Along
the entire length of the shed, and on the opposite side of the track, a
timber trestle is erected, strong timber beams are laid from the top of
the cribwork to the top of the trestle, 4 feet apart and at an angle
representing the slope of the mountain, as nearly as possible. These
are covered over with 4-inch planking, and the beams are strutted on
either side from the trestle and from the crib. The covering is placed
at such a height as to give 21 feet headway from the under side of the
beam to the centre of the track. The longest of these sheds is 3,700
feet, and is near the Glacier Hotel.
"Over the Selkirk Range the schedule time for trains from Donald to
Revelstoke, that is, from the first to the second crossing of the
Columbia River, a distance of 79 miles, is only eleven miles an hour;
but this time table was made before there was much ballast on this
portion of the line, and better time can now be made. On the 21st
September the Fraser River was crossed early in the morning over a
steel cantilever bridge, and the line runs down the gorge of the Fraser
River to Port Moody, reached at noon. The train had thus been
travelling from 8 p.m. on the 15th September to 12 noon on the 21st,
apparently a total of 136 hours; but, allowing for the gain of three
hours in time, an actual total of 139 hours.
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