Occasional Canadian photos, mostly from Vancouver area

[daveyb]

On 24/08/2020 at 18:38, pH said:

 

This is the first SD70ACU I've seen. They are a group of locos rebuilt from Canadian Pacific SD9043MACs, which were almost complete failures and had been stored out of use for some time. They're still arriving from the rebuilders, Progress Rail in the US.  

 

I think there a restriction on them going west over the Rockies at the moment. A trainmaster at Lethbridge told me he is not allowed to put them on westbound traffic, only north or eastbound. 

 

I saw a very clean one leading a very strange consist northbound at Red Deer AB today. It was leading two GEs, a SD60 in SOO white and three GPs in various CP reds and a fairly short mixed train of mostly hoppers but a few find. I'm guessing it was a stock move from works various.

[pH]

18 minutes ago, daveyb said:

I think there a restriction on them going west over the Rockies at the moment. A trainmaster at Lethbridge told me he is not allowed to put them on westbound traffic, only north or eastbound. 

They are definitely coming over the mountains on the mainline - there are several pictures of them at Port Coquitlam yards. From Lethbridge, they would be going westbound over Crowsnest Pass. Perhaps they don’t want to risk them being put on runthroughs into the US in the Lethbridge/Hinkle pool with UP and maybe not coming back for a while.

[pH]

CP grain train from Port Coquitlam yards to downtown Vancouver with two SD30C-ECoS at Barnet .

 

 

[DavidLong]

Photos such as this remind me of why I love BC. We should have been back on Vancouver Island this month but a certain virus has knocked that on the head and now we have to wait until next May. Nine hours on Air Transat from Manchester to Vancouver is just about bearable when I know what is at the other end.

 

David

[dibber25]

On 02/09/2020 at 09:11, DavidLong said:

Photos such as this remind me of why I love BC. We should have been back on Vancouver Island this month but a certain virus has knocked that on the head and now we have to wait until next May. Nine hours on Air Transat from Manchester to Vancouver is just about bearable when I know what is at the other end.

 

David

I, too, would have been on Vancouver Island this summer but for the virus. Sadly, railway-wise it isn't what it was. I first went in 1976 when the Dayliner was still run by CP Rail and in hockey-mask livery. Since then, the Port Sub has gone ( and with it the English China Clays freight cars) the Dayliner itself succumbed in 2011, and I had to go west to Port Alberni (to ride the 2-8-2T up to the mill) and north to see the logging trains at Woss Camp. The logging railway closed after an appalling accident in which several staff were killed, and I believe even the Alberni Pacific has folded due to lack of people to overhaul its locomotives. Even the local freight around Nanaimo has now been suspended because the bridges are unsafe. Last time I was on the Island (2018) I walked the remaining bit of railway from Victoria out to the roundhouse (even that is threatened with demolition and is now surrounded by new condos). I still have relatives on the island but my sister, who used to accommodate me) has passed away and I'm not sure I could occupy my time out there with so little railway interest now. These days I fly to Toronto or Halifax (I did New York once) and make my way across in either shorter flights or by train. Have used Air Transat - it was marginally better than Thomas Cook but these days I use scheduled airlines. Here are a couple of old shots to enjoy - the Dayliner was at the foot of my sister's garden, near Shawinigan Lake. The GP9 was one of a pair waiting at Port Alberni to take out the return 'Port turn' to Nanaimo. The other one was in CP Rail action red. One thing that has improved is that the station at Port Alberni has been rebuilt in original style. In this picture it had been reduced to a single storey 'box' and is hidden by the loco. The Dayliner was my first Canadian train photo - both were taken in 1976. (CJL)

[DavidLong]

Thanks for the photos, Chris. A shame that I missed the E & N when it was still active, I would love to have bumbled north on the railcar. What a treat that it ran behind your late sister's garden!

