A Canadian Adventure - Day 55

Tuesday 26 September 2017

Revelstoke Railway Museum

The Cube 'Boutique Hotel' was an interesting place. Our en-suite room had all the facilities you need, including a wet room. Other rooms had toilets and sinks, with shower rooms across a corridor. The two storey building had a central atrium around which all the rooms were positioned. Our room opened into this communal area that was more like a hostel than a hotel. Luckily there were no noisy guests, most visitors being quiet orientals. Breakfast was from 7 to 10 am and comprised a buffet that was left in the kitchen area, with a note asking guests to help themselves and wash up afterwards. It all seemed to work fine. A good spot.

We started with a wander around the small town of Revelstoke, which we quite took to. A tidy place with good facilities and nice houses.

Regrettably it was too early for coffee, so we set off on a continuation of our journey back to Vancouver. We passed the Railway Museum. It looked too good to miss, so we turned back and spent a couple of hours in this interesting place. Most of today's pictures come from there.

Opened in 1993, the museum houses some fine exhibits. These include a business car (carriage) that was used for a variety of purposes from 1929 to 1992, and a magnificent 2-8-2 locomotive dating from 1948. The latter was retired in 1954 when diesel locomotives took over from steam.

Revelstoke is a railway town, first settled when the Canadian Pacific Railway was being constructed with the aid of oppressed Chinese workers. The history of its construction and of the 'life and times' of the period is vividly portrayed by way of information boards, works of art and memorabilia, together with well preserved exhibits.

The railway was completed in 1885 amidst great celebration when 'The Last Spike' was driven at 9.22 am on November 7, at nearby Craigellachie, which means Rock of Alarm, by Cornelius Van Horne, the man in charge of construction.

I was surprised to learn that trainmen were required to set their watches to a 'Standard Time' and have them reset to within 30 seconds of the correct time every two weeks, with evidence being recorded on 'watch cards'. That followed a disaster in Ohio in 1891 caused by an engineer's watch stopping for four minutes.

Outside the museum building there are various interesting items of rolling stock including massive snow ploughs and a caboose that housed workers looking after freight trains.

The museum is next to the railway line. The Rocky Mountaineer tourist train, pulled by three modern locomotives, came past. The passengers must have an internal information system that told them they were passing through an historic site, as they all waved to us while the carriages trickled past us.

By now a visit to Conversations Coffee (and cake) House was somewhat overdue....

After that we drove a little way, stopping beside Lake Mara for lunch, before continuing a fairly scenic journey to the large town of Kelowna, where we have a comfortable suite at the Mission Park Inn, which is across the road from a sandy beach beside Okanagan Lake.

Sue got a bit of exercise that I sadly had to decline due to injury, and we made some fine purchases from our favourite supermarket - Save on Foods - for our final 'Al fresco' meal of the trip. Delicious.

About 5 km of sundry bimbles, plus a further 4 km for Sue beside Okanagan Lake. About 200 km for Charlie.

Granddaughter Jessica is four today. Happy Birthday!