40 years of North American photography

[Johann Marsbar]

We move on to August 1987 now. 

 

I decided that I needed to see a bit more of the Country than the immediate surroundings of Denver so the logical thing was to get an Amtrak Railrover ticket and I duly worked out a plan for a holiday, starting & finishing in Denver that would do a trip over to the east coast for a few days before returning to Denver, and, following a short "recovery period" I would head off for a circular tour to the west coast.  All fine in theory, and the whole trip was arranged through the local branch of an Internationally known travel firm (since deceased.....).  They failed miserably in the provision of information/bookings which you would have thought that they might have given,  particularly when I had had never done such a trip to the US before, and the "figure of 8" tour actually just ended up as an extended run to the east coast, much to my annoyance, as the western trains were all fully booked when I got to the USA.  

They never got my business again!

 

Another Gatwick departure - this time with Continental to Newark for a much delayed onward connection to Denver saw me arriving there in the early hours of the following day when the temperature was still in the high 80's F !

 

A couple of days in Denver beforehand produced this rather different bus on the 16th Streel Mall....a former Southern Vectis Bristol!

 

 

and during an extended sojurn at Denver Union trying to rehash my trip with a very helpful Amtrak agent, I did at least see this depart...

 

 

 

The following day we did a trip by car out to Central City, an "Old West" tourist magnet town if ever I saw one, but was rather surprised to discover a C&S steam loco operating on a short length of line there.....

 

 

I don't think that operation lasted too long, but there has been talk of reinstating something similar there in recent years, though whether it will ever happen is another matter.

 

On the way back from Central City, we called in at a place called "Heritage Square" in Golden, another place that is long defunct, and apart from being greeted by this on arrival.....

 

 

...I discovered a 2' gauge railway in operation around the perimeter of the site.  Principal motive power seemed to be ex German 600mm gauge 0-4-0T locos, at least one of which had been "Americanised", though they did have a selection of other motive power on display, including a Shay.  The passenger car behind the Plymouth diesel originated from one of the Maine two-footers.....

 

 

 

 

The 2' gauge line closed in the 1990's and the stock has since been dispersed across the USA.

 

Late the following day, I was taken to Denver Union for the evening departure of the service to Chicago at the start of my journey to Boston - and what a trip that turned out to be.....

[Johann Marsbar]

The eastbound California Zephyr duly turned up in Denver running a couple of hours late and my impression of passenger rail travel in the USA was progressively diminished by the following.....

a)  Train hits road vehicle within the station area at Denver Union (!)

b)  Both locos on the train seemingly give up the ghost in the vicinity of Red Oak, Iowa and we had to be rescued by BN power, which must have dragged us to Chicago

c)  Swing bridge at Burlington fails   (so its not just Reedham and Somerleyton that have problems...)

...the net result being that we arrive in Chicago around 8.5 hours late (around 01.00 from memory), some 6 or so hours after the departure of my connection on the LSL to Boston !

 

We did get a delivery of food parcels somewhere around Burlington, and Amtrak had to arrange overnight accomodation in Chicago for everyone who missed their connections, along with Taxi vouchers and food vouchers.   Thankfully the hotel wasn't that far away (on Halsted, I think) and I didn't bother venturing out until around 11.00 the next day.

 

I just restricted my activities to wandering round the Loop area and down to the lakefront as I had no idea at that stage what there was to see - having done zero preparation for such an eventuallity. 

First port of call was Randolph Street (as it was then) to look at the electric services there and I was able to see both the South Shore and the IC Highliner electric units.

 

 

 

I was surprised to see a double deck rake with an F40 there, which can be made out beyond the South Shore units. It seemed to be the only one there and must have been for peak hour operation on one of the electric lines.

 

CTA were still  using a number of classic GM "Fishbowls" at that time...

 

 

Later on, I did indulge in a City tour on a rather ropey looking ex LT DMS converted to open-top form and eventually found my way round to the trackage north of Union Station.....

 

 

 

 

...and then visited North Western station, which has now been rebuilt as a "Transportation Centre", and, at that stage, still had semaphore signalling in use.

 

 

 

The Illinois Railway Museum have just acquired for preservation the next in the number series (#515) to the ex C&NW E8 shown in my photo above .

 

From there it was a short walk to Union Station and boarding the Lake Shore Limited for my overnight trip to Boston.

[Johann Marsbar]

The Lake Shore Limited preformed somewhat better than the CZ and arrived in Boston more or less on time. I do recall that there was some rather "lively"running in the early hours when it seemed as though we were likely to end up off the tracks !

