Incorporating more than 100 photographs, The Spiral Tunnels and the Big Hill – An Illustrated Railway History describes the construction of the CPR and recounts the tales of daring, defiance, and disaster on the second-steepest mainline track ever operated in North America. Maps and diagrams reveal how the Spiral Tunnels create a safer grade for trains. The text provides up-to-date descriptions of today’s locomotives and explains the many challenges of operating trains on mountain grades.
A Canadian bestseller for three decades, this revised edition will be informative reading for railfans, for travellers in the Rockies, and for those with an interest in Canadian history.
Graeme Pole has been writing about the human history and the natural history of western Canada since 1989. This is one of four railway histories among his fourteen published books. mountainvision.ca