Building of Rogers Pass CP Rail line

Documentary film by CP Rail. The building of the new line through Rogers Pass between 1982 and 1988.
Found this old tape on Beta format. Has significant historical value.
Any railway buff will find this interesting. Enjoy.

[@kevinp8240]

Thank you for posting this. My father, Pete Penner, was an engineer on this project and passed away shortly before it was completed. I have not seen this video in nearly 30 years, it was nice to hear him again. That's me at 1:22:18 in the red and blue coat, damn I was young.

[@12voltvids]

Glad you enjoyed it. I found this old tape and thought it was too valuable from a historical perspective not to share.

[@genepittenger6595]

As a civil engineer here in Washington state and having worked on some major highway construction projects, it gives me shivers knowing the kind of dedication/stress/focus and sacrifice that is required to participate in a humongous project such as this. I'm just the little guy from outa town and nearing the end of my working life. Thankfully I have all my fingers and toes, legs work fine, back is not bound up. Rock and roll.

[@COLDoCLINCHER37]

As an aspiring industrial engineer interested in civil systems may I ask you this. If we use the construction methods, cheap migrant labour forces, non existent regulations & combine them with everyday technology of today? What would be cost of this type of rail per km. I know back in 1910’s the cost of building railways was actually comparable, inflation adjusted to how we build railsways today. But because building railroads was a pioneering technology and huge R & D took place, therefor arching up the prices by a fair margin. Would you say it’s likely much much cheaper to use these same methods for rail construction in the 1910’s now without the costly R & D than using current construction methods with track laying machines etc?

[@bluesky4591]

The Flat Creek Camp was pretty dam good and The Food was just EXCELLENT!! Loved it!!

[@vernie3029]

Thank you for posting this!! I live not far from Rogers pass. I remember watching this documentary all the time on VHS which began my infatuation with trains and the tunnels in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Just watching the intro brings me back to laying on the floor while watching and my sisters complaining about watching it over and over 😂

[@oysesp]

I am a railfan from Norway, been driving through Rogers Pass 5 times but seen very little of the railway there. Wished I could see this video before beeing there, but hopefully I will go there another time, now I know where to stop and see the spectacular places. Building og the tracks through this pass is very impressive work, go Canada!

[@geordieharrower53]

I worked on the making of this film as a Grip to get the various shots on many segments of the build over 6 years. Great project to be part of. Was amazing to be there for the final blast (many lights were sacrificed for that shot!). Best part for me, was on another rail film project for Japan Tourism , riding on the cow catcher of a diesel locomotive , end to end.

[@BrianLaingBestDoggoneDiet]

This was produced by Allan Laing, my father. He has a lot of original film for this that he is trying to get placed with heritage Canada.

[@MrPurdy33]

would you be able to post some more of his content this is so interesting !

[@mattyrob87]

Hey Brain, is there anywhere you can purchase a copy?

[@lauriertripp7064]

The BC historical society will be interested too, I suspect

[@BlueButtonFly]

@@mattyrob87 The rogers pass visitors center sold them, many many years ago.

[@vancejeremy7939]

you probably dont care but does any of you know a way to get back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb forgot the account password. I love any assistance you can give me.

[@Scotford_Maconochie]

Mind blowing project. A feat of civil engineering proudly "Made in Canada" 🇨🇦

[@12voltvids]

It certainly was.

[@Ziebenator63-jj9ej]

Amen! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

[@Crewsy]

I’ve got this video on VHS and just found it packed away so I figured I try find it here. Glad I found it. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@TheBritishmike]

Thanks for uploading. I really enjoyed it. Am fascinated by the railways in the mountains, this is a great piece of storytelling and made this Canadian quite homesick!

[@railmaster84]

I like this old guys powerful computer control centre.

[@scaleroadbuilders3449]

Incredible video, amazing seeing the construction process on a large scale project like that

[@FreeRidefr8hopping]

thanks for posting...i've hobo'd through these mountains and tunnels several times.the ride from Van to Calgary is arguably the best route in N America.

