These BC Lakes Have Trains at the Bottom of Them

In the days of the steam locomotive, working on the railway was a hazardous job. Rates of injury and death were high, especially for the fireman who was responsible for shovelling the coal into the boiler. Today, with the advancement of technology and safety regulations, working on the railway is much safer. One thing, however, remains a risk: Mother Nature. Rockslides, landslides, and snowslides still derail locomotives today. Historically, a number of trains have gone into lakes in the province, but most were salvaged and put back into service. A handful, however, remain submerged in the watery depths.

Kamloops Lake, 1934

Early in the morning on January 14, 1934, steam engine CN 2727 made its way towards a blind corner near Battle Bluff on Kamloops Lake. Late the previous day, the train had left Boston Bar, en route to Kamloops with 51 empty cars. The journey had been straightforward, with the end in sight after leaving Savona early that morning.

Near Battle Bluff, the crew on the trail couldn’t see around the bend and slowed down on their approach. When the tracks ahead came into view, they were horrified to see a boulder on the tracks, so large that it had bent the rails. They hit the brakes, but it was too late. The locomotive hit the rock, swayed from side to side, then derailed and fell into the lake, taking engineer William Harrison with it.

Two other crew members were injured but survived, jumping or having been thrown from the engine. A few days later, divers recovered the engineer’s body. The train had settled in 12 metres of water.

Though the wreck was relocated in 1969 by divers from a local scuba diving club, today it’s said that the locomotive has slid further into the murky depths, partially covered by debris from work on the tunnel above. It lays submerged in 16 to 24 metres of water, likely never to be seen again.

Anderson Lake, 1944

On August 12, 1944, unbeknownst to Pacific Great Eastern No. 56, a landslide had taken out around 30 metres of track near Mile 95 Station at Anderson Lake. The engine, carrying passengers, hit the slide and derailed, sending the engine and coal tender tumbling into the lake. By a stroke of luck, only one other car derailed, and all 34 passengers were uninjured. The same could not be said for engineer Michael Powell and fireman Finnibur Mulhern. Though the rest of the crew survived, the two men went down with the wreck and were killed. Though it was said that the tender could be seen from a boat, the engine was out of sight in the dark water, and the bodies of the men were never found.

Slocan Lake, 1946

Built as a mining railway to transport ore, the Nakusp and Slocan Railway ran from Nakusp to Rosebery, on the shores of Slocan Lake, where the lake was too steep-sided to continue the line. Instead, train cars were loaded onto barges and taken down to Slocan, where the line continued to Nelson.

The weather on Slocan Lake can be fierce. In 1916, during a storm, several rail cars carrying ore slid into the lake near Silverton after the barge that was carrying them broke free of its mooring. Since they were said to be carrying a load of silver ore, many treasure-hunting divers have visited the wreckage over the years. The site is now protected by the BC Heritage Conservation Act, and removal of artifacts is prohibited.

It was another storm that led to trouble for Canadian Pacific No. 3512 on New Year’s Eve in 1946. En route from Nakusp to Nelson, the locomotive and cars were loaded onto two barges, pulled by the tug Rosebery. It was a dark night, the weather foul, and the wind kicking up spray from the lake that froze on the deck of the barges. On one barge were most of the cars, carrying lumber, while on the other was the rest of No. 3512, including a snow plow, steam engine, coal tender, and three cars carrying lumber. Tucked up in the caboose, safe from the storm, were the members of the train crew.  

The diligent tugboat captain noticed a list to the barge, which was also coated in frozen spray whipped up by the freezing wind. Though he tried to correct it, his efforts were in vain as the barge took on more water. Rousing the crew in the caboose, the men evacuated to the boat.

At around four in the morning, a deckhand noticed that the barge carrying the locomotive and crew was taking on water and listing. Rousing the train crew from the caboose, the tugboat captain had them attempt to move the train to compensate for the list, but since the engine’s fire was out and it was frozen to the deck from the spray, it couldn’t be done. Now listing at a 45-degree angle, the captain ordered the train crew to the tugboat and cut the barge free to save them all from going down. Breaking free of their cables, No. 3512, the coal tender, snow plow, caboose, and cars slid into the depths of Slocan Lake. Due to the diligence and heroic actions of the captain, everyone survived.

