Old Metal Sandon BC

Earlier we took you on a crazy tour of Sandon British Columbia (link a few paragraphs down if you missed it), a must see ghost town in the East Kootenay region of the province. Today, we mix it up and take in some old metal found scattered about the community. There’s vintage mining equipment, old trucks in retirement, a steam locomotive and rail cars all well over a century old and giant diesel engines from long ago residing in the local power plant. And front and centre, there’s a fleet of retired trolleybuses that once ran on the streets of Vancouver (and other Canadian cities). For fans of things mechanical from decades past it’s pure bliss.

Sandon’s located in a remote valley, well away from any population centre, in a mining region called the Silvery Slocan. In the area fortunes were won, back in the day that is, account huge deposits of metallic minerals (silver, lead, zinc, etc) found in the surrounding mountains. It’s all quiet now, but back in the 1890s-1910s period it was booming. And many came away from it rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Sandon itself has a full time population that could fit in the mighty BIGDoer-mobile with room to spare. Many of the town buildings can be toured and explored, including old city hall, a former grocery store now a museum, and the 1890s era power plant still used to generate electricity for the area. And of course, there’s all the metal we’ll soon look at.

That link? Get to know the town here…A Tour of Sandon BC

And now our regularly scheduled program…

1) At every turn in Sandon, there’s things to be found. Here we’re looking at the front sheet metal from an old big rig and and trolley bus. You’ll be seeing more of the latter, in complete form, soon.

2) There’s a number of old rail cars (and a steam locomotive) sitting on a short stretch of track here. This old tanker dates back to 1917 and had no doubt travelled countless miles over its service life. And now its work is done.

1) There’s old metal everywhere in Sandon BC.

3) Parts from a compressor that supplied air tools used in underground mines. If you frequent old mining camps, the name Sullivan will be seen time and again if old equipment is lying about. They were big in the “blow” business and are still at it to this very day under the name Sullair.

4) Joy loader details, a mining cart with a shovel for extracting ore. This process was called “mucking’. Joy was and is a big maker of mining gear, today under the name Joy Global. What a happy name.

5) We’re looking at an old Kenworth – a more broad view soon.

6) Perhaps the most conspicuous things scattered about Sandon are the many vintage trolleybuses (sometimes called trackless trolleys). All of these came from Vancouver BC, some by way of other Canadian transit operators. These were once scheduled to be chopped up into little bits before being saved and brought here.

7) Here and there one can find some old fire hydrants. Sandon, by the way, burned to the ground spectacularly in 1900 and fire’s still a hazard, most recently a cabin in town went up in flames one winter ago.

8) The caretakers of Sandon (Hal Wright & Vida Turok) take some heat from purists as these buses have no history connecting them to the famous mining town where they reside. But had they not stepped up to save them, it’s doubtful they’d be around today, anywhere. So for that we applaud them for saving history when no one else would and when you see them shake their hands and drop a few coins in the donation box so they can help restore one.

9) No matter where you look, there’s old machinery, buses, trucks, odd bits of stuff unidentifiable, and more. Metal heads will be in heaven.

10) A close up of an “arch bar” truck (or bogie) under an old rail car. Simplex, patented 1898! Large banks of leaf springs supported the load and smoothed the ride.

11) Kenworths are well known even among those not afflicted with the “truck spotting” disease. This is a “Canadian” model made in Burnaby BC, a mid-1960s (or close to that) model L924 (we think*). Please correct us if wrong. This is not only old KW here. That Burnaby plant operated from the mid-1950s to the early 1980s.

*You’d think we’d be good at it after all these years, but alas that’s a no.

12) “How about this angle?” Just doing what we do. There’s that name Sullivan again.

13) Some part from some piece of mining equipment. There’s so much scattered about town, and the hills around, that it’s hard to take it all in. Get out there and explore it for yourself.

14) Here’s a generator inside the Silversmith Power Plant, Sandon’s own electrical generating station, in operation since the 1890s. Canadian Westinghouse had a plant in Hamilton Ontario for many years that manufactured electrical equipment like this (among other things). The last patent date on the generator is 1905, so this means it was likely made soon afterwards.

15) The Silversmith Plant relies on water to power the generators. For back up, however, they have a six cylinder Blackstone Diesel from the 1940s that’s rarely used but fired up from time to time to keep things lubed and running right. We just happened to be in town the day of a shakedown run (that link we told you about will show more). The Blackstone replaced an earlier back up engine, still in the plant but unused – a couple pics down.

16) Every cylinder on the Blackstone Engine has its own temperature gauge.

17) Before the Blackstone, this three cylinder Fairbanks Morse engine was backup power. Look at the sheer sheer size of it! Interestingly, up the valley from Sandon, in a place called Cody, at an abandoned mine, there’s a similar four cylinder Fairbanks Morse Engine. Of course we visited it and will post about in the future.

2) Over one hundred years old.

18) This 1952 Chevrolet Pickup pays homage to mining in the valley. It’s been going on here, extracting Silver, Lead, Zinc, Copper and Gold, since the 1890s, in huge quantities especially in the early days. Even today some small mines operate sporadically. You author looked online and found a 1980s photo of this same truck. Google “Silver Ridge Mining Co Ltd, Sandon BC”.

19) Just down from our tent (a big shout out to the Sandon folks who allowed us to camp right in town), another Canadian Kenworth, never to run again. In back, Sandon City Hall.

