Thanks Wrote:
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> Cool story about riding the business car. I Googled "business car Van Horne" and found it is still in use and looking good!

Yeah, it's part of the fleet that they use for the Royal Canadian Pacific and is a rebuilt heaveyweight. It's really posh on the inside and has changed little from the day it was built. In 2001 I rode the RCP on a trip for rare-mileage collectors and we covered a bunch of secondary lines in Alberta and Saskatchewan. I guess that will be a story I'll include in my book--if I ever write it.

If you win the lottery you can charter the RCP and run it wherever you want on the CPR. Maybe they'll include the ex-SP three-quarter dome as an added touch. Charter the train and run it down to Lazaro Cardenas on the merged railroad!

Peter D. Wrote:
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> I'm so happy about your pics, I start writing in the Enter code, LOL! So, I wonder what was in the PFE reefer, first car, head of the train? What could possibly be going to B.C.? Vitimin C? Oranges maybe?

The Okanagan Valley was, and still is to some extent, an area where a lot of apples and peaches were/are grown. The PFE reefer was probably an empty headed there for loading. Everything out of the southern part of that valley now has to travel by truck since the railroad is gone. Like everywhere else, a lot of the farmland is being covered up with urbanization. The area's population is inceasing as a lot of people can no longer afford the high cost of living in the Vancouver area and it's also popular place for retirees with a climate that is milder than Vancouver. Vineyards have also sprouted up all over the place.

> Those memorable trips, really make our lives complete and if we get pictures to share, more the better.

I agree. I want to share this stuff before I croak or else it will all remain unappreciated in storage boxes and will probably eventually be tossed in a dumpster if the people handling it don't understand the historical significance of it.

> If anyone is interested, check out the Photograpers Railroad Page, Achives, 2007 Last Train to Salt Lake City and or 2008 Real Grande Day. Stroll through all the other photo's and stories. We are getting it right here. Thank's DB!

I checked it out. That's a great website. It looks like it might be associated with the Center for Railway Photogrpahy and Art of Madison, WI. It doesn't look like it's an active website anymore.

[railphoto-art.org]


So here's a slide I took on AUG 03, 1979 of the Canadian Pacific business car Van Horne spotted next to the CPR station in Penticton, B.C. In 1972 the CPR pretty much shut down the Carmi Subdivision, which was the line segment that ran east out of Penticton. This was another knife in the side of the Kettle Valley route that eventually led to its abandonment. With a big middle segment out-of-service, it placed Penticton at the end of a long branch line accessible only from the west. The Carmi Sub had some incredible scenery in Myra Canyon and one could ride a Budd RDC Dayliner over the line until 1964. In 2022, about the only thing that remains in Penticton is the CPR station, now repurposed into non-railroad uses. All of the line from Spences Bridge to Robson West, 411.1 miles, has been abandoned and most of it has been converted into a recreational trail.

[i.ibb.co]

[i.ibb.co]

[i.ibb.co]

Here's a link that will take you to a GOOGLE streetview image of what the CPR Penticton station looks like today. You can rotate the image 360 degrees once you access it.

[goo.gl]