sounds like it may be back in business, B.C. Government may put in $7 mil. and Maybe the Feds may put in $7mil. The line goes from Victoria to Courtney up island, there are 40 trestles to be inspected.
Maybe (just maybe) we may see those dayliners again, lets hope, remember, the GOVERNMENT has something to do with this.
And we’re most likely heading into a provincial election this fall soooooo…the governing Liberals will likely be looking to score points up Island in opposition held ridings.
Charlie
Chilliwack, BC
BOY! OH! BOY![oops]
I can see this Thread skidding toward a big Padlock[:‘(][:’(]
****************************************************Canadians have Politicians;just like *****************Americans have Politicians!! There I said it!
As someone once wrote, to the effect of:
“We Canadians like building our railroads, and are quite willing to pay for the privilege.” [swg]
This seems to be another opportunity of like kind - though the amount of the potential funding may approach what is actually needed. [:-^]
-Paul North.
For those who are interested in the current status and future of the E&N, the following:
To illustrate specifically: The E&N line is owned by the Island Corridor Foundation, which I believe is a private group, based in Nanaimo, about halfway along the Victoria Sub, the spine of the E&N. Freight service is operated by Southern Railway (SRY) a division of the Washington Group, primarily on the north end of this sub and its spurs. SRY provides marine service to the mainland, linking with CP Rail at Tilbury on the Fraser River. Passenger service was operated by VIA rail between Victoria and Courtenay, although the Budd RDC’s used were approaching the end of their service life and have been withdrawn from service. This service ran once daily north and southbound against the commuter current of flow to Victoria.
www.th.gov.bc.ca/publications/reports_and_studies/Evaluation_ENRailway/Final_Report/Phase_1-EandN_Foundation_Report.pdf
Island Corridor Foundation (ICF, the track owner) is at www.islandrail.ca
I wonder if the schedule was set up for people who wanted to make a one-day outing. That is the use my wife and I made of it, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Of course, there are those who cannot comprehend riding a certain section of track because it is there; after we returned from our trip which included Victoria-Courtenay-Victoria, a friend of ours asked why we rode that trip, and could not comprehend riding for the sake of riding.
I think what will keep the E&N going is to get the Alberni line back in shape and promote the deep sea port for shipments off the Island, notably the coal that will be coming out of the Courtney/Campbell River area. I doubt there is enough rail shipments from/to the Mainland to warrant a re-building of the infrastructure.
As for commuter rail, I wonder about the viability of that.
Growing up on the Island it has been tough to watch the decline of the E&N but I understand why its happening.
I find it rather ironic that the last active railway on the Island may end up being what got rails started in the first place, namely logging [:-^]
Pathfinder
Interesting points you raise.
I didn’t realize that there was a push to develop coal again in the Courtenay/Campbell River area. Must be my mainlander’s myopia… I thought that interest in mining in the area died off with Cumberland closing years ago because of coal quantity and quality, the Dunsmuir’s stubbornness, the poisonous labour relations that resulted, and the methane problems underground.
I remember that CP used to run what seemed to be lots of barges (they had two in steady service from Coal Harbour Terminal to Nanaimo IIRC) but I guess that traffic began to slack off in the late 70’s early 80’s. I remember watching them from Deadman’s Island and Brockton Point when I worked at the naval reserve station. Were they gone by Expo86?
We used to go over to Long Beach to camp lots in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I recall trains running on the Alberni Spur although IIRC it was all logs for the Alberni Pulp Mill. It always looked like a challenging piece of railway…could it be economically upgraded? How good is Barclay Sound for ocean traffic? I didn’t realize that the Port would/could be a deepwater port. I just remember coastal freighters calling there.
We used also to camp at Rathtrevor Beach a lot when the kids were young. I remember trains coming through Parksville although honestly I guess they were infrequent. I always enjoyed being stopped by them just to watch them. The kids always gave me a hard time about it. It seemed there was a lot of boxcar freight although I could be remembering inaccurately…it was thirty or more years ago now.
I don’t know about the passenger end of things, although the BC government report I referenced above seems to suggest there are possibilities although with the usual subsidies…
Like you, I wonder about the economics of it all. Apparently SRY moves about 900 carloads of freight a year on the existing portion of the railway they use. The Engelwood RR is a notable exception as