The 70-year-old mystery of a vanished BC train has been solved

Kaio Kathrinerhat/The Last Stop Director

A 75-year-old mystery has been uncovered in the dark depths of one of BC’s deepest lakes.

The story goes like this: in 1947, a tugboat on Slocan Lake was travelling with cargo in a remote area about 50 kilometres from Nelson.

On the vessel were parts of the Canadian Pacific Railway steam locomotive #3512, including the engine, coal tender, caboose, and snowplow.

During the journey, the tugboat’s leaky barge started taking on water, prompting the captain to quickly cut the heavy train loose to prevent the boat from capsizing .

Nobody died at the scene of that accident, although all eight crew members came very close.

Thanks to some swift thinking, they all escaped with their lives.

But what happened to the train?

That question sparked a major fascination for decades and led to a new documentary called The Last Stop, which sheds light on the often-overlooked stories of ordinary people who found themselves caught up in extraordinary circumstances.

After more than 70 years, the mystery has been solved, thanks to the efforts of director Kaio Kathriner and producer Colten Wilke, who decided to unravel the mystery through a search in 2020.

“The main objective was to find the locomotive in one of Canada’s deepest lakes, so just that alone was a big undertaking. It was just a big bone to bite because we knew how challenging that would be,” Wilke says.

Wilke says the search was not easy – and he would know firsthand as he was among the divers who spent six straight days in the quest.

“It’s like searching in an Olympic-sized swimming pool for a grain of rice,” he said.

Kathriner says one of the most important parts of the story was speaking with Bill Chapman, a 99-year-old brakeman, who was there that day in 1947.

“We had to give this film a bit more of a personal story arc, something that was much more emotional and that people could connect with [Champman]. We ended up having to weave his story throughout the search and the adventure,” Kathriner says.

He says Chapman was the youngest crew member, and since his much older crew member passed away, he is the only survivor left to tell the tale.

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Kathriner says he wants people to experience the unravelling of a Canadian mystery that has plagued the country for years.

“It’s not often a country loses a train in the middle of a lake, especially it going down. So it’s a crazy story just based on that fact,” says Kathriner.

Wilke says that with this documentary, he wants to highlight the importance of remembering the histories of smaller, overlooked cities.

“It’s a very different lifestyle out there than here in the city, and that’s what I love and what I love to portray. It feels like a forgotten place. And people don’t think much of it, but it’s just filled with so much beauty and life.”

The hour-and-a-half documentary will have three screenings in Vancouver, Revelstoke, and Creston.

Where you can see the film in Vancouver

The Last Stop: Canada’s Lost Locomotive – Vancouver Community Screening

Time: 7pm to 9pm
Where: Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in the SFU Woodwards Building – 149 W Hastings Street, Vancouver
Tickets: By donation, suggested $5-$20. Purchase online.