John Green's Coquihalla Valley Railway

John Green's Coquihalla Valley Railway

Upper Level

Lower Level 		The COQUIHALLA VALLEY RAILWAY is an HO scale model railway based on the Coquihalla and Merritt Subdivisions of the Kettle Valley Railway, which was owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. It attempts to recreate the setting where men built and tried to operate a railway through the Cascade Mountains in southwestern B.C.. This route was so rugged and the winter snows so deep and treacherous that both First Nations People and the Hudson's Bay Company personnel rarely used it. The name Coquihalla is derived from a native word meaning "Hungry Waters". So please take care, keep dry, and don't fall in the river.
The Kettle Valley Railway's 58-mile Coquihalla Subdivision ran from the former division point at Brookmere, through the valleys of the Coldwater and Coquihalla Rivers to the village of Hope, where connections were maintained with both the Canadian Pacific and the Canadian National Railways. This model railway attempts to recreate some of the major engineering works along this rugged section of railway. Visitors to this model railway can see the siding arrangements at Coquihalla, Hope and the Shakespearean stations of Othello, Portia, and Iago. In some cases extra spurs have been added to increase operational interest during operating sessions. In order to add additional switching and operational interest, parts of the Merritt subdivision have been incorporated into the layout.

Coquihalla Valley

Location South Western British Columbia Cascade Range
Ruby Creek to Brookmere and Merritt		Interchange Canadian National & Canadian Pacific
Size 13.5 feet by 25 feet Plus Branch Line
Room size is 540 square feet		Scale HO standard guage
EraSeptember 1955Control DCC Lenz – Tethered and CVP throttles
Clock Speed Normally 6:1 this sometimes changes without notice depending on traffic or session dynamics..Session Length 3 - 4 hours
Crew Size5-6 Train Crew running trains.1 Yard Master 1 Dispatcher and 3 train order operatorsDispatching TT&TO
Car Forwarding Car Cards and WaybillsCommunicationTelephones
Accessibility Stair Free access possible – 24” aisles
Layout Height 36” to 62”		Website CQVR
Prototype/Freelanced Scale Proto Freelanced based on Canadian Pacific Railway
Kettle Valley Division Coquihalla and Merritt Sub Divisions		 Length of Mainline Visible operational 220 ‘ Staging 100 ‘
Yards Brookmere Division Point yard; Wayfreight switching at
Hope , Othello, Portia, Iago, Juliet, Merritt, and Nicola 		Number of Passing Sidings 6
Scenery Complete 50%Carspots 140
Motive Power First generation DieselRolling Stock 160 Freight and Passenger traffic
Train Lengths 14 cars including caboose Track Construction Flex some hand laid switches
Session Atmosphere Business-like - getting the traffic over a Mountain railway

  • Dispatcher---Under TT&TO manages the movement of trains over the railway using the timetable, trainorders, clearances and a trainsheet. 5-6 (Single person) Road crews who will operate 2 Passenger Trains; 2 Mixed trains; 6+ Through Freights; 3 Way freights; Plus the Brookmere yard master – who does switching. This job is steadily busy.
    Operator and dispatching positions can be available Normally Dispatcher – Home crew or they can shadow a guest dispatcher as needed. Operator for two Terminals Staging yards (Odlum and Manning) plus Portia:
    Operator for two stations , Hope and Coquihalla: Operator for three stations Spence’s Bridge(staging), Merritt, Brookmere)