Last surviving member of historic train crew gets special viewing of documentary for his 100th birthday

As part of his 100th birthday celebration, Bill Chapman got the chance to travel about 75 years back in time, into the depths of B.C. history.

Chapman is a Penticton, B.C., resident who hit the century mark on Saturday.

Back on Jan. 1, 1947, he was working as a brakeman on CP Rail steam locomotive No. 3512. Chapman was part of a crew that was shipping the train across a section of Slocan Lake in the B.C. Interior, about 700 kilometres east of Vancouver.

In an unexpected turn of events, the locomotive, its tender and its caboose tipped off a barge attached to the boat and plunged to the bottom of the lake, which, in its deepest spots, is measured at 300 metres.

The cable that linked the barge to the boat had to be cut to keep the boat from being dragged under, and the train assembly was never found.

A team of filmmakers recently completed a documentary about the incident, and a search to find the sunken No. 3512. It's called The Last Stop: Canada's Lost Locomotive. Chapman appears in the film and, with family members surrounding him, he was treated to a home-viewing of it one day last week.

The special screening was courtesy of producer Colten Wilke and other members of his team, and it left Chapman — the lone surviving member of the train crew — marvelling at the big-screen telling of the CP 3512 story.

"I don't know how to express it, but it's quite exciting," Chapman said in an interview with CBC. 

"You've done a very nice job, a very good job," he said to Wilke.

"It's very interesting. It brings back memories."

A key member of the expedition

Aside from being a filmmaker, Wilke is a professional diver and a commercial fisherman. According to information released about The Last Stop, the legend of the lost locomotive had long fascinated him, so he put together an expedition to find it.

The filmed venture begins with expedition members searching limited local records and doing a logistical survey of Slocan Lake.

Things kick into high gear when Wilke discovers there is a surviving crew member, Chapman, who joins the team and provides first-hand accounts that point to a general search area.

'It gives me tingles'

The Last Stop premiered at Cinéfest Sudbury in September, and Wilke told CBC a gasp went through the sold-out theatre when Chapman appeared on screen.

"They almost took the air out of the room," Wilke said.

"They just weren't expecting it."

The special viewing at the home of one of Chapman's relatives marked the first time Chapman himself had seen the finished product. Daughters Sue Chapman and Elaine Kosma, son Tom Chapman, and other family members were also seeing the film for the first time.

"It gives me tingles to think that was my dad as a young man, and also how close it all came to me not being here," Sue Chapman said after watching The Last Stop.

"It makes us think about him as a young man and the work that he did in that era, and the dangers. Dad goes to work and we think not too much of it, and this really brings it home." 

For Bill Chapman, watching the film was a reminder of that fateful moment all those years ago, and just how different things used to be for railroad workers.

"It was quite an experience, the whole thing," he said.

"A lot of people don't realize what was going on in those days."

Wilke said the film has "gotten a lot of interest" and that distribution opportunities "are in the works."