20) Trolleybus #446 was built in 1948 by the firm Canadian Car & Foundry of Thunder Bay Ontario, to a Brill (US) design. And it’s a former Calgarian having operated in “CTS” service into the 1970s before being sold to Vancouver Transit for parts to keep the rest of their extensive “CC&F/Brill” fleet running. All buses in Sandon come from that maker and all either worked for Vancouver Transit directly at one point (earlier BC Hydro Transit) or were parts buses keeping others running, some by way of other Canadian Trolleybus operators, including Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg.

21) This “Pelton Water Wheel” would have powered some machinery at a nearby mine. Water entered the left casing at high pressure, would act on a wheel inside and power a shaft, and would then exit at low pressure. That disc is presumably a flywheel.

22) They have a steam locomotive in Sandon! It’s ex-CPR. The plate tells us it was rebuilt (from an older engine) in the late 1920s in Winnipeg.

23) Vancouver Trolleybuses operated from power generated at hydro plants. Can you say Eco-friendly? Unit #2310 was built by CC&F in 1951* for BC Hydro Transit (latter Vancouver Transit) and was a model T48a (“T”rolley, 48 seats). “Enjoy Sandon, take pictures, leave footprints”…a good rule of thumb when visiting historic sites. Vancouver, incidentally, still runs trolleybuses (very modern ones) and is the last operator in Canada to do so.

*CC&F trolleybus production ran from 1946-1954.

24) Hal from Sandon loves his old Kenworths. And for that alone, he’s our hero. This one’s marked for his trucking firm Wrightway Hauling and looks to still be used. We forgot to ask him about it.

25) Ex-CPR boxcar #404227 is from 1921 and is of composite steel and wood construction. Canadian Pacific was one of two railways that served Sandon in the day, the other being the narrow gauge Kaslo & Slocan. Both hauled out huge quantities of ore from local mines in the 1890s-1910s era. The old railbed of both can be easily seen today in places even though they were abandoned long, long ago, and one can even be hiked. (see: Hike to Payne Bluff.)

26) An old globe gas pump in front of the Sandon Museum. Housed in an historic general store it’s chock full of displays of local interest.

27) Odd and ends in the Silversmith Power Plant. To see more of it, and it’s cool, refer to this post: A Tour of Sandon BC. If you haven’t already clicked it that is.

28) A curious thingy, a bit sharpener from the firm “Denver Rock Drill”. Drilling into rock would quickly dull a cutting edge and this machine was called upon to help make them new again.

3) It blows, really it does.

29) Three amigos in a row, #2201 (from 1950), ex-Regina Transit #154 (1950, bought by Vancouver for parts in the 1970s) and #2414 (1954). Later we’d come back and light up the last one come twilight These buses are constructed of aluminum and this accounts for their good condition. No rust! CC&F was also an aircraft maker and as far as construction techniques go buses such as this and planes were not all that different to make.

30) This locomotive was built in 1908 by the Montreal Locomotive Works and then as you recall, later rebuilt in the 1920s at the CPR’s Winnipeg Shops. After being sold by Canadian Pacific in the late 1950s it worked for a Saskatchewan Coal Mine for a time, before finding it’s way to an Edmonton Railway Museum and then later here to Sandon.

31) Inside #2414. Of all the trolleybuses here it’s the one most original and complete inside and best in shape. Grab a seat and let’s go for a ride. Your author has many memories of riding Vancouver Trolleybuses in the 1970s as a kid. Was this one of them? It’d be cool to imagine there’s a connection here.

32) And come evening we light it up like a pinball. Interestingly the number #16 Trolleybus route still exists in Vancouver and takes in Renfrew Street on the eastern leg of the run. The route it followed them, is much as it is today.

And with that last photo, it’s goodnight Sandon.

These pics come from one spectacular weekend in town. You can camp there yourself as we did – and it was amazing and already we have dreams of returning. Yes, Sandon is that spectacular. Hope you enjoyed the things we saw and photographed there. We sure had a blast presenting this post – old metal is a passion which we never tire of and we hear it’s the same for many of you.

And with that we’re done. Roll the credits…

More Sandon and area…
Hike to Payne Bluff – watch that step!
A Tour of Sandon BC – a weekend about town.
Road Trip 1989! – from a visit long ago.

If you wish more information on what you’ve seen here, by all means contact us!

Date: September, 2018.
Location: Sandon, BC
Article references and thanks: Hal Wright & Vida Turok, the caretaker’s of Sandon, Canadian Trackside Guides.
You are encouraged to roam Sandon but be mindful of any private property.

4) For mucking.

5) This old KW.

6) It’s trolleybus heaven.

7) Something from Sandon’s early days.

8) Saved from the scrap yard.

9) At every turn.

10) Freight car truck (bogie) details.

11) A “Canadian Kenworth”.

12) In his natural environment.

13) Some piece of mining equipment.

14) Back when things were made in Canada.

15) Backup engine at the generating plant – reflections!

16) To keep tabs on the temperature.

17) This Fairbanks Morse is no longer used.

18) Paying respects to the many mines in the area.

19) Never to run again.

20) A former Calgarian.

21) A Pelton Water Wheel.

22) Steamer #6947

23) Green before it was cool.

24) The owner of Sandon is into old trucks and we love him for that.

25) Along the old CPR line.

26) Out front the Sandon Museum.

27) Odd bits in the power plant.

28) “The Denver Rock Drill.”

29) All those beauties…and city hall.

30) Built in 1908.

31) Grab a seat.

32) Light it up like a pinball.