 

A few photos were taken through the coach window en-route, including this Conrail B23-7 which was passed near Framingham, MA...

 

 

On my original "figure of 8" trip , I had only allowed 3 nights in the Boston area, but had managed to extend that to 7 on the revised plans, though I lost one of those through the unplanned night in Chicago.  This worked out rather well, as I found that Boston and the surrounding area had a lot to offer and have since been back there several times.

 

The first two nights were spent out at Haverhill, a 50 minute or so run out on the MBTA rail service from North Station. This was my original hotel booking which had been described as being "Downtown Haverhill" - which actually turned out to be a 50 minute walk from the station. At least nowadays you can pinpoint where places claim to be online......

After that, the remaining nights were spent at at Somerville, just north of Central Boston, and handy for the Orange Line Subway, so at least that involved a lot less travelling each day.

 

The first full day in the area I took a run out to Ipswich, MA, on the train (via Boston North). At that stage MBTA had a small fleet (19) of these F10 rebuilds which invariably were hauling de-motored RDC's, as seen here at Ipswich Station

 

 

Ipswich were still operating a couple of Mack fire engines from the 1950's at this stage - one open cab, the other enclosed cab...

 

 

 

The MBTA urban transport network in the Boston area is fairly diverse, so most of the time was spent travelling around on that.  I can't recall any form of day/weekly ticket being available back then and the actual fare system was fairly complex, with some trips being free in one direction and double fare in the other - some were pay as you enter, some pay as you exit !

 

Rolling stock on the Green Line subway/surface tram routes were either the problematic Boeing built cars or the new Kinki Sharyo built cars which were still in course of delivery, the latter still being in use there today. One of the Boeing cars is seen below at Commonwealth Avenue terminus, a type modelled in HO by Mehano in the past (I have got one in a display case here..)

 

 

The detached "High Speed Line" connection to the Red Line subway which runs from Ashmont to Mattapan was (and still is) exclusively operated by PCC cars, though they had obviously not received their late 1990's rebuild at that stage.   They are currently undergoing another major rebuild to extend their lives even further - not bad considering they all date from the late 1940's!

 

 

 

 

The Type 3 Streetcar (#5164) which had been converted to the lines snowplough can now be found at Seashore Trolley Museum, having been withdrawn in 2006 after racking up 99 years of service in the Boston area!

 

From Harvard Square in Cambridge a small network of 4 trolleybus routes were in operation, all worked by there 1970's built Flyer vehicles. The odd "offside" door is for loading from the underground platforms at Harvard Square - this being one of the "pay as you exit" routes.

 

 

Now operated by Skoda trolleybuses, the system - now down to just 2 routes - is threatened with closure, possibly as early as mid-March 2022, with battery buses scheduled to take over the work.  I was hoping to do another trip to Boston in early March before the suggested closure date, but I think that is highly unlikely with current events...

[jamie92208]

Great photos and good memories there.  Keep them coming.  Very interesting to see the older stock on the Boston lines.

 

Jamie

[Johann Marsbar]

The MBTA operate 3 different Subway lines, all of which operate their own particular style of rolling stock.

 

The Red Line still had Pullman-Standard built cars from 1963 running on my 1987 visit and a set of these is seen crossing the Charles River on the Longfellow Bridge.  The destination shown of "Braintree" would become well known to me as I stayed there on most subsequent trips to Boston as you avoided the high accommodation prices that you find in Boston itself.

 

 

The Blue Line at that time was using these Hawker-Siddeley (Canada) cars dating from 1978/80. Originally a tram tunnel under the river, it was eventually converted to a subway in the mid 1920's and was extended along part of the trackbed of the former Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn narrow gauge line in the early 1950's. The latter section uses overhead current collection as opposed to third rail in the underground sections.

 

 

The Orange line was using similar H-S built cars to the Blue Line (and still is at the moment) though only the northern section was in operation in 1987 as they were still reconstructing the southern section from elevated tracks to underground or alongside the Amtrak main line from Back Bay.

 

Other sights in Boston were this ex Hants & Dorset Bristol on sightseeing services

 

 

A few of the fairly new Kinki Sharyo trams at Riverside depot, alongside a Boeing car

 

 

and the Amtrak South Station pilot which was this rebuilt Alco RS3m dating originally from the early 1950's which had been fitted with a GM engine - hence the raised area on the long hood.

