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Glen Sanders commenting about 1998 fire on Trestle
August 2010
Kinsol Trestle, Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island, BC Canada


Credits:
Glen Sanders, Speaker
Shawnigan Lake Historical Society

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The Kinsol Trestle, like many railway bridges of its era, was built with timber and spanned potentially volatile water. These wooden structures required ongoing maintenance and weren't expected to last forever. Many wooden buildings and bridges have come and gone on Vancouver Island since then, but this trestle remains. The E&N (later Canadian Pacific Railway) rail line on Vancouver Island, completed in 1886, had numerous wooden trestles. Many of these impressive bridges were in excess of 1000 ft. long. The Victoria Daily Colonist newspaper described the trestles on the E&N as "...magnificent timber, well bolted and on solid foundations." However, soon after the line's completion, the E&N buried most of their trestles, with gravel and fill, due to the costly maintenance of wood structures. It is remarkable, therefore, that the Kinsol Trestle has survived despite constant threats from the elements, wilful human destruction and finally, abandonment.

AUDIO: John Romak
Some people might think that you can repair a bridge forever but it's not the case because you are only fixing the weakest links and unless you replace the whole thing you are not replacing it so it can only go for so long by maintenance, you know, it comes to a point where everything is bad.

Lori Treloar:
So, essentially what you are saying is that the trestle, if it was still used for railroads, couldn't have gone on forever?

John Romak:
No, no way, it would have to be replaced because repairing it is. I can do different analogies. Say you have a roof and you change the shingles, that doesn't mean you replaced the roof. No, it's the maintenance. Some people will criticize, "Why did the CN maintain it?" Yes, they maintained it…to make it safe - there was never a time where any train was in jeopardy of going through it.