Okanagan Rail Trail — picking up the spikes and plates

One can see the progress — the Okanagan Rail Trail is happening!

After removing the tracks¹ in January 2016, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) has now picked up the other metal — the spikes and plates. Progress was exciting to watch this past week as the equipment with the magnetic lift moved along the old rail bed between Kelowna and Coldstream in preparation for the Okanagan Rail Trail.

Using a magnetic plate to remove the metal from the old CNR rail bed.

Magnetic plate picks up the spikes and plates.

The CNR removes the metal in preparation for the Okanagan Rail Trail.²

Watch the action!³2016 03 Rail Trail Electromagnets

¹ Video (removing rails) by Carol Thomson.

² Photographs by Duane Thomson.

³ Video (removing metal) by Sandra Harder.

4 Comments

Sonja MacCrimmon on April 1, 2016 at 1:44 pm

I’m so glad that you took pictures of this. They
will go to the museum archives, I’m sure.

lakecountry on April 1, 2016 at 3:15 pm

Absolutely! What a historic event we are witnessing.

Don Redecoppp on April 1, 2016 at 6:18 pm

Used to walk down the tracks from our place and then climb up the hill to see you Duane (that was a long time ago)

Duane on April 1, 2016 at 8:35 pm

Hi Don. Yes, it was a long time ago and those distances are shrinking. Imagine cycling around Wood Lake in safety and with little effort. People will be able to see territory that was nearly inaccessible to us.