The Thompson River cuts through the rugged country of south central British Columbia, Canada. Its wild and scenic course proved to be the best route for building a transcontinental railway and today is used by both the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National.

Continuing the journey that began in Canada's Fraser Canyon, we follow the Thompson River for 95 miles between Lytton and Kamloops. Both railways operate jointly over much of the territory with eastbounds using Canadian Pacific's Thompson Subdivision and westbounds using Canadian National's Ashcroft Sub.

Shot in both summer and winter, the stunning scenery and stark seasonal contrast is enhanced by the sight and sound of heavy main line trains. Massive coal, grain, and potash trains share the rails with long double stacks and mixed manifests. Canada's Rocky Mountaineer adds to the wide variety of trains. CN's new Tier 4 GE's are viewed working along side classic cowl bodied C-40-8M's! Illinois Central and BC Rail units create an interesting assortment of motive power along with Canadian Pacific's fleet of modern GE's. This is your front row seat to Canada's Thompson Canyon!

This program was shot between July 2016 and January 2017.

1 Hour 48 Minutes

Frame grabs:

A westbound CP stack train races through Spences Bridge on CN's Ashcroft Sub.

Westbound Canadian Pacific coal loads enter the Cape Horn Tunnel.

CN 2443 west takes a manifest through the Skoonka Tunnels.

A 152 car CP coal train heads west through Morris and the Jaws of Death Gorge.

An eastbound stack train led by CP 8918 races through Ashcroft on the Thompson Sub.

CN 2156 east crosses the nearly frozen North Thompson River at Kamloops.