- Father: Andrew McCulloch, born Lanark County, Ontario
Mother: Mary Foster, born Lanark County, Ontario
Occupation: Railway Engineer
Age at Death: 81 yrs, 5 mo.
Source: B.C. Registration of Death: 1945-D27776
After graduating from the Dominion Business College in Kingston, Ontario in 1888, McCulloch moved to the West Coast of North America. There he got a job as an axeman on the Great Northern Railway.
Several other jobs followed, and in 1884 he was employed by the CPR on bridge repair work.
In 1910 the construction of the Kettle Valley Railway started. The hardships were many, and construction costs were high. Andrew McCullogh was the chief engineer and nothing would stand in his way of completing this railway. Against all the hardships, the Kettle Valley Railway was finished on July 31, 1916. For the first time there was daily passenger and freight service from Vancouver to Nelson. The KVR started its downward slide in 1949 when Highway # 3 (the Hope Princeton) opened. During the next few years, obviously to keep the KVR running was no longer feasible. In 1962 they removed the Coquihalla section of tracks. In January of 1964 the last passenger train ran from Merritt to Penticton and onto Midway and finally Nelson. The Kettle Valley Railway was closed.
Andrew McCulloch, was not only a brilliant engineer but he had a real passion for Shakespeare, and the stations along the Coquihalla section were named after characters from his plays. Station names such as Juliet, Romeo, Lear and Othello are found between Hope and Brodie. From Brookmere to Princeton stations and interesting hiking came be found at Spearing, Thalia, Manning, Tulameen, and Coalmont. The next section of the KVR is from Princeton to Penticton with sites such as Belfort, Erris, Osprey Lake, Thirsk, West Summerland and Winslow. Penticton to Midway, the last section includes stops like Chute Lake, Ruth, Myra, McCulloch, Lakevale, Breaverdell, Westbridge, Rock Creek and finally the end of the line.
In early 1910, McCulloch was appointed Chief Engineer for the Kettle Valley Railway in British Columbia, a project which was to be the most challenging of his career. Following completion of the line in 1916 he was appointed Superintendent of Operations.
He retired in 1933 and continued as a consultant for many years up to his death in 1945.
Andrew McCulloch is buried in the Lakeview Cemetery in Penticton overlooking the Kettle Valley Railway that was such an important part of his life
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1864 - 1945 (81 years)
