Canadian Pacific's Kicking Horse Pass
There were several passes considered for Canadian Pacific's railroad across the Rockies. At least 2 passes to the north and the Corwsnest to the south. The direct route west of Calgary was chosen, and it was not the easiest path.
West from Calgary it was fairly simple building up the gently graded Bow River to Kicking Horse Pass. From the summit of Kicking Pass west is where the problem presents itself, Kicking Horse Pass is 5334 feet above sea Level and Golden is 2625 feet. A 2709 foot decent.
The original plan was to make a long 2.2% decent across the face of Mount Stephen (to the left) down to Leanchoil where the railroad would continue its 2.2% journey into Kicking Horse Canyon. This route however was expensive and would take time to build.
A temporary line was built out Field, BC. The small railroad town can be seen in the center of the photo along the banks of Kivking Horse River. The line started with a 2.4% ramp to a location just east of the Mount Setphen Tunnel. It was here the 4% Big Hill started. In the photo the Mt. Stephen Tunnel can be seen center left.
A manifest is exiting the tunnel and the rock shed, the curve the manifest train is entering, is the aproximent location of where the 4% diverged and began. The sections of highway seen in the photo lower left were once part of the Big Hill Line. Canada Highway 1 now uses most of the former Right of Way.
The Mount Stephen line was never built, it was to costly, lots of rock work and high cliff running, instead the Spiral Tunnels were built to drop the tracks to Field on a mostly 2.2% grade. This was modeled after the Gothard Tunnel in Switzerland. This created a couple new problems, the route would have to use the first 3 miles of the "Big Hill's 2.4%, and would require the rebuilding of a short grade east of Field which was also suppose to have been temporary, as the Mount Stephen line would have been above all of this area, hanging on a ledge higher up the mountainside. This solution was still cheaper and easier than the Mount Stephen route, and the Spiral Tunnel route using 3 miles of 2.4% was ultimately built, and is what is in the photo.
The section of track on the lower left is Partridge above the Upper Spiral Tunnel. The 2.4% section of railroad the manifest is clinging to is still referred to as the "Big Hill"! The vantage point gives a great look at the what man conquered thru engineering, and the fantastic scenery that makes the Canadian Pacific (CPKC) spectacular!
Also of note, is the Highway running along the right side of the river is aprox location of a railroad branch line from Field that served a large mill located just right of the highway bridge over the river. Ore was brought to the mill from aerial tramways that defended thousands of feet from the mountains on both sides of the river. The mines produced lead and Zinc. Production scaled down after WW2, and ceased in the 1950's.
