Twilight on the Rails was born when Director Kevin EuDaly was inadvertently sent to Mount Vernon, Washington on an unrelated assignment in September, 2002. He writes:
    "I've always loved British Columbia, and after the job in Mount Vernon I decided to run up to BC and spend some time on BC Rail. When I got to BC, there was a lot of talk about the Budd car service ending, and I decided that although I'd photographed them many times since my first trip to BC in 1983, I had never ridden, so this was perhaps my last chance to ride.
    "I hopped on at Squamish, and after a short conversation with Conductor Jerry Kingsborough I asked about riding in the cab with the engineer. The end result was a wonderful ride with Engineer Brad Cunningham and Jerry to Lillooet, where I met Gladys Stock - the truly delightful station agent there. Some 36 rolls of film (35 mm) later, I headed home thinking about the pending end of service, and it was obvious some believed it would end and others thought it wouldn't. So the first phase of the project was a three-day reconnaissance mission, somewhat by 'accident.'
    "Back home (Missouri) in October, I was reviewing the slides I'd taken. I talked with C.J. (co-director C.J. Johnson) about the possibility of a film project on the end of passenger service. At the very last minute, I decided to make the trip and do the film. I made the reservations on Saturday, and C.J. and I packed our gear and caught a flight out on Monday, October 28th.
    "On Saturday, October 26th, I had called my good friend Peter Rebagliati on BC Rail in Prince George to see what he could arrange for us. He connected me to Levor Guenther on BC Rail at North Vancouver. It turned out that Levor was out on Monday when we arrived, but Jason McMillan agreed to get us on board with the crew on the Budd cars on Tuesday.
    "Since the crews worked every third day, I was fairly certain the engineer would again be Brad Cunningham, which was part of the reason I wanted to ride on Tuesday. As it happened it was Brad, though this time with Tom Bruvall as conductor. With two such photogenic and enjoyable crewmen, the ride turned into a real treat. They truly shared with us their last day.
    "As the week progressed, we became increasingly aware that Lillooet was 'where the action was.' Each time we passed through town, we somehow wound up visiting with Gladys, and by Thursday we began to feel the impact of the upcoming events we would witness on that last day.
    "Thursday became the focal point of the entire experience, and when the last run pulled away both C.J. and I had tears in our eyes. We spent about 30 minutes with Gladys after the train left, and as we drove away over the remote stretch of highway between Lillooet and Mount Currie, I certainly felt the rush of emotion Lloyd (Gladys' husband) expresses in the film.
    "The third phase of the project would have been nearly impossible without the help we got from Gladys and numerous other folks, both along the line and at BC Rail. BC Rail was incredibly gracious, allowing us to ride freight trains to get additional footage along the line, and Vice President Alan Dever granted us the interview that appears in the film. There's not room here to thank them all, but most appear in the credits at the end of the film.
    "We spent 10 days, from June 3rd to 12th, 2003, shooting what we needed to complete the story. We interviewed people from Vancouver to Lillooet with a nonstop schedule that felt frantic continually. Words cannot express how impressed we were with the hospitality and enthusiasm of all concerned. Luella Harris, Brad Cunningham, Les Wilson and Lloyd and Gladys all opened their homes to us. Anne Venema at Via Rail Canada connected us with the Esquimalt & Nanaimo (on Vancouver Island), where Deborah Craw arranged for us to ride their Budd cars with Engineer Carl Boychuk and Conductor Nick Morris. The proprietor of the restaurant in Seton Portage closed the cash register drawer while I still had my money in hand. He exclaimed 'I've never bought breakfast for a film crew before.' Although technically 'foreigners,' we sure felt at home with all the folks in BC.
    "One of our favorite days of the whole experience was the day we spent with the Seton Lake Indian Band. William Alexander and his daughter, Angel, invited us to the opening of one of their historic structures far into the wilderness on a remote mountainside, where remains of similar structures indicate the presence in the distant past of their indigenous relatives. The afternoon and evening we spent there was a gift of rare impact, and a hike through the forest with one of their Elders was an unbelievably moving experience. The interviews up on the mountain with Rod Louie and Gilbert Schiel were an impromptu addition to the more than 40 hours we shot on the third phase.
    "The final phase was post production, with editing primarily handled by C.J. while I produced the music necessary for the film. The musicians involved reacted constantly to my prodding. Eric (my nephew) and Ian Scott produced the bulk of what we needed, and I grabbed a couple tunes from a previous project with my brother, Jay (a professional guitar player in Kansas City). For that 'backwoods' feel I felt we needed in several segments, I turned to Scott Klamm, a state champion dulcimer player, and for piano called on Cheryl Anne Umthun to perform the classics."