The Alberni Pacific hasn't run this year, apparently due to 'budget and equipment concerns' but their Facebook page does show that there is activity going on for maintenance. I was in Port Alberni on 21st May 2018, the day of my 57th birthday, but sadly it was not an operating day. Here's a photo that I took of the depot at Port Alberni:

 

 

David

[dibber25]

Good to see the Shay is out on show. It was locked away when I was there. I believe it needs a new boiler if it is ever to run again. Have you seen the logging equipment at Ladysmith? Sadly the town didn't care for its logging past, so much of what was here was destroyed in order to widen the highway, so that cars and trucks can race through the town quicker. Nevertheless, the E&N station was still there in 2018 (derelict) and these various items were just outside the maritime museum, below the highway. The yellow machine is the unique Humdurgin. The chassis of a Shay, driven by a diesel engine, it would move along a rake of logging wagons using the massive wooden frame as a lever to push the logs off the cars and into the water. Some of the equipment, including a boxcar and a Jordan spreader were gradually being engulfed by undergrowth. The Southern Railway of Vancouver Island GP9s were switching Top Shelf Feeds at Duncan, traffic that was lost because no one bothered to paint or maintain the bridges on the E&N. Finally, there's Budd RDC 6148 among the broom at the Malahat summit. Last time I sat in this car (with Jason Shron from Rapido Trains), it was stored in the Toronto Maintenance yard. It may well still be there. (CJL)

[DavidLong]

Chris mentioned in an earlier post that he had walked out from Victoria to the E & N yard at Victoria West and I did the same in May 2019. The bridge across the harbour which took the track into the city has now been replaced:

 

The closest that the track now gets to the new bridge is a few hundred yards west at this bridge across Harbour Road:

 

The track is complete from there onwards to the yard. This is a view looking west about half way between the above bridge and the yard:

 

On entering the yard the main structure on view is the roundhouse:

 

And some views of the yard itself. Firstly a view looking west across the turntable:

 

Then looking east towards the city and those brooding condos. The exit towards the city is to the right between the pile of shale and the blue sign:

 

Finally another view looking west:

 

The poor old Esquimalt & Nanaimo seems to be, from what I have read,  a bit of a football that is kicked around between those who would like the line to be revived and those who would like it to be converted into a walking/cycling route. I suspect that there is a bigger element that is casting eyes on this incongruous scene and seeing it covered in yet more condos with the profits from the sale of the yard going towards the walking/cycling route. To British eyes the scene brings to mind such sights from the 1960s/early '70s when closed stations and yards were often left to rot for a few years until the scrappers moved in, followed by the builders of another 'Beeching Close', 'Stephenson Way' or 'Old Station Close'! 

 

David

 

 

[Mike_Walker]

All this coverage of Vancouver Island has made me nostalgic and sent me delving into my own collection.

First, back on 15 September 1979 we find CP Rail Budd RDC1s 9064 and 9067 at the Victoria terminal which at that time was near the roundhouse.

 

 

Here's the Johnson Street drawbridges - there were two side by side, one for rail which looked better maintained back then, and one for road. Downtown Victoria is the other side. At this time trains only ventured across very occasionally to serve some industries but during the 1980s the passenger service was extended to a new station just beyond the bridge.

 

 

 A general view of the Victoria roundhouse after the RDCs had gone "on shed" later the same day. Plenty of modelling inspiration here!

 

 

A closer view of the roundhouse and its turntable. The three passenger cars are part of the BC Museum's exhibition train which was visiting the island, The motive power visible comprises a pair of GP9s and 6621, a MLW S11.

 

 

One of the Geeps, immaculate 8822, was moved out of the roundhouse and posed on the turntable for the British visitors by resident CP mechanic and railfan Ken Perry.

 

 

At that time there were at least four Geeps on the island and next day 8487 and 8499 are seen arriving at Victoria with the freight from "up north".

 

 

8499 and 8487 running round their train before heading to the roundhouse.

 

 

Ken Perry refills the sand boxes on 8487 from the classic sand tower.

Edited April 9, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[Mike_Walker]

Here are some more including some shots from the front of the RDCs on 19 September 1979.

 

 

RDC 9064 restarts after making a special stop at the Hayward Road crossing north of Duncan to let off two visiting British railfans visiting the logging museum. We had intended alighting at Duncan but when the crew found out they told us it was a long walk so offered to stop at the closest point and pick us up on the way back! Personal service.

