Field Hill is a steep portion of the mainline of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 located near Field, British Columbia

Field, British Columbia

Field is an unincorporated settlement of approximately 300 people located in the Kicking Horse River valley of southeastern British Columbia,Canada, within the confines of Yoho National Park....

. Field was created solely to accommodate the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

's need for additional locomotives to be added to trains about to tackle both Field Hill, and the Big Hill

Big Hill

The Big Hill on the Canadian Pacific Railway main line in British Columbia, Canada, was the most difficult piece of railway track on the Canadian Pacific Railway's route. It was situated in the rugged Canadian Rockies west of the Continental Divide and Kicking Horse Pass...

. Here a stone roundhouse with turntable was built at what was first known simply as Third Siding. In December 1884 the CPR renamed it Field after Cyrus W. Field

Cyrus West Field

Cyrus West Field was an American businessman and financier who, along with other entrepreneurs, created the Atlantic Telegraph Company and laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858.-Life and career:...

, a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 businessman who had visited recently on a special train.

Difficult grades exist in both directions from Field, east through the Spiral Tunnels 137 miles to Calgary, Alberta; and 126 miles (203 km) west to Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke, British Columbia

Revelstoke is a city in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. It is located east of Vancouver, and west of Calgary, Alberta. The city is situated on the banks of the Columbia River just south of the Revelstoke Dam and near its confluence with the Illecillewaet River...

 through Rogers Pass

Rogers Pass

Rogers Pass is a high mountain pass through the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia used by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Trans-Canada Highway. The pass is a shortcut across the "Big Bend" of the Columbia River from Revelstoke on the west to Donald, near Golden, on the east...

 and the Connaught Tunnel

Connaught Tunnel

Connaught Tunnel, in the Selkirk Mountains under Rogers Pass on the Canadian Pacific Railway main line between Calgary, Alberta, and Revelstoke, British Columbia, at long was, at the time it was built, the longest railway tunnel in North America. Dug under Mount Macdonald to ease growing traffic...

, and where the modern Mount Macdonald Tunnel

Mount Macdonald Tunnel

The Mount Macdonald Tunnel, located in the vicinity of Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, is a railway tunnel constructed through Mount Macdonald by the Canadian Pacific Railway ....

 was opened in 1989.

Following completion of the Spiral Tunnels which eliminated the Big Hill, Field remained an important place as it was still necessary to add helper (bank

Bank engine

A bank engine or helper engine or pusher engine is a railway locomotive that temporarily assists a train that requires additional power or traction to climb a grade...

) engines to get trains over the steep 2.2% (116 feet to the mile, or 21.96 metres to the kilometre) grade of Field Hill.

Even bigger locomotives were needed and this time six massive 0-6-6-0 Mallet type (see: Whyte notation

Whyte notation

The Whyte notation for classifying steam locomotives by wheel arrangement was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and came into use in the early twentieth century encouraged by an editorial in American Engineer and Railroad Journal...

) were built (one in 1909 and five in 1911, five were compound engines, the last one a simple engine). These were of a unique design with both pairs of cylinders together at the middle of the boiler. The design was not repeated and eventually these engines were rebuilt (1916-17) into 2-10-0

2-10-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and no trailing wheels...

’s.

More powerful still were the fourteen 2-10-2

2-10-2

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-10-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, ten powered and coupled driving wheels on five axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle, usually in a trailing truck...

’s built (1919-20) for work on the Mountain. These were followed in 1929 by the most powerful steam locomotives in the British Empire, twenty 2-10-4

2-10-4

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, a 2-10-4 locomotive has two leading wheels, ten driving wheels , and four trailing wheels...

 Selkirk

Selkirk locomotive

The Selkirk locomotives were 36 steam locomotives of the 2-10-4 wheel arrangement built for Canadian Pacific Railway by Montreal Locomotive Works, Montreal, Quebec, Canada....

s. A further ten were built in 1938 and a final six in 1949, the last one being 5935, the last steam locomotive built for the CPR.

Diesel-electric

Diesel-electric

Diesel-electric transmission or diesel-electric powertrain is used by a number of vehicle and ship types for providing locomotion.A diesel-electric transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors...

 locomotives would follow, and over the decades bigger and more powerful diesels replaced smaller ones just as was the case with the steam locomotives that had preceded them.

Even though the Spiral Tunnels eliminated the Big Hill, the mountains remained and so too did the Field Hill. The Ottertail revision of 1902 and the five-mile (26,518 feet or 8.08 km) long double track Connaught Tunnel of 1916 were other improvements made to the original line. It was not until the late 20th Century when a major new project of twenty miles including the 9.1 mile Mount Macdonald Tunnel

Mount Macdonald Tunnel

The Mount Macdonald Tunnel, located in the vicinity of Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, is a railway tunnel constructed through Mount Macdonald by the Canadian Pacific Railway ....

reduced the grade to a very manageable average of 0.82%, (maximum 1%) opened in December 1988.