In 2020, Hoghead Media filmed a documentary of their efforts to locate the wreck. Using an ROV system, after six days of searching, they were able to locate the train on the lake bottom at 222 metres depth, remarkably preserved in the cold water. Though the caboose, snow plow, and tender were upright, the engine itself was upside down, buried in silt. Though stated in the film that their goal was to raise and restore the wreck, such an endeavour is likely to be extremely difficult and cost-prohibitive.

Seton Lake, 1950

The steep sides of Seton Lake are marked with slide paths, many of them directly above the railway tracks that run along its northern shoreline. On January 23, 1950, Pacific Great Eastern No. 53 was northbound near Mile 177 when a snow slide hit it at 4:20 am. The force of the slide pushed both the locomotive and two rail cars into the lake. Five other cars were also derailed, but undamaged. Killed in the crash were engineer Alexander Munro and fireman Henry Seymour. Though the wreck was located 38 metres from shore in 22 metres of water, the bodies of the men were not found.

Trains also went into Seton Lake in 1964 and 1980 after hitting rockslides. In 1964, the engineer was killed, and the train was salvaged and put back into service. The 1980 derailment sent two locomotives into the lake, killing the brakeman. One locomotive was salvaged and put back into service, while the other was recovered several years later by private citizens who were logging contractors and was scrapped.

Mike Lake and Sink Lake Rumours

During the construction of the spiral train tunnels, the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased three North Western Coal & Navigation Coal Company locomotives. After outliving their usefulness, the fate of two of the engines was known, while No. 7 is rumoured to be submerged in Sink Lake, near Stephen siding in the Kicking Horse Pass.

A similar rumour persists around Mike Lake, in Golden Ears Provincial Park in Maple Ridge, BC. Abernethy & Lougheed Logging Company had extensive logging railway lines between Pitt Lake and the south end of Alouette Lake. Mike Lake was the site of a logging camp along the railway.

Two different stories persist as to the fate of one of the logging locomotives. In 1929, a forest fire destroyed the timber and logging infrastructure, and the operation shut down. It is said that the train was abandoned at this time, somewhere on one of the lines, now deep in the forest. The other story is that the ground beneath the tracks where the locomotive was sitting washed away in some kind of flooding event. Some hypothesize that this means the locomotive could be in the lake itself.

Is there a Locomotive at the Bottom of Hayward Lake?

Urban legends surrounding lakes are common, from stories of floating coffins to bottoms being too deep to be found. Tales of trains at the bottom of lakes also sometimes circulate amongst local rumour mills, and Mission’s Hayward Lake is one of them.

The 10-kilometre-long Stave Falls Railway connected the community of Stave Falls to the Canadian Pacific Railway line at Ruskin. It was built in 1910 and used in the construction of the dams, and also for carrying freight, mail, and passengers.

Two steam Shay locomotives, built by Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio, USA, served the line until it was electrified in 1922, at which time the company acquired electric locomotives. Hayward Lake was formed in 1930, when the Ruskin Dam was completed, submerging the lower rail line. A new line on higher ground was created and used until 1944, and most of the electric locomotives were scrapped after its closure. Today, it is known as the Railway Trail.

The story goes as follows: After Ruskin Dam was built and the Stave River was flooded to create Hayward Lake, one of the locomotives was left on the lower tracks. It is said to be sitting in mud near the Ruskin Dam, only visible when the lake is drawn down to the level of the original river bed.

In Station Normal by Meg Stanley, it’s stated that “[Locomotive] Number 1 is believed to be at the bottom of Hayward Lake.” However, Charles A. Miller, an old-timer who grew up in the area, states in his book The Valley of the Stave that after the electrification of the railway, the steam engines were sold and replaced by electric locomotives. In contrast, Stanley’s book indicates that both steam and electric engines continued to serve the line until the early 1930s. Since most companies would sell a working engine not in use, any steam engine left at the bottom of the lake had to have been still working the line during the eight-year gap between the line being electrified and the lake being created.

Since the lake hasn’t been drawn down past the lower rail line since the early 2000s, before digital cameras were a thing, it’s no surprise that no photos of the train have surfaced despite many people testifying that they’ve seen it. What is today a peaceful lake surrounded by forest holds many secrets of days long past: old mines, pioneer graves, machinery parts, chunks of coal found on the lakeshore…and perhaps a locomotive sitting submerged somewhere on the lakebed.

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