 

 

The Arbutus Canyon bridge at mp 14.9, 425' long, 220' high.

 

 

About to enter the only tunnel on the island at mp 15.6 near Malahat. It was only 145' long so the engineer delighted in crawling through so that passengers thought it was longer than it really was!

 

 

E&N last spike cairn at Cliffside BC mp 25. Driven by Sir John A MacDonald on 13 August1886. Not as impressive or well cared for as the one at Craigellachie but still worthy of note.

 

 

Quite a crowd awaits the Dayliner at the Cowichan flag stop. Those were the days.

 

 

South of Duncan the former CN line on the island, closed many years previously, crossed the E&N on this trestle.

 

 

For many years CP loaded traffic to/from the island at the Waterfront Yard in Vancouver. Here cars are being loaded (or unloaded - I can't remember which) onto the 'Carrier Princess' on 13 October 1981 although I think this might have been heading for Alaska - perhaps someone could confirm.

 

 

Fast forward to 2 June 1986 and we find SW8 6701 sitting outside the Victoria roundhouse. By then things were very obviously in decline compared to seven years earlier.

 

 

 Mention has been made of the logging operation at Woss Camp. After a long drive the length of the island I was informed nothing was operating that day (3 June 1986)  so I had to make do with this dynamic-brake equipped SW1200 sitting in the yard.

 

 

Finally an E&N locomotive! As one last throw of the dice, CP set up a separate business unit to operate the island reviving the Esquimalt & Nanaimo name. GP38 3004, and possibly one other - I can't remember, was painted in this attractive livery but is seen here in Coquitlam yard on 10 July 2002. I'm not sure if this was on its way to the island or after returning following the spinning off of the E&N. The slight weathering would suggest the latter.

 

Late news! I've just found a pic in my collection of 3005 taken at Mission City a couple days earlier also in E&N green but with the yellow overpainted in a lighter green and contemporary CP lettering applied. So there were at least two and it was after the CP E&N operation ended.

 

Ah, memories!

 

Mike

 

 

Edited April 9, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[dibber25]

Wow, Mike! What an awesome set of pictures that bring back many fond memories - and all of it gone now. I can see I'll have to do some more scanning! I corresponded with Ken Perry - mostly IIRC about the British Columbia Railway which was my obsession from the moment I first saw it (from the Royal Hudson trip to Squamish). I have some of his very fine photos. There is, of course, the Rail America period to cover and the Pacific Wilderness train - two more half-hearted and ultimately (defeated by the Victoria nimbys) unsuccessful attempts to make money out of the E&N. (CJL)

 

[dibber25]

I'll stick with Vancouver Island first and start in 1976 with the late Mrs. Leigh flagging the Dayliner at Shawnigan Lake. In the absence of a white flag (which used to be provided at flagstops) Diane asked me how we should stop the train. "Treat it like a request stop for a bus at home," I said, "just stick your arm out." That's what she did. It was the southbound train, so we had to get picked up by car from Victoria as there was no return trip till next day. The train would operate for another 35 years before that track was finally condemned as unfit for passenger trains.

Edited September 5, 2020 by dibber25

[pH]

There were only 2 GP38s painted in the E&N Railfreight colour scheme; 3004 and 3005 as Mike Walker says. Here’s a selection of pictures of them in those colours:

 

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/photos/shortline/EN.htm

 

3005 has had an interesting career. Here’s what it looks like now:

 

http://cprdieselroster.com/Roster Archive/CP 3000/CP 403012-1.jpg

 

 

[Jim49]

Reading David Long's post I thought the photos were familiar. My wife and I were also in Victoria in May 2019 and we walked over the new bridge to allow me a scratch around the undergrowth to search out traces of the railway. Here a a few shots to illustrate:-

 

First is a photo of the new bridge with its mouth open to allow passage of a barge and its attendant tugs.

 

Next is the view from the girder bridge shown in David's second shot, looking to where he must have been standing to take his photo.

 

Then is the point where the single track becomes double.

