Wine train stuck

Posted: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 11:00 pm Ron Seymour Kelowna Daily Courier
Removal of the railway tracks from Kelowna has created anxiety for the operator of an ill-fated tourist train. The 11 cars that made up the Okanagan Valley Wine Train have been parked on a Kelowna rail siding since the venture stopped running in 2002. Former operator Bob Nagel says he’s been trying, so far without success, to get CN to send a locomotive down the siding to remove the cars before all the track is ripped up. “This is turning into one of the weirdest chapters of my life,” Nagel said Tuesday from Edmonton. “I’d like them to come get my cars, and take them up to Kamloops, before they get marooned there in Kelowna.” Railway officials have suggested he should look into taking the rail cars off the line and trucking them elsewhere. But Nagel said it would cost far too much to do that. Another option is simply scrapping the cars, some of which date back to the early 1970s. But Nagel said the cars have too much value, and might still be used elsewhere on a tourist train. Nagel said he hoped to hear soon from CN about its willingness to haul the cars, now stored on a siding in an industrial area, to an active railway line. Portions of the track closer to downtown Kelowna have already been removed by CN. Nagel ran the Wine Train from 1998 to 2002, losing more than $1 million on the venture, despite the scenic appeal of the route from Kelowna to Armstrong. “All those lakes, mountains, and farms, that line was probably the most beautiful railway in all of North America,” Nagel said. “People got the ride of their lives.” Although the cars haven’t been used in more than a decade, Nagel said they are in good shape, and he’s in the process of getting them re-certified for use by Transport Canada. Over the years, he’s had offers to buy some of the cars. “But I always said no, because I’ve wanted to sell them as a complete set, and that’s a tough thing to do,” he said. Freight hauling operations on the Vernon-Kelowna railway ceased last summer, and the line is being formally abandoned by CN. Several local governments plan to present a cash offer to CN by early October to acquire the railway right-of-way for a long-distance recreation corridor. CN has said it wants $50 million.