The Jump of Locomotive No. 8
BCA Photograph No. 1524
BCA Negative No. A-724
Photo in Onderdonk Album, #1, 44.
Of the 200 or so photographs collected by the Onderdonk family in the six albums at the B.C. Archives, there is only one which alludes to a train wreck. The incident occurred on Wednesday, February 25, 1885, and was duly described by The Inland Sentinel in its March 5, 1885, edition. There were many derailments and collisions during the period that Onderdonk operated the railway for profit before handing its sections over to the Government. This wreck seems to have been one of the incidences where a photographer was able to record the results of the accident. Locomotive No. 8 was the 'Shuswap,' one of four new Baldwin 4-4-0 locomotives purchased by Onderdonk in 1884. An attempt to recover the 'Shuswap' was reported by The Inland Sentinel on March 12, 1885.