 

Just beyond the curve was an access crossing into a building site and standing there was a solitary CP van in good external condition. A gate guardian for the site?

 

We didn't go any further along the track (the trouble with having my wife accompany me on these trips) so I am kicking myself as it seems that the engine shed was only a small distance away.

 

Jim

[dibber25]

Yes, that boxcar has become a rather 'elevated' gate guardian.

Edited later: In fact, I was last in Victoria in 2018, so this must have been taken BEFORE Jim49's view, so I guess the boxcar has been removed from it's elevated location.?

Edited September 5, 2020 by dibber25

[dibber25]

In Rail America days two RA GP38-2s and a Railink-liveried GP20 take the 'Port turn' over the trestles behind Cameron Lake. Included in the train were tank cars in English China Clays livery, destined for the paper mill at Port Alberni. (CJL)

Edited September 5, 2020 by dibber25

[dibber25]

It was fascinating to 'discover' English China Clays vehicles in the paper mill yard at Port Alberni - presumably slurry that's come all the way from Cornwall. China Clay is used to produce the glossy coating on top quality 'art' papers. (CJL)

[dibber25]

The original Port Alberni station and the modern replica, betrayed only by its lack of chimneys. (CJL)

[mullie]

Just found this thread, don't know much at all about Canadian railways so I have started working through from the beginning as well as reading the latest updates. Fascinating stuff.

 

Martyn

[peach james]

Hey, there is a loco to be delivered to the roundhouse- I'm not sure if it is there or still in Nanaimo.  Jim Sturgis is involved, and it is basically a static advert for Bayview, who are the developers of the condos on the land.  

We went to the North Island, but given the relative isolation of the communities, didn't stick our noses into Woss, but my understanding from Railfan.net is that the track has been removed from the Canfor logging railway, bringing to an end logging railways in North America.  I'd guess that the $$$ is as much a driver of the closure as the deaths of the MOW crew, as this way MOSAIC (the new name...) can download the costs of maintaining the ROW to the taxpayer, in the form of the roads for logging trucks...just like highway 4 into Port Alberni has suffered from the loss of the Port Sub.

I understand that SRVI is still operating to the propane dealer in Nanaimo, again, based on what is on Railfan.net, but because the track is restricted to 10 mph from Nan-Duncan, Top Shelf was too far for a 1 day return.  

I've been working on dirt for my own 7.x gauge railway, so there will be another on the southern island, but not for a little while yet.  I'm still to decide if it will be 7.5 or 7.25, 5 or 4.75, and 3.5, with the chance of 2.5" depending on the other relationships.  I am awaiting measurements from my dad of a 14xx that he has in 7.25, to see how narrow across the tyres it is, as it then will determine what gauges I get.  I've got the Darjeeling D class about 1/2 done in 5" (not by me !) , and a pair of 3.5" locos (also not built by me) , with the intent of riding on the 7.x.  The intent is to drag the D class into work, and get on with it over this heating season.  Last year I made trees for Long Marton at work.

James

[Mike_Walker]

Like Chris, The British Columbia Railway was another passion which I visited frequently. To start here are a couple of visitors to the line.

 

 

MPEX 9902 was a rare MK5000C built by Morrison Knudsen with a 5000hp Caterpillar engine as an attempt to break the dominance of EMD and GE in the North American locomotive market. It is seen at North Vancouver on 30 April 1998 whilst being evaluated by BC Rail. No orders were forthcoming either here or anywhere else and the prototypes were sold to the Utah Railway.

 

 

The last thing you'd expect to find in BC Rail's North Vancouver yard! BR Pacer 142049 was sent to Western Canada at the time of Expo '86 and was actually used on a brief demonstration passenger service on the Southern Railway of British Columbia, the former British Columbia Electric, in the lower Fraser Valley. 6 June 1986.

 

Mike

Edited April 10, 2022 by Mike_Walker

[DavidLong]

10 hours ago, dibber25 said:

Yes, that boxcar has become a rather 'elevated' gate guardian.

