Nicola Valley Line

The Nicola Valley Line is a 47.0 mile railway line of the British Columbia Railway (BC Rail) running from Spences Bridge on the Inter-Dominion Line, where it also connects with the Canadian Pacific Railway's Thompson Subdivision, to Nicola via Merritt, where it connects to the Coquihalla Line.

The Nicola Valley Line is Line 22 of BC Rail's Lower Mainland Region.

History

The Nicola, Kamloops & Similkameen Railway (NK&S), a subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, opened its line from Spences Bridge on the CPR mainline to Nicola in 1907. In 1915, after completing its line from Hope to Merritt, the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) took over the NK&S, and the Nicola line became the KVR's Nicola Subdivision. After the KVR's absorption by the BCR in 1955, the line was named Nicola Valley Line.

Services

Traffic on this line is quite light, with one freight movement and two local passenger trains in each direction every day.

Freight

Freight traffic on the Coquihalla Line comprises one daily wayfreight and a thrice-weekly copper train from Coyle. Because the station at Nicola is a dead end, trains are pushed from Merritt to Nicola with the engine at the rear.

Passenger

The various categories of passenger service are defined by the Ministry of Labour, Industry & Railways in conjunction with the Ministry of Transport & Communications; these categories are applicable to and used by all railways providing passenger service in British Columbia. Like all other railways in BC, ticket prices for BC Rail passenger trains are based on the Ministry's Schedule of Railway Fares.

Local

Local trains are passenger trains that make scheduled stops at all stations and halts along the route they serve. There is one Local train on the Nicola Valley Line.

• 3003D.1-2/3004D.1-2: Kamloops – Spences Bridge – Merritt – Nicola

Two daily return trips operated by diesel car, second class only with seat-side drink and snack service.

Timetable

• "Down" is towards Spences Bridge; Down trains are superior to Up trains.
• ↑↓ - train does not stop

Train number (Up) read down			Station	Mile (T-mi)		Train number (Down) read up
3004D.1 L	3004D.2 L					3003D.1 L	3003D.2 L
Kam 9.55	Kam 21.48	Origin / Destination				Kam 9.50	Kam 21.21
11.56	23.50	Ar	Spences Bridge	0.0 (-/10)	Lv	8.01	19.00
11.58	23.52	Lv			Ar	7.58	18.58
12.11	0.05	Ar	Clapperton	9.9 (10/7)	Lv	7.45	18.45
12.13	0.06	Lv			Ar	7.43	18.43
12.23	0.16	Ar	Sxe′xn′x	17.0 (7/3)	Lv	7.33	18.33
12.25	0.17	Lv			Ar	7.31	18.31
12.31	0.22	Ar	Dot	20.0 (3/9)	Lv	7.26	18.26
12.33	0.23	Lv			Ar	7.24	18.24
12.45	0.35	Ar	Canford	29.1 (9/6)	Lv	7.12	18.12
12.47	0.36	Lv			Ar	7.10	18.10
12.54	0.43	Ar	Coyle	34.7 (6/3)	Lv	7.03	18.03
12.56	0.44	Lv			Ar	7.01	18.01
13.01	0.49	Ar	Coutlee	37.5 (3/2)	Lv	6.56	17.56
13.03	0.50	Lv			Ar	6.54	17.54
13.07	0.54	Ar	Merritt	39.2 (2/8)	Lv	6.50	17.50
13.10	0.55	Lv			Ar	6.40	17.40
13.20	1.05	Ar	Nicola	37.0 (8/-)	Lv	6.30	17.30

Route

• - Local stop

Nicola Valley Line (Line 22)

Station		Milepost	Tariff-miles from prev. stn.	Connecting lines	Notes
Spences Bridge	•	0.0	0	Inter-Dominion Line Thompson Sub (CPR)
Clapperton	•	9.9	10	-
Sxe′xn′x	•	17.0	7	-	Passenger only; called Agate prior to 1977
Dot	•	20.0	3	-
Canford	•	29.1	9	-
Coyle	•	34.7	6	-	Loading track for copper concentrates from the nearby Craigmont Mines
Coutlee	•	37.5	3	-
Merritt	•	39.2	2	Coquihalla Line
Nicola	•	47.0	8	-	Livestock and lumber loading