 

 

With the extra days in Boston, I decided to make an attempt to visit the Branford Trolley Museum, and although though I assumed it would be open at that time of the year I had no idea of how to get there, other than the fact it was close to New Haven.

I duly used my Rover ticket to make a day trip to New Haven from Boston, travelling by the "inland" route via Worcester/Springfield/Hartford - which some trains did back then - on the outward journey, returning via the "coastal" route through New London and Providence.

On arrival at New Haven, I walked into the City centre and discovered a bus route which would take me to within a 10 minute walk of the museum, which was rather a pleasant surprise. Before the Internet era, you just hadn't got a clue what public transport was available in the US/Canada - if any - until you actually arrived somewhere.

 

They had got a couple of open cars running that day as it was very hot - A Connecticut Company car and a Brooklyn converible car with the side panels removed...

 

 

This ex Montreal car was one that was parked outside in the sunshine, though most of the exhibits were parked in the rather dark buildings that they had then.  The whole complex of storage barns has been replaced in recent years on a much higher site above sea level to protect against flooding, so I assume these are better lit than the old ones!

 

 

Whilst waiting at New Haven for my return service to Boston, this Conrail B23-7 came through on a freight, something that is less common nowadays on the former New Haven main line.

 

 

In recent years, I've acquired a GE builders plate of one of that batch of locos (#1918) - most of which have been scrapped by now.

 

Another operation I discovered in Boston, purely by chance, was a weekend service provided by the Cape Cod & Hyannis which started adjacent to the Braintree Red Line Subway terminus and ran (not surprisingly) to Hyannis.  I was able to fit in a run on this train on my last full day in Boston, as I was catching the late night Amtrak "Night Owl" service from South station.

Traction was provided by this ex New Haven GP9...

 

 

Within a couple of years, theis service had ceased and it was later found that the owners had been on a "nice little earner" from the State subsidies, of which one Arthur Daley would have certainly approved!

[Johann Marsbar]

This post will cover the remaining images from my August 1987 trip.

 

On the original plans, I was going to return direct to Chicago on the Lake Shore Limited, but was able to vary the route by catching the overnight service from Boston down to Washington DC, connecting into the Cardinal to Chicago via White Sulphur Springs and Indianapolis, which was quite a scenic route in parts. 

The route variation also allowed some time in Washington DC, where this MARC F9PH was sitting first thing in the morning at Union Station, along with this Amtrak AEM7....

 

 

 

After some time being a tourist in DC, including a brief visit to the Smithsonian aviation museum, I duly departed on the Cardinal, with a couple of grab shots through the train windows en-route.

This RF&P SW1500 switcher in Potomac Yard was the only shot I got of one of their locos....

 

 

....whilst the former catenary supports (disused since 1981) looked in remarkably good condidion compared with those on some sections of the NEC that were still in use!

Potomac Yard has now been completely re-developed with housing/offices, though the remaining rail line through there is still a good place for photos - including planes landing at Reagan National Airport.

 

At that time, the train still ran through the streets of Lafayette, IN, so that was a novel experience, and another grab shot of a couple of C&NW locos (GP7R & GP9) was made in Chicago..

 

 

From Chicago it was a straight run back to Denver overnight on the CZ, though this Rio Grande observation car was added to the consist after I alighted in Denver...

 

 

On reflection, the Amtrak rail pass had been worth it, even with the restricted routine.  Given the ease of obtaining information nowadays, there were several things I would have done in addition on the '87 trip - particularly spending some time in Philadelphia as there were a number of tram routes running there at the time that didn't last many more years. Certainly I was getting hooked on the US scene, so made an effort to seek out more information on the place after this holiday.

 

Once back in Denver, the remaining days of the holiday were spent in visiting some recognised locations, such as Golden.....

 

 

and the bridge by the BN loco depot just north of Denver Union.....

 

 

 

 

 

Those Electro Motive leased locos were quite in evdence in the Denver area at that time.

 

A visit was also made to Caboose Hobbies where I made my first purchases in quantity of US N gauge rolling stock, having decided to convert to US outline operations and dispense with my Grafar/Lima/Peco UK outline stock, though I've still got a couple of the Grafar locos even now!

 

All too soon it was time to return home, though I had a different route on the way back, flying Denver-Miami on an MD80, with an unrecorded type from there to Gatwick. That's the only time to date I have set foot in Florida!

 

It would be another 10 years before I returned to the USA for a holiday and by then the trips had definitely become more Enthusiast based.  However, I did end up heading west over the Atlantic again in 1989......

