Coal

British Columbia has coal reserves of 20 billion tonnes, much of it in the East

Kootenay Coalfields approximately 200 miles (325 km) south of Golden. The East

Kootenay Coalfields comprise three separate fields extending from the Montana

border northward and known respectively as Flathead, Crowsnest, and Elk Valley

coalfields. These are the most important coalfields of the province, having

produced, since 1898, over 500 million tonnes of coal.

Coal is mined at five open pit mines in the southeast East Kootenay Coalfields

and all of it is exported. The coal travels north in 112 car unit trains to a staging

yard just south of Golden, then west on the Canadian Pacific's main line through

Rogers Pass and Revelstoke to the port of Vancouver.

The coal-staging yard south of Golden is the only yard on, or at least near, the

Mountain Subdivision, which offers an opportunity for yard work on the MBC

2010. In addition to staging the south Golden yard has car maintenance and

fuelling facilities. A "Y" at Golden provides for access from both east and west to

the Canadian Pacific’s main line. The yard at Field has been reduced to holding

tracks for trains waiting to ascend the Kicking Horse River Valley to the Kicking

Horse Pass via the Spiral Tunnels. Likewise the yard at Revelstoke mainly serves

as a holding location for the coordination of trains to and from Rogers Pass in the

Selkirk Mountains to the east and Eagle Pass in the Monashee Mountains to the

west.

(Click image to enlarge)