Reconciliation: The Cheng Interchange

Canadian Pacific Railway 8653, Kamloops BC, July 1958. The family had driven down from Prince Rupert to Seattle for a few weeks vacation, passing through Kamloops on our way south. "Kamloops" is the anglicized version of the Shuswap word "Tk'emlups", meaning "meeting of the waters," in this case the North and South Forks of the Thompson River. Shuswap is still actively spoken in the area by members of the Kamloops Indian Band.

We caught GMD GP-9 8653 working along the dike overlooking the Thompson River.

Kamloops was one of only two places in Canada where the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific intersected each other. For the CNR, this was the beginning of the Ashcoft Subdivision; for the CPR, the Mile Post 128 of the Shuswap Subdivision. The actual junction between the two roads was at Campbell Creek, CPR Mile Post 117.2. Study carefully the aerial photo below, and you will see the relationships of these two roads.

The common denominator for the CNR and CPR was the exploitation of Chinese laborers during construction. The CPR was completed ahead of the Grand Trunk Pacific. When the railroad was completed, they were fired on the spot where they stood. This resulted in thousands of unemployed Chinese willing to work for next to nothing entering the general job market and so various acts were past to try and force them to leave.

Ironically, by the time the Grand Trunk Pacific had worked their way into BC some 30 years later, so effective were the Chinese exclusionary rulings, that in 1909 Grand Trunk complained to the government that they could not muster the manpower needed to conquer the Fraser River Canyon!

Reconciliation. In a remarkable public ceremony in May, 2005, the Canadian Pacific designated the interchange between the CNR and CPR just east of the CPR Station in Kamloops as “The Cheng Interchange,” named in honor of Mr. Cheng Ging Butt, one of 12,000 Chinese laborers who helped construct the Canadian Pacific Railway. CPR Vice President Paul Clark is joined by a descendant of Mr. Butt, Kevan Jangze, representing the fourth generation of Chinese in BC. This is the only bi-lingual sign on the system.

After 1885 when he had completed his railway construction work with CPR, Cheng Ging Butt settled by the tracks near Yale, where he ran a dry goods store, a temple and farmed cherries, which he and his children sold to CPR's dining car staff and passengers on passing trains. Married with eight sons and two daughters, Cheng Ging Butt also was the founder of the Cheng Association in Vancouver. He passed away in 1930.

The Canadian National Railways Kamloops Station has been saved for future generations. She will become a piece of the recently announced an amazing initiative designed to celebrate the history of industry in Western Canada, a large part of the exhibit dedicated to the Chinese railroad laborers.

An estimated $25m (CDN) has been set aside for construction of The Western Canada Heritage Center. Features of this remarkable undertaking are detailed in "Click Our Slide Show." You will notice, CNR 2141, saved at the last minute from the cutter’s torch, will play an important part of this outstanding undertaking.

Railroad Stuff: CPR 8653, built as GP-9, 1750 hp at GMD London, Ontario 1957. sn: 1109. Final disposition unknown.