 

 

[Alcanman]

What great photos and memories. Wonderful!

[jamie92208]

That BN B unit looks interesting, what is it.  If I ever get back to Denver I'll have to try and locate that bridge.

 

Jamie

[John M Upton]

4 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

That BN B unit looks interesting, what is it.  If I ever get back to Denver I'll have to try and locate that bridge.

 

Jamie

 

It is a B30-7AB, the cabless version of the standard GE B30-7A.  A rare beast. BN were the only customer for the cabless version of the type.

[Johann Marsbar]

4 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

That BN B unit looks interesting, what is it.  If I ever get back to Denver I'll have to try and locate that bridge.

 

Jamie

 

The bridge appears to be still there on Google Earth (haven't been back to Denver since 1999) - It's Park Avenue West - though the trackage is much reduced now. The turntables at the depot are long gone.

The B unit was a GE  B30-7AB of which they had 119 delivered in 1982/83

[Mike_Walker]

It also looks like my favourite ground level observation point, an un-named and unmade road which skirted the east side of the shops is no longer there - replaced by the LRT tracks.  Denver has really changed railroad-wise in recent years.

[Johann Marsbar]

Time for a different Country now......

 

After the Amtrak Rover shambles, I started thinking about a trip to Canada, using a VIA Rail Canrailpass to get around.  I duly gave Messrs Cooks a wide berth this time and ended up planning something for July 1989 using what turned out to be a very competent local Travel Agent who i continued to use for my trips for the next 12 years until Internet booking came along and changed everything!

 

Hotels were arranged in Toronto and Vancouver, plus, more importantly, they sorted out reservations for all the rail trips before I left the UK.  Planning for the trip was made a lot easier by visiting the Canada House Tourist Office in London beforehand, where I was able to pick up lots of information leaflets on what to do/see -  something you couldn't do for the USA.

 

I duly flew with Air Canada in a 747 from LHR to Toronto in mid-July 1989 where I spent 3 full days (one of which involved a day trip to Ottawa) before departing on the train to Vancouver.

 

The first day was spent exploring the City with a TTC Day Pass, though I did go up the CN Tower that day as well.

 

GO Transit operations were mainly in the hands of these F59PH locos which were still in the course of delivery at that stage......

 

 

...and there were some Auxilliary Power Units like this former Ontario Northland FP7m (which was originally Milwaukee Road 104A) in use as Driving trailers/HEP provision

 

 

The fairly new holding sidings and dive-under route to the west of Toronto Union were recorded from up the CN Tower...

 

 

All the former rail yards in the area had been removed by that stage and there has been a lot of redevelopment round there since I took that photo!

 

VIA were still using a number of RDC's and I managed to get a shot of this 3-car train leaving Toronto with the CN Tower in the background...

 

 

I had got prior details of the TTC tram/subway operations from issues of Modern Tramway so knew what to expect.  At that stage they had started to rebuild some PCC cars ready for use on the new Harbourfront Tramway that was in course of construction in 1989. They eventually terminated the programme after rebuilding just 19 of the planned 23 cars, but I did see this rebuilt one, fairly fresh out of the shops, in use on a charter working during my first day in Toronto...

 

 

Some unrebuilt examples, this one being a Class A6 car from 1948, remained in normal service on some routes....

 

 

...supplementing the Canadian Light Rail Vehicles that had been introduced in 1979-1981 (single cars) and 1987-89 (articulated versions)

 

 

I also had a run out to sample the Scarborough Rapid Transit line, operated by Linear Motor Induction drive and which began service in 1984...

 

 

One thing I wasn't expecting to find was this Avro Lancaster on a concrete plinth down by the lakefront......

 

 

It was later removed for restoration and I came across it again at the Aviation Museum at Downsview Airport in 2007....

 

 

The Downsview museum has since closed and it's now over in British Columbia at another museum.

[Alcanman]

Great photos and nice to see the Lancaster. My dad flew in Lancasters as an air gunner with 514 Sqdn during WW2.

[F-UnitMad]

There is a strong link between the Lancaster & Canada.

A lot of Lancs were built in Canada, of course, as well as  crewed by RCAF squadrons.

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

3 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

There is a strong link between the Lancaster & Canada.

A lot of Lancs were built in Canada, of course, as well as  crewed by RCAF squadrons.

 

 

 

FM 104 was a Canadian built one - Victory Aircraft at Malton, ON.

