadouts on the line, one for the Bullmoose mine at Teck, mile 69.6 and the other for the Quintette mine at Quintette, mile 82.3. The Railway has a small shop at Murray mile 73.3, where running repairs were preformed on the electric locomotives. Helpers consisting of two sets of GM / ASEA electrics ran out of Murray and coupled on behind the coal train cabooses at the loadouts. They would pu***he loaded trains up to the top of the southbound 1.2% grade, often cutting off inside the Wolverine tunnel ! The Wolverine tunnel at mile 43.6 to 47.3, is the eastern most of the two long tunnels that bring the rails under the Hart range to the Tumbler Coal Fields. One of the cheif reasons for the electrification iof this line was the two long tunnels. Diesles would have required an umence expendature of ca***o ventilate the tunnels, the electrics did not, also at 6000 hp the electrics did the wirk of two of the most powerfull diesels of the time.The Wolverine tunnel had additional problems, hot springs seep from the rock strata through which the tunnel was drilled. The sulpher in the springs corodes the copper wires of the overhead catenery so aluminum wires had to be strung throuigh the tunnels. Rob
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