HERITAGE FEATURE
CARRYING COAL – DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES IN THE ELK VALLEY
In a notch of the brick gateway into Sparwood lies an old relic from the Michel Mines ; a Ruston Diesel Locomotive , an English made coal haulage engine that was used to tow mine cars in and out of the former mines at nearby Michel . It was brought to the Elk Valley in the early 1950s and replaced the old air locomotive workhorses that served the valley mines for the first 50 years of their existence . The Ruston ’ s were all hydraulic and came equipped with air brakes , a crank or air start and a ceramic bead noxious fume filter that had to be continually cleaned . Pasquale Camilli , a retired Ruston operator from Michel claims those machines required a lot of a maintenance and recalls an English mechanic who was brought over to teach local operators how to fix them but observed that the “… Englishman was more concerned about getting back to England than teaching us all about the Ruston ’ s intricacies .”
In Fernie a diesel locomotive that served in underground haulage can be seen outside the Visitor Information Centre . The 100-horsepower engine was made by Hudswell Clark & Co . of Leeds , England in 1948 and was known as the
Diesel locomotives replaced the earlier air locomotives which prevailed prior to the 1950 ’ s .
‘ outside diesel ,’ capable of hauling 34 3-ton coal cars at a time . It serviced the International Coke and Coal Co . mine in Coleman till 1954 and then went to work in the Cheakamus Power Tunnel Project in Garibaldi , B . C . There , in 1956 , it helped set a world record for most footage driven in 24 hours . It returned to work at Vicary Mine in Coleman in 1959 where it ran until it was replaced by conveyors in 1975 .
Diesel locomotives were noisy , smelly and temperamental but they moved millions of tons of coal from Crowsnest Pass mines in their time .
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