Certainly looking a bit better nowadays....

https://skiesmag.com/news/b-c-aviation-museum-progress-lancaster-fm104/

[F-UnitMad]

Nice link! This bit I didn't know:-

430 were built in Canada, all at Victory’s Malton plant.

Only 17 complete Lancasters remain in the world, including eight in Canada. Ontario has four, Alberta has two, while British Columbia and Nova Scotia each have one.

 

Sorry for the thread drift!

[Johann Marsbar]

1 minute ago, F-UnitMad said:

 

Sorry for the thread drift!

 

I wouldn't worry about that  -  Whilst the photos on this thread are primarily going to be rail/tram related, you will find, buses, lorries, aircraft, cars, ships and even things like buildings and scenery appearing occasionally.....!!

[jamie92208]

2 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

Nice link! This bit I didn't know:-

 

 

 

Sorry for the thread drift!

Most were built at Woodford near Manchester but a lot were built at the shadow factory atcYeadon outside Leeds. They were then flown out from whatvis now Leeds Bradford airport. The factory still exists as a transport and storage unit. It's huge and apparently had fake grass and fake cows in the roof as camouflage.  To get to the airfield they used a concrete bridgevover a shallow valley that you can still see as you drive into the airport.

 

Jamie

[F-UnitMad]

Although better known for building Spitfires, the factory at Castle Bromwich near Birmingham also built Lancasters later in the War.

[Alcanman]

Dad was very proud of being involved in 'Operation Manna' at the end of the war when Lancasters dropped canisters of food for the people of Holland who had been left starving by the Germans. Here is a photo of a 514 Sqdn Lancaster flying at low altitude over Holland.

[Johann Marsbar]

The second full day consisted of a day trip to Ottawa and return with the stock composed of an F40 hauling LRC coaches.

 

Not a lot of opportunity for rail photos today, but I did get this photo of a pair of CP MLW RS-18u locos through the carriage window at Smiths Falls.....

 

 

Whilst being a tourist around the central part of Ottawa, I was surprised to see that OC Transpo were using Ikarus (produced as a joint venture with Ontario Bus Industries) articulated buses.....

 

 

...and there is no escaping from these things wherever you go....

 

 

Day three was another TTC Day Rover ticket, where I sought out some of their trolleybus routes and actually found a location where you could get photos of the Subway running above ground...

 

 

 

One of the trolleybus routes ran past Georges Trains, one of the local model shops that I discovered by chance on this trip. Think I bought some magazines and that was it, but they hadn't got any copies of the Canadian Trackside Guide left, which was what I was really after.

 

The next day I was due to head off west on The Canadian which departed around mid-day, so some time was spent wandering around the central area.

 

This photo was taken close to the Hotel I had been staying in and shows a Route 6 trolleybus heading for the Lakeshore area  (not that it shows on the blind...), passing what was then the Toronto Coach Station..  This was one of the last conversions to trolleybus workings - in the mid 1970's, and one of the last 2 routes to survive until 1993. It ended up being worked by hired-in Edmonton vehicles for its last 18 months of operation.

 

 

Down by Union Station I was able to get a photo of one of the Bombardier built LRC locos hauling an inbound service...

 

 

Lurking in the background is GO Transit #724, an ex Rock Island GP40-M-2, along with another former F7 APCU, in the holding sidings.

 

Then it was train time...(but not actually this particular one as the stock wasn't up to a Transcontinental journey!)

 

 

 

 

.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Johann Marsbar

[Johann Marsbar]

At that date The Canadian was still on its all-CP route across to Vancouver beyond Parry Sound and departed Toronto just after mid-day. Until I arrived in Canada, I was unaware that there were considerable threats to the VIA Rail network, but I think every train I travelled on saw various leaflets being handed out to passengers advising them to make their protests known to the Government. This was all to no avail, and fairly major cuts came in from the following January. Had I known about this in advance of my trip, then some of the threatened routes would have been included in my itinerary...

The train was composed of an F40, a F9B Unit and a rake of predominantly CP Budd rolling stock, though there was one former CN passenger car in VIA blue livery which broke up the consist - and was actually the one I travelled in for most of the 70 hours I was on the train!

We actually departed Toronto heading east, turning north to run up the Don Valley as far as Doncaster - all of which was a fairly slow trundle, and then turned west before finally gaining the CN line to Parry Sound. A run across to Vancouver by land certainly emphasises just how big the Country is, and the variety of landscapes passed though was ever changing, even if most of the Prarie areas turned out to be a case of "spot the grain elevator".