[@dirkturrell6460]

Free Ride man I'm so tempted to try that out lol. You really see nature and scenery more up close sitting on the edge or a railcar than you do looking through a glass window. Not to mention the freight trains go slower and give you more time to soak everything in!

[@dirkturrell6460]

Free Ride plus I could take a big bag with me and blaze along the trip lol

[@FreeRidefr8hopping]

yes i often equate the difference as being similiar to a greyhound vs riding a motorcycle,same view different experience. make no mistake tho,fr8 riding vids dont show alot of the danger,boredom and stress which can occur.

[@dirkturrell6460]

Free Ride oh I'm sure! That's why I'll probably stick to my mountain bike and the various abandoned railways turned trails we have in Canada! It's not going to get you as far but it's an adventure none the less! Especially in bear and cougar country haha

[@tekrocker]

Great video. Thanks for posting this amazing piece of history!

[@BigSunStudios]

That was great. I just drove thru the Canadian Rockies and had to look on KZbin for something about Rogers Pass and found this awesome video. Thank you 12voltvids!

[@sonnyterruli1878]

These films are great. Thanks for uploading

[@kengansel3875]

Excellent Video, glad to see this published

[@Builder99]

Makes us very proud...What a great crew from top to bottom...Good job...

[@glenngoodale1709]

Wonderful video, my friend. Thank you for sharing .... great teaching

[@keithrichey6061]

Thanks for posting....great video.

[@lindenjohnson1515]

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! - This is so well done - Thank you again for producing and preserving such a integral part of our Canadian History!

[@RailPreserver2K]

Very well made documentary and I'm glad it's here

[@carollever4662]

My uncles built roads for the MOT in Quebec for Price Brother Lumber companies and helped open the transportation highways, in North Western Quebec. They had a lot of big equipment including a stone crusher to create gravel in the property to sell as well. I was also impressed with the artificial lake my cousins built in his farm, using heavy equipment, then they stocked it with trout. I remember going to see some of the projects with my uncles growing up, so I still enjoy watching these engineering challenges. It’s really very scientific work indeed . Rogers Pass is an impressive feat of engineering for sure!

[@pieroluciano3272]

A real treat to watch! Thanks! 👍😎

[@TheCraiger1969]

Very interesting. Thanks for uploading this.

[@maggy3418]

If only there was a digitally remastered version of this video. Well worth the watch even as it is though!

[@djteako]

there is !!!!!! I have this on DVD. I got it from the Revelstoke Railway museum. The quality still isn't todays standards, but its better than this.

[@johnmoore8016]

I will say Bravo Zulu to all the people who worked on this project they done a very outstanding job. outstanding video

[@gingerbread6614]

Fantastic video. Thank you

[@Sasquatchprospector]

Thanks for posting this jem!

[@canuckster24]

Amazing video, thanks for uploading, if you have more of these about CP in the Rockies please upload them.

[@haweater1555]

In the 1970's, CPR was seriously considering electrification of the mainline through the Rockies, as a solution to the capacity problem and elimination of pushers. They even got to the point of erecting catenary poles to evaluate different insulator arrangements.

[@mitchlazer7948]

nice find Dave

[@BackyardProspector]

I have been looking for this video for years! I loved watching when it came on regular television I think on the old Access network. I would love a restored digital copy if possible.

[@12voltvids]

So would I.

[@kevgren8856]

I am very disappointed that there is no mention of the CP Rail Bridge Department in Montreal, which completed the engineering design of EVERY bridge on the project. The claim in the video, that the design was entirely done in Calgary, is false. I know because I personally designed all the piers on the long viaduct bridge when I was employed as a design Engineer by CP Rail in Montreal. Kevin Blakely.

[@skwrttj]

Amazing project! Go CPR!

[@nonparticipant4671]

An older video, but really good just the same. Nice to see the real pro's doing it right. I am born and raised in the states, but every visit Canada is a thrill.

