Documentary highlighting piece of Canadian history premieres in Sudbury

Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival is underway and has already seen some big premieres – including the tale of Canada’s lost locomotive.

The documentary ‘The Last Stop’ highlights a piece of the nation’s history.

Locomotives helped build Canada – being the workhorse, opening up parts of the country once thought unpassable – those who live near Slocan Lake have a question though.

“Whatever happened to steam locomotive 35-12?”

The film’s director, Kaio Kathriner told CTV News the film is more of a documentary adventure.

“'The Last Stop' is a historical adventure documentary about a group of divers who go to find a lost Canadian relic,” he said.

“A steam-locomotive that sank to the bottom of Slocan Lake in 1947."

The crew only narrowly escape with their lives and the last living member is featured prominently in the film.

The dive team loving to find the lost steam engine relied heavily on what the survivor shared about the moment the locomotive slipped off the barge.

"He's just a good sort of spirit… who keeps us going on those hard, long, cold days on the lake,” said Kathriner.

“We're constantly calling him and saying 'Are you sure you were looking at that mountain? And behind you – you can see that creek?'"

The film’s producer Colten Wilke told CTV News the search was like looking for a grain of rice in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

“The search days, we are working on a platform on this giant lake with little to no escape for a washroom," he said.

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The filmmakers said this project was about honouring the country, its past and paying tribute to those small rural towns that relied on the train service and sharing their stories.

"This is a documentary about adventure and history and so people are going to be able to come relax for an hour and a half and really get into trains,” said Wilke.

“Even if you're not a train fan, you're going to come out of this loving the searching and the discovery of the valley."

‘The Last Stop’ made its premiere Saturday at Cinéfest and the film team is now working with a distributor in hopes of having it screened elsewhere.