All the following photos below were taken at varios points along the way, mostly out of the carriage window....

 

SD40-2's seemed to be everywhere, these ones being at Ignace, Ontario...

 

 

It was interesting to pass through what was Fort William (now part of Thunder Bay) on the train, as I had a Great Aunt that emigrated there in the 1920's.  Contact was lost by the family over the years, but I did see the road they used to live on whilst passing through in The Canadian

 

Grain Elevator spotting........(the line curved round to pass them)

 

 

Calgary Yards - yet another SD40-2...

 

 

Though this GP9u, attached to an F7Bm and used for switching the Hump Yard was a lucky catch... (there were 2 F9B units retained by CP for this task - both Calgary based)

 

 

..with a departing shot of Calgary as we headed west.  Have never been back there as yet......

 

 

We did stop at Field, BC, which enabled me to get a photo of the train.....

 

 

and also a shot of this passing eastbound freight with yet more SD40-2's......

 

 

The train was very busy, particularly with Australians (!), with very little spare seating, so there was little chance of getting in the nearest dome car to my coach, unless you went early in the day, which I finally managed to do on the morning on the last day.....

 

 

and it provided a good vantage point for observing traffic on the adjacent CN line though the Fraser & Thompson River valleys....

 

 

Vancouver was reached more or less on-time and I then had a 2 night hotel stay there to recover, before returning back to Toronto on the train again....

[jamie92208]

Some good photos there and brought back memories of my 1978 and 79 visits. These three show the eastbound Canadian at Stephens with a mixed consist. I think that at that time they were a VIA train but operated by CP. These are round 10th June 1979;

All CP FP7;s I think

Two Via coaches  but a Park Dome Obs at the rear.

I hope that these are worth seeing again.

 

Jamie

Edited April 20, 2022 by jamie92208

[Johann Marsbar]

I was rather hoping for solid FP9's on The Canadian for my 2 trips, but by July 1989 they had obviously been relegated to a minor role on the Transcontinental workings.  The B unit on the westbound was follwed up by an FP9A in trailing mode on the eastbound (which will appear in 2 installments time...) and I had to wait a few more years before I managed a couple of trains solely worked by FP9's in Canada.

I still wish I had thought about going to Canada a few years earlier than I did.....

[Johann Marsbar]

With a 1040 arrival in Vancouver and a 1510 departure a few days later it gave me one full day and two half days to explore the City with the local trolleybus network being the main attraction as far as I was concerned.....

 

 

...and I actually ended up buying day passes on the local transport for all three days to get the most out of my short stay there - It may have been a 3 day pass, thinking about it.

I left a trip over to North Vancouver for the full day of the stay and concentrated on the rail activity along the waterfront area such as this SW1200RSu that was switching by the terminal for the N.Vancouver ferry.....

 

 

...as well as taking a run out to New Westminster on the then fairly new "Skytrain" service which was identical UTDC technology to the Scarborough Rapid Transit line in Toronto, the difference  being that the Vancouver system has since expanded considerably and the Toronto one-line operation is on the cards to be replaced!

 

 

I was aware of the BCR steam tourist operation from North Vancouver to Squamish, but hadn't any idea of departure times, so I headed over there on the ferry early the following morning.

 

This bus was looking a little lost as I made my way to the BCR station....

 

 

It turned out that there were two steam departures that day, one behind Royal Hudson #2860 and the other behind 2-8-0 #3716......

 

 

 

My biggest regret was not taking the trip up to Squamish that day, which I could easily have done, but I still had lots to see in Vancouver and I decided that I would concentrate on that, as I wasn't likely to be returning to Canada again for the forseeable future.

As it turned out, I was actually back there in less than 2 years, but that was too early in the year for the BCR steam runs, and they had finished for good by the next time I was in Vancouver after that...

 

Once the steam runs had departed, I then had a wander along the roads by the BCR yard and found this RS-18 in faded green livery

 

 

along with this Vancouver Wharves SW1200, dating from 1966 and originally #1279 with Texas & Pacific/MoPac

 

 

From there it was back over to Vancouver for some more exploring, including discovering one of the trolleybus depots under a threatening sky...

 

 

Vancouver is the only place in Canada using trolleybuses today, though at the time of my first visit (and second..) there were 3 other Cities using them, of which I did manage to visit two of them (and ride on vehicles from the third, but not in their home City!)