[@12voltvids]

Well they had to shoot it while the project was being built. Great history here on a mega project.

[@jfmezei]

The Rogers Pass project is important as it marks the end of a Canadian Pacific Railway era. During this projet, the focus switched to real estate and anything-but-the-railway sending CP Rail in a downward trend until CP LTD was broken up and CP Rail spun off as a railway, with new railway-oriented management. Shame that during that time, CP left Montréal, abandonning its long time historian Omer Lavallée and Windsor Station.

[@cofeebeing]

Great film of big challenges. Right people made it happen. Everyone.

[@Shootingstarvideo]

These cats are getting the job done!

[@ryangrant4104]

I love this video I watched it all the time when I was young. I miss the extra part that was on my copy at the end that had the extea big ceremony where on of the CEOs was conductor. Then ending song was also set to a video in summer with a coal train.

[@titily]

Thanks for posting, I swear this expansion happened just yesterday.... Wow, where does the time go?

[@sirxavior1583]

I wish VIA rail still went through this route, instead of the less scenic northern route.

[@RailPreserver2K]

SirXavior I agree

[@gravelydon7072]

Interesting footage. It is kind of ironic that I watched it today, a day when the Trans-Canada Highway is closed between Golden and Revelstoke due to a fatal accident. The accident was in Glacier National Park near Mt. Rogers.

[@paul-andrelarose3389]

A very impressive accomplishment by Canadian Pacific Railways! What a contrast with the shameful ineptitude demonstrated by the Canadian Government who has yet to do anything to repair the line to Churchill, Manitoba! This line has been shutdown as a result of flooding damage and since then, Via Rail had to retrieve by boat its stranded rail equipment. What an insipid Government have we got! 2018/07/05.

[@firespicex1]

Well said

[@9751asd]

good news the service has returned

[@tehjamerz]

beta max lives!!!!!! ty for this upload

[@raymondwedley]

This is a good video

[@railmaster84]

The camp food looks good.

[@richardpcsepregi7633]

what a Great boss

[@RogerDiotte]

YES Agree'd

[@supersexy78]

I run a train through it everyday almost!!

[@marineraptor6696]

do you still drive train thought tunnels?

[@oysesp]

Wished a cab ride video though Rogers Pass

[@chrismanning1746]

U have an awesome job Stay safe my friend

[@wcropes5616]

Such a great vid and what an engineering accomplishment - thanks for sharing. Just wondering who does the singing at the end of the production? I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that 'corny' song as part of CP Rail's commercials back in the 80's while watching the Grey Cup (slightly liquored, no doubt). There doesn't seem to be any credits for who does the singing, but rather "Music Production - The Air Company". It's just a Canadian thing...thanks.

[@tackywhale5664]

I wonder what happened to that old bridge.

[@canadian1233]

The NEW 1%-grade route consists of two short tunnels and a rather complicated trestle system. The 1.14 mile Mount Shaughnessy Tunnel, and then the trestle bridges, and then the 9.11 mile Mt. Macdonald Tunnel. My conclusion is that simply building ONE longer tunnel, starting at where the Mount Shaughnessy Tunnel started, would be better.

[@riffraff8020]

CONGRATULATIONS TO CP, OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT. IS THERE A TRAIN TUNNEL IN SOUTH, CENTRAL OR NORTH AMERICAS LONGER THAN MCDONALD TUNNEL OF ROGER'S PAS?

[@sonnyterruli1878]

Any videos from the early 1970s re: CP Rail?

[@barontaylor7139]

Are the spiral tunnels mentioned in this?

[@12voltvids]

I guess you will have to watch it

[@railvideosbc]

My grandpa helped build Rogers pass

[@canuckster24]

Anyone know if and where the model of the original Rogers Pass is still displayed?

[@maggy3418]

TruthfulImmigrant There’s a model of it at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre. www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/glacier/visit/directions

[@TruckerErikProductions]

There's a 7 mile tunnel in Montana on the bnsf line

[@DAYBROK3]

Trucker Erik JOURNEY'S is it spiral? Going round the centre of the mountain?

