Midway Station Redux - Midway, BC
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 49° 00.688 W 118° 47.179
11U E 369377 N 5430267
Across Highway 3 from the little town of Midway, this station was originally at the "Mile 0" point of the Kettle Valley Railway. It is presently Mile 0 of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail.
Waymark Code: WM150TF
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 09/23/2021
Views: 1
The first railway to arrive in the area was the Columbia & Western, a subsidiary of the CPR. It was an extension of the CPR's line at Castlegar, intended to eventually link to the main line which ran to the coast. This link, known as the Kettle Valley Railway, was finished, finally, in 1915, linking the interior with the coast. The KVR ran from this point 600 km. west to meet the main line at Hope, BC. Built through rugged, mountainous terrain, it was hailed as an engineering landmark when completed.
The line remained in operation until, due to a changing economic climate, the KVR was abandoned and the tracks removed, beginning in 1991. Fortunately for us history buffs, a few far sighted individuals have managed to rescue this station for posterity.
From the attached plaque:
This CPR Standard No.5 Station was built in 1909 in the bungalow style of the day, with a bell-cast roof and projecting eaves, coupled with a half-storey. The station was moved here from its original location on the far side of the maple tree, next to the Kettle Valley Railway line, in 1985.
This is the second station at Midway. The original was built in 1901 as the terminus of the Columbia & Western Railway and is believed to have burnt down. A photo of it can be seen inside the Station.
Station staff could be colorful characters. Harry Nichols lived here with his wife and three children. Rumor has it that Mr. Nichols was in the bootlegging business on the side, as one former resident recalls:
"My mother (Glendine Smith) learned Morse code and became an operator at Midway. The new agent was a Mr. Nichols and he may have been a bootlegger. My mother as night operator could probably have confirmed that on the night shift, men would appear at the wicket, masked, and take delivery of crates of bananas that came in on the number 12 train from the coast. The bananas were loaded onto trucks, which wandered off on some dirt roads across the border to Spokane, Washington. The border was pretty porous in those days. There were hijackers in the area and these bootleggers were usually armed. My uncle Joe (Davidson) always had a silver 5 shot pistol, which stayed in the office."
Mrs. Nichols planted a maple seed behind her home. Every precaution was taken to protect it during the moving of the station and all these years later it provides welcomed shade to our many visitors.
