BC Rail Retiring the Electrics that ran on Tumbler Ridge Line

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Hello,

I just recently saw a picture of all the electric loco’s that BC Rail owns that used to run on the tumbler ridge line. They were all down in Washington ready to be sold (most likely for scrap).

Does anyone know what loco’s are replacing these ones? What’s running up there right now?
Is the tumbler ridge line still in service?

Here’s the Picture of them in a yard down in Washington, looking pretty beat up.

2

Whatever CN (?)diesels are available.

Tumbler Ridge is quiet now, but there are plenty of reserves left. Highly unlikely that the catenary will ever be energized again…

3

Whatever traffic is left on the Tumbler Ridge Sub(very little, IIRC) is handled by diesels now.

4

Yes, Thumbler Ridge is quiet. The coal industry is closed, the city is nearly empty. No coal, no trains. Thats all. Very sad. I hope the GF6C´s will be sold and not scrapped, they are very nice.

Micha

5

That’s too bad to hear, I also (after much looking) found an article on the BC Rail website confirming all above.

I remember when that Tumbler ridge line opened it was supposed to be the next thing. They made the lines out to the mines (early '80s) electric because it was forcast that coal prices were going to be skyrocketing, which also explains the reason for the new coal mines. The electrics were supposed to be the new best thing…

Unfortunately coal prices never took off, and apparently the electrics were often more a pain than a cost saver.

Oh well, I suppose it’s all just a piece of history now.

6

I also hope that they can be utilized somewhere else in the world.[:(]

7

Anyone have an update or know what these loco’s have been up too in the past 10 days or so?

8

They will be scrapped in Tacoma I’ve heard

DOGGY

9

Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of.

Apparently they were going to go up for auction, but I suppose whoever bought them will just scrap them…

To bad, on the one hand they are really a nice piece of history, but it’s not like you can run them anywhere…

To bad at least one of them couldn’t be saved for a museum somewhere…

All comes down to $$$$ I suppose.