Canadian National No. 6

There was intense rivalry between the Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway vessels on Okanagan Lake during the first fifty years of the 1900s.  While the CPR was better known for its Lake & River Service, the CNR successfully ran tug and passenger boats in the same manner as the CPR: to connect railway terminals.

Canadian National No. 6 was built in England in 1948 and operated as a tugboat for the Canadian National Railway on Okanagan Lake until 1973.  Like the S. S. Naramata, she transported fruit, mail, and other forms of freight by barge from the communities along the lake to Kelowna where it was loaded onto Canadian National trains and transported to Vancouver.

No. 6 is the only vessel at the Okanagan Inland Marine Heritage Park that was not fueled by coal, but was instead fueled by diesel.  Its engine was an eight cylinder turbo charged marine diesel that produced  575 horsepower.  No. 6 is 88 feet long with a gross tonnage of 158 tons.

On June 16, 2007, Canadian National No. 6 was towed to the Inland Marine Heritage Park in Penticton from Kelowna, where it joined the S. S. Sicamous  and S. S. Naramata.

If you have any information or artifacts that could help us expand our knowledge of Canadian National No. 6 please contact us.