995 Days - Construction of the Tumbler Ridge Branch Line

Documentary about the construction of BC rail's northeast coal project and export of coal to Japan by the use of the Tumbler ridge line as a joint effort of BC rail and CN rail.
I do not own this video and it is purely for entertainment purposes.

[@ATSF854]

To anyone watching. As of recently the line has been reopened for coal traffic. Just now using modern diesels with the CN.

[@bananzaman3333]

ATSF854 will the tumbler ridge be available on Mac computers?

[@R1200RZed]

I worked on this project from 1982-1984, during the construction phase. I was one of the small team of surveyors that worked for BC Rail and did layout for the building of that portion of the railway known as the Table section, that ran from Anzac to Table Table tunnel. It was one of the best jobs I ever had, and I have over 25 years of construction survey experience ( I work inside now). Of the three surveyors shown in the opening sequence, I knew them all and one of them, Maurice, was one of the chainmen on my crew during the 1982 construction season. It was an incredible experience working up there and one that I will always remember.

[@olivei2484]

Mike Zelt Why 1000 days for the project? Seemed rushed for the terraine. Beautiful country though.

[@deadfreightwest5956]

Thank you for your hard work. A most remarkable project, and one you can justifiably be proud of.

[@pieroluciano3272]

Great Video! I seriously wished we kept these rail lines electric, in fact even expanded on them! We'd have our own Euro style railway here and I bet other provinces would catch on!

[@Bornintheseat]

I fly helicopters over the table river section often and the towers are still standing, although all the copper has been stolen from the places with decent access. It is interesting to see 6001 sitting at the railway museum in Prince George. I am sure glad they saved it.

[@cidsaid7398]

Very Cool video, this is a beautiful area of Canada, I worked there in 2012 on the Quality Wind Farm just outside Tumbler Ridge .......Thanks for posting.

[@SimonBauer7]

for context now a typical german vectron cargo locomotive can have up to 8700hp. todays electric locomotives are even more efficient than they where back then, dynamic braking now doesnt waste the power in resistors but rather is fed back into the catanary.

[@amessman]

Very reminiscent of the old British Rail documentaries... dare I say inspired by them based on some of the language used here.

[@lucmarchand617]

I work at fording coal elkford,bc when they close I drove found out I saw at main gate heavy equipment near brand new and drove show picture at union hall and fording managnement was complete shock and sad all money put on this.i left 1988 return oilfield in alberta due japan deflation was coming no regret left bc.thank you video.calgary alberta

[@bert26a]

Great video thanks for posting it.

[@scaleyardmarine]

Fascinating facts

[@ttul]

The great irony: they built an electric railway to carry coal.

[@mamarussellthepie3995]

This is so cool

[@2000Cowboys]

( Catskinner Keen ) 1973 National Film Board 🎥 is similar to this also.

[@brianjanek7987]

After watching that....I think I'll grow a beard, drink a scotch, smoke a cigar, and go cut something down with an ax!

[@SmithConductor]

Brian Jamel and wear plaid shirts...

[@Opinionatedguy1989]

True lumberjacks are clean shaven.

[@anb740]

All that work and money put in, only for it to last less than 20 years before being dismantled.

[@terencechevalier5756]

Only a tiny part of track from quintette mine to tumbler ridge was taken out. Rest of line 70miles is still open and working. I work for cn and can varify its still goin

[@anb740]

I meant the electrification.

[@seanfrank4158]

All that work...yet the line sat idle for years when the coal mines shut down. Quite a feat of engineering if you ask me....

[@jacobtompke8677]

I just don't get it. The futre is suport to be electric! I guess this is the past. Is anything left of the tumbler sub? Power poles still up?

[@Gypseygirls]

Tumbler Ridge has 42 water falls!! Spatular !!!

[@judgedredd8657]

+Jacob Tompke nope, were removed in the early 200's after the locomotives were all scrapped (all but one). now the line is mothballed

[@ATSF854]

+Jacob Tompke From what I have seen, a good majority of the actual support posts are still up just with the wire rotated off to the side. No chance of them being used again though

[@terencechevalier5756]

Line is still goin. I was up there in sept n October doin rock work and brushcutting. Still hauling coal out

[@HUGEGAMINGYOUTUBER]

its all there to this day, wires and all, it's just abandoned

[@tandemcompound2]

interesting doc. too bad the electric trains only ran 20 years.