Edited later: In fact, I was last in Victoria in 2018, so this must have been taken BEFORE Jim49's view, so I guess the boxcar has been removed from it's elevated location.?

 

At some point between 2018 and 2019 it must have been moved as I photographed it in exactly the same place as Jim found it.

 

Arriving just-too-late, as I obviously have in the case of rail action on the Island, always takes me back to August 1967. Our holiday to the south meant that it was two weeks after the end of Southern steam and I had to make do with all the 'dead' locos that were stored in Salisbury shed. Just to compound the situation, Boots lost the films that I took in for processing after the holiday! The first 'live' Southern Pacific that I saw was at the Bluebell around a decade later.

 

I am enjoying these photos of how it used to be on Vancouver Island and they are all much appreciated.

 

David

[dibber25]

Victoria is very earthquake conscious. It sits on the so-called 'ring of fire' and is overdue the 'once in a hundred years' earthquake event - hence all the new earthquake-resistant construction - and the excuse to get rid of anything they don't like - such as the old Johnson Street (bascule) bridge. Maybe someone realised that a boxcar stuck up in the air on a plinth wasn't a great idea. Some of the other equipment - such as that green baggage car - remains in the same position it was when I was there. I think this equipment was moved down from a preservation group at Parksville while the E&N was still just about usable. It is probably now trapped in Victoria. They have the Island Corridor Foundation which is responsible for the preservation of the right-of-way but that doesn't necessarily mean keeping it as a railway. The ICF seems little more than a talking shop and a means for one or two peripheral politicians to be on a nice little earner.

Here's a couple more pictures from 2018. Fascinating that Cowichan station (not used since 2011) looks in better condition now, than it did when it was in use!

[dibber25]

The Pacific Wilderness approaches the Johnson Street bridge in Victoria. It was a tourist train which operated for just a couple of summers, from Victoria to the Malahat summit. It was American-owned, used chop-nosed GP9s and some lovely vintage passenger cars. On board, they served the most impressive sandwiches I'd ever seen. There were  'issues' however:

There is, and was, absolutely NOTHING to interest or occupy tourists near the railway at the Malahat. ( as a railfan, the 'Vic Turn' freight did cross us there but photography was impossible)

The train staff were not 'railfan friendly'.

The Vic-West residents complained about use of the horn at grade crossings (there are several grade crossings and use of the horn is mandatory)

The per-axle-mile track access charge made it near impossible to make a profit (particularly, I guess, with 12-wheel passenger cars). 

PW staff reputedly cut down some trees in one of the provincial parks to improve visibility ( to help engineers watching for trespassers on the line at the Niagara Canyon trestle). Canada has quite a few trees  - ALL of them are protected.

A once a day return trip to Chemainus with a couple of hours stopover  would have been a better bet. It could have commanded a higher price and the little town with its murals is a tourist attraction in its own right. Equally, VIA could have done this with a slightly retimed Dayliner had the track not been in such bad condition that speed restrictions were making it difficult for the Dayliner to cover its out-and-back Victoria-Courtenay run before the crew ran out of hours. (CJL)

[Mike_Walker]

1 hour ago, dibber25 said:

Victoria is very earthquake conscious. It sits on the so-called 'ring of fire' and is overdue the 'once in a hundred years' earthquake event - hence all the new earthquake-resistant construction - and the excuse to get rid of anything they don't like - such as the old Johnson Street (bascule) bridge. Maybe someone realised that a boxcar stuck up in the air on a plinth wasn't a great idea. Some of the other equipment - such as that green baggage car - remains in the same position it was when I was there. I think this equipment was moved down from a preservation group at Parksville while the E&N was still just about usable. It is probably now trapped in Victoria. They have the Island Corridor Foundation which is responsible for the preservation of the right-of-way but that doesn't necessarily mean keeping it as a railway. The ICF seems little more than a talking shop and a means for one or two peripheral politicians to be on a nice little earner.

Here's a couple more pictures from 2018. Fascinating that Cowichan station (not used since 2011) looks in better condition now, than it did when it was in use!

Interesting that Cowichan appears to have acquired a couple of windows. Perhaps it's a replacement building?