[@hudgyderobertis]

It only took another 6 months than this project to build a railway 1000's of kms across Canada...

[@BF4everfly]

Why is the head switching pulse going through the video there?

[@12voltvids]

+BF4̛ever͟fly͜♛ Obviously the drum servo wasn't locked to the incoming video signal way back when the tape was recorded at the duplication center, and the quality checker didn't catch it before the tape went out. It's not on my end, the tape is recorded that way. It was probably some early copy protection scheme. There were many before macro vision that messed with vertical sync levels to thwart copying and one of them resulted in copies that had head drums hunting. In the duplication center the vtr's were all genlocked to external reference. The tape I have is an original rape, so something was wrong with the recorder. It had always played like that.

[@outdooradventure9499]

wow

[@pineislandpeter]

BF4̛ever͟fly͜♛ Is

[@tooligan113]

Is this the South Park episode when Kyle and Cartman push Kenny into a train. They alwaysed loved Terrance and Phillip.

[@TREMVan]

great upload. u could never complete this nowadays-divided politics

[@12voltvids]

No kidding. There would be protesters setting up blockades and first nations claiming land rights. 1 step forward 2 steps back.

[@TREMVan]

@@12voltvids this was a huge step up for everyone when you can move Goods quicker to people both on the west coast and Asial. This team of men should be very proud of what they built. amazing and tremendous engineering.

[@trevoranderson6449]

I have this video on vhs somewhere!

[@12voltvids]

+Trevor Anderson The copy I had was given to me by an old railway guy that worked on the project. He is in the video. Got it on beta format eons ago.

[@HistoricSteamTV]

The spiral through the mountain albiet not ethical in labor was a far more impressive feat.

[@dirkturrell6460]

HistoricSteamTV especially when you consider how less advanced construction equipment and technology was!

[@FFFF-mb4qm]

Who watched the whole doc?

[@12voltvids]

I did. More than once.

[@francesbernard2445]

Good thing the KGB wasn't curious a lot of the time back then about how the west was managing. For example when some of the people who had immigrated from Russia to Canada were working on this project too.

[@12voltvids]

Do you really think the KGB cared about Canada? They were too busy worrying about our friends to the south.

[@tackywhale5664]

It doesn't seem to make a whole lotta sense to me as to why they would not be allowed to have any of the Bridge peirs placed within the stream courses.

[@scottcoleman9570]

Erosion around and under the peirs from backwash, debris build up from floods. Not impending natural flow of the water.

[@tackywhale5664]

If that's that's the case, why are there a lot of bridges exist today that cross streams and have one pier or more within the stream course? It would only make sense if they were doing it as part of the special agreement between Parks Canada CP Rail. Just saying.

[@johnacord5664]

If we can put man on the moon, why can't the USA do more of this with our railroads?

[@12voltvids]

Good question. I was reading an article about transportation, and it said that the fastest way to move goods between Seattle and New York was to ship them via Vancouver to Ottawa, and then across the river. Takes 5 days. To ship across the US they said takes 14 days!

[@DAYBROK3]

I’m guessing that this is canada

[@Mrbfgray]

We blew the entire budget on moon shots.

[@maggy3418]

DAYBROK3 Yes, it is Canada. The Rogers Pass in British Columbia, between Revelstoke and Golden BC.

[@jeremyrhansen6637]

The states could make a fake movie about doing this I bet!!! 😉

[@YoutubeCrittic]

(51:32)..metallated ...lol. :)

[@dondrummond5130]

WTF does that do any good when its more profitable for them to ship oil instead of grain?

[@stevecamozzi3671]

Brenda Demone sucks!!

[@Cockroach2008]

What terrible music at the credits! Absolutely terrible! Cover your ears!

[@RailPreserver2K]

Cockroach fuck you you annoying troll I love the music

[@MikeisLivin]

The way he pronounces schedule is very annoying.