Spiral Tunnels 17th June 2010

When planning my trip to Canada a visit to the famous Spiral Tunnels was a must, this is a fantastic example of railway engineering on a grand scale. The Spiral Tunnels are located in Yoho National Park, west of Kicking Horse Pass, near the town of Field. The tunnels were completed in 1909 and consist of two tunnels (Upper & Lower) which spiral through the mountains, these tunnels provide trains with a more gentle gradient change between Kicking Horse Pass and Field. Prior to the tunnels construction trains used to tackle the 'Big Hill', an incline that ran for 7.55 miles at a gradient of 1 in 22 (in the UK the Lickey is 1 in 37 for 2 miles).

The opening scene shows two Canadian Pacific loco's leading a grain train into the the upper portal of the Lower Spiral, after passing through the 2922ft tunnel and dropping 50ft they emerge at the lower portal - still with the rear of their train going the opposite direction above them. We then see the rear DPU (or banker in UK rail speak) entering the upper portal, before it then emerges at the bottom. The grain train consisted of 111 wagons, was about 6550ft long and weighed about 14,500t.

Sorry for the background noise, and some camera wobble, but these tunnels are a popular tourist attraction - you need to be there early to get a good spot.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

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• Spiral
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• Canadian
• Pacific
• CP
• British
• Columbia
• Kicking
• Horse
• Pass
• Field
• yt:quality=high
• Train
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• Park

[CanadaManDan]

Nothing beats going through the Upper and Lower tunnels in the Locomotives. Amazing!

[S2RUF]

@CanadaManDan I can only imagine! Thanks Stu

[ajpcat]

Some day I hope to ride through the tunnels on the Rocky Mountaineer passenger train from Calgary to Vancouver. Great videos Stu. Hope you had a wonderful time here.

[S2RUF]

@ajpcat Thanks. Going thru this on the Rocky Mountaineer would be great, maybe one for me to do when I come back to Canada in the future.

[RTPye117]

A couple of years ago, my dad and I went cross country skiing right up to the tunnel. We were fortunate enough to be able to catch two trains going through. One going down and another one coming up. It was just amazing!

[S2RUF]

@RTPye117 Its a great place, can't wait to go back. Stu

[CanadaManDan]

Yesterday myself and my crew were traveling eastbound from Field to Calgary with a 8,000 feet potash train, we were about 500 feet away from entering the lower tunnel and we noticed a family of mountain goats hanging around the entrance. Assuming the goats were looking for shelter or a little curious we blew our whistle and the goats decided to run up the Mountain side. I'm sure glad they decided to go up the mountain instead of going in to it.

[S2RUF]

@Rocketboy1950 Thanks Rod. This is the Lower Spiral, there is another one on the mountain behind me, but the access road to the vantage point was still blocked from the winter. Next time I go back I will try and get this shot. Stu

[Rocketboy1950]

We have one of those at Bethungra in New South wales but nowhere near as impressive as that in this clip.

[S2RUF]

@upajos Yep. Went down to Field after this to film the train again as it passed thru. Stu