[@JoeyLovesTrains]

Seems like such a waste of money to electrify the line with state of the art overhead wire system, only to be taken out less than 20 years later

[@WillTheBassPlayer]

Anyone know the chart at 11:57 that tune is hot

[@EpicThe112]

If Canadian national wanted electric power the solution might be Salt Lake City Stadler Rail Euro 9000 because it can run on 50kv 60hz which is basically 25 KV 60hz increased power then diesel that way they can run on this line and Oakville Subdivision which is part of the Maple Leaf Mainline New York Penn Station Croton-Harmon Metro-North Albany Syracuse Niagara Falls New York State Niagara Falls province of Ontario Hamilton Toronto Union Station via Oakville

[@tech83studio38]

😔

[@anb7408]

As neat as this line was, it was a financial disaster for BC Rail. The predicted amount of coal shipments per year never materialized and they were down to only one train a day in the end. They never broke even on the electrification investment. It was, at best, a very costly mistake.

[@Greatdome99]

But BC Rail and the entire development at Tumbler Ridge were funded by the BC government, not private interests (except the coal mines). Fluctuating world coal prices killed the project.

[@anb7408]

$77 million was paid by the taxpayers. The other $150+ million came from the private sector.

[@Greatdome99]

Boy that announcer sure can't pronounce 'catenary' (CAT en nary).

[@peter_smyth]

There's something ironic about opening an electric rail line to carry coal.

[@kevinandtanya2244]

Nothing ironic, to this day over 40% of all electricity in the USA is produced using coal.

[@lande18072]

Is it also ironic coal power plants produce electricity?

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

Electric locomotives and railways will always be a fad in North America, just too much land mass and not enough infrastructure to make it feasible, diesels will continue to be the workhorses of the railroad in North America I suspect till they make nuclear reactor powered locomotives or they find a equally efficient and useful alternative like LPG or LNG

[@ATSF854]

I highly doubt that it was or is a fad, as it still retains its usage in high traffic areas on the east coast and other light rail applications. As fuel costs and the price of developing zero emission locomotives rise, I'm willing to bet that high traffic freight routes will see electrification. The BN even had plans for electrification in the powder river basin but they never went through. It's worth noting that 100% electrification will probably never happen and I cant think of any countries that run electrics exclusively. The future of electrification in North America will probably be something similar to South Africa's OREX line which runs both electrics and diesels at the same time

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

ATSF854 they use electrics on the NEC because they infrastructure was already put in place by the PRR back in the 1900s also because cities like NYC put bans in place to prevent steam locomotives then diesel locomotives from running in the city to keep soot and smoke off the city streets and also because of the tunnels that would fill with smoke and kill people, they even tried electric power on the Virginian Railway and the N&W but it wasn't practical when the diesels locomotives became popular and more efficient

[@billtimmons7071]

The four corners area (Black Mesa and Lake Powell) and North Western Colorado-Eastern Utah (Deseret Power RR) run all electric locos on their coal mine routes. They are E60's running at 50 kV.

[@deadfreightwest5956]

The Milwaukee Road electrified their Pacific Extension over the Rockies and into Idaho for both economic and practical reasons. First, in 1910 was the great fire that devastated the timber they hoped to harvest, then followed the laws requiring oil-fired steam locomotives. The Milwaukee ran on hard (anthracite) coal out of Indiana, so suddenly they needed oil-fired steamers. But they had no oil on their route, unlike the Great Northern Railway. So they had to import it. Fully 25% of westbound tonnage was fuel. This was untenable. So, they switched to "white coal" or hydro and electric locomotives. This was a tremendous expense, but they were gambling that the Panama Canal, that on-again, off-again chimera would, if completed, be only for the us of the US Navy. Haha. Well, there went their idea of a transcontinental land-bridge. They never really recovered from that. 1974 was the year the plug was pulled. Six years later they were history.

[@shirawolven1382]

@@billtimmons7071 Sadly this line is now history too.