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Special
Exhibits
“REVELSTOKE IS A RAILWAY TOWN"
This comprehensive exhibit is located in our accessible Mezzanine Gallery—with a view down to both Engine 5468 and the dining car on the main floor—and tells the story of Revelstoke's remarkable railway history.
The history of Revelstoke and its development over time are directly linked to the construction and development of the railway. Without the railway, Revelstoke would not exist as we know it today. For that reason, we can say with conviction that Revelstoke is a railway town.
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​​When people think of the railway as a concept, the focus tends to lean towards industrial and technological themes. The feats of engineering, such as bridges and tunnels, and the imposing steam engines of the Steam Era are the most prominent images in a person’s mind when they are asked about the railway. But there is another side to railway life, the human side. Not just the men who worked on and for the railway, but their families, their communities, and everyone else who was impacted by life in a railway town. In Revelstoke, even if you were not employed by the railway its operation impacted your life in some way, both subtle and overt. To this day we still experience the impact of the railway on our daily lives, whether it’s getting stuck on the wrong side of the tracks as a train passes or waking up in the night because a train whistle sounded. This exhibit, “Revelstoke is a Railway Town” sets the focus on this side of the railway story, the side that highlights the machinations of a town impacted by Canadian Pacific’s operations for nearly 140 years.