"As the Canadian follows the Beaver River valley, between the Connaught Tunnel and Beavermouth, it crosses a series of bridges over picturesque streams cascading down the mountainsides. The most famous of these is Stoney Creek. Probably more photos have been taken of the "Canadian" at Stoney Creek Bridge than at any other place--- so have your camera ready before Mile 76.2. The first bridge over Stoney Creek (shown in the original engineer’s drawing) was an amazing wooden construction that went into service in August 1885. It was a difficult project in difficult terrain. At one point construction was delayed when forest fires destroyed supplies of prepared timber.

Engineers of the time claimed that from piers to track level, 228 feet, it was the highest bridge in the world. A steel arch span on steel pedestals replaced the wooden structure in 1893, and as trains grew larger the bridge was strengthened with duplicate steel arches. The western approach to Stoney Creek Bridge is a gradual curve, making it an ideal spot to snap a picture of the train ahead."

The accompanying photograph, (By Bryon Harmon of Banff) was taken of the westbound locomotives pulling a passenger train over the famous structure before the steel deck was strengthened and the additional two arches were added around 1929. Note the four barrels of water placed on both sides of this high bridge, as a precaution against fire. It was the practice to use 4-6-0 "D9" ten wheeler engines to pull passenger trains at that time and 2-8-0 consolidation class locomotives would have been assigned to handle all freight trains. My guess is that the photo was taken between 1910 and 1917 because of the motive power pictured. Both shown are "compound locomotives" and are also oil burners. These classes of locomotives were converted to simple engines when super heaters were applied in some of their boiler tubes to dry and raise the temperature of the steam. This was found to be more efficient and use less fuel then compounding the exhaust steam from one cylinder into the other larger diameter cylinder.

Some of the highest and longest bridges and the heaviest grades are on the CPR’s main line Mountain Subdivision between Field and Revelstoke. The portion between Donald station and Revelstoke is called "The Roger’s Pass" named after Major A B Rogers, the man who chose the route and who was the chief engineer for the mountain section through the Selkirks. In 1884 hard working crews took a full season to construct the main line from the summit of the Rocky Mountains, just east of Field, to Donald where the line was to leave the Columbia and follow the north side of the Beaver River valley up the very steep 2.2% grade to the summit of the Selkirk Mountains. During the winter of 1884 and 1885,when it was too cold for track laying, surveyors and grading crews did some work ahead and up the new grade from where it left the valley floor and climbed steadily up the side of Mount Shaughnessy. Some timber and ties were cut and progress was made on clearing in preparation for when the weather warmed up and the snows receded early in 1885.

The main line would leave the bottom of the valley at the pusher station named "Beavermouth" and start to climb up a 2.2% grade on the side of mount Shaughnessy but in doing so several deep canyons, that had been cut by fast flowing streams, had to be bridged. The first of these was over "Mountain Creek". Originally this required a trestle of slightly over a thousand feet in length but by the turn of the century this bridge needed replacing and before this was done the abutments on both sides were filled in with gravel and other material obtained from higher up on both on sides of the valley of Mountain Creek.

After this filling was done the new metal span of just less then 600 feet was installed. The next canyon was at "Surprise Creek" and this crossing gained notoriety in January 1929 when, as the then steel bridge was being strengthened it collapsed under locomotive 5779, a light pusher locomotive returning to Beavermouth, killing the two man crew.

Just a few miles up the 2.2% grade west of Surprise Creek is another even deeper canyon in which flowed "Stoney Creek". This gap wasn’t overly wide (453 feet) but it sure was deep and when the first timber trestle was completed in 1885 the streambed was 292 feet below the rails. (See sketch). This bridge was replaced in 1893 by an all steel trestle, which had graceful steel arches on each side stretching across the width of the canyon. This is the structure shown in the accompanying photograph.

In the picture the first locomotive is obviously the helper (pusher, see the marker lights on the tender), which was coupled ahead of engine 589. This "Helper" will be cut off at the summit at Rogers Station the top of the existing grade and return to Beavermouth pusher station. After 1916, when the Connaught tunnel was completed, the top of the 2.2% grade was just west of the bridge and the new tunnel reduced the grade to just less then 1%. The lead engine, numbered 3870, is a 2-8-0 Consolidation built by MLW in 1910 as a compound but was converted to a simple locomotive, after this picture was taken, and renumbered to 3670 as class "N2"a. The second Locomotive, also a compound, No. 589 "D9" (ten wheeler) was built by the American Locomotive Co. in Schenectady New York in 1903 and is probably pulling a passenger train, from eastern Canada, that is heading for the west coast terminal at Vancouver. These small 4-6-0 "D9"’s were replaced with much heavier locomotives with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement ("P1" Mikado’s) which lasted on this assignment right up until they were replaced by the famous heavy "T1a" Selkirks built in the summer of 1929. That was the same year that the arches on each side of Stony Creek Bridge were doubled at the same time as all other structures on the Mountain Subdivision were strengthened to enable them to accommodate the heavier motive power being built to handle the heavier passenger and freight trains as far west as Taft, just west of Revelstoke.

Today people traveling west on the Trans Canada Highway can see the latest Mountain Creek Bridge, on the old line, high up on the side of Mount Shaughnessy, as they drive across the road bridge over the Beaver River located at the bottom of the valley before the highway starts the long steady climb up to the summit of the Rogers Pass. The new, Mount McDonald, railway grade passes under the highway (in a mile long tunnel) near the bottom of this long climb.

The only way to view the Stoney Creek structure is to ride the "Rocky Mountaineer" or park your automobile at the lookout, or view point, located directly above the east end of the Connaught Tunnel and then walk back east, along the track, two miles (mileage 80.1 to mileage 77.7) Watch out for trains approaching from either direction and bears approaching from all four directions!