Monashees on the Grizzly Northern Railway!

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The Caribou News and Chronicle

Since 1909

Kamloops, British Columbia           Wednesday 16 April 1930               

Monashees on the Grizzly Northern Railway!

An enthusiastic crowd of 500, both railway people and townsfolk,  turned out yesterday at the Grizzly Northern’s Kamloops station to welcome the arrival of the railway’s latest major purchase, two enormous articulated steam locomotives, known as 2-6-6-2 “Mallets”. The two engines, Grizzly Northern No’s 8001 and 8002, purchased from their original owner, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, were delivered via Minneapolis and St Paul, Moose Jaw, and Calgary. Operating together the two Mallets had hauled Soo Line and Canadian Pacific railway freight trains of up to 120 box cars as they made their way north to their new home in Canada.

Mr. Artemius Vandonkers, Chairman of the Board of Directors and recently retired President and General Manager of the railway officiated at the welcoming ceremonies, together with Mr. Isambard Neuville, the Grizzly Northern’s President and General Manager. Mr. Vandonkers announced to much applause that the Grizzly Northern’s 2-6-6-2’s would be known as class T5, and following a poll of the railway’s employees, called “Monashees”, after the Monashee mountain range through which the Grizzly Northern mainline runs.

The two locomotives, built by American Locomotive Company in January 1923, have been bought to handle increased traffic on the 39 mile-long branch line between Geiranger, Brunel. and Kingdom, running through Horsefly Pass. Traffic on the branch line has been busy for years, servicing the coal mine at Brunel and the copper mine at Kingdom and has increased dramatically with the opening last year of the Goldsworthy coal mine near Brunel. The two Monashees will largely replace the much smaller 2-8-0 “Consolidations” that have serviced the route until now. Each Monashee is capable of handling heavy coal or ore trains that currently require two or three Consolidations on the 3 percent grades between Geiranger, Horsefly Summit and Kingdom.

Maudie-Ann Currie

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