Will driving up to Vanderhoof today, I noticed a north bound train (south of Quesnel), 3 locos (all BC Rail red, white and blue [8D] ) and only 30 cars. A sign of changes on the BC Rail line?
Got a few photos, will post when I get the film developed.
It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again…
The rest of those cars probably didn’t meet CN’s concept of “profitable”. So that traffic had to go! They weren’t making any money on it!
Now, you’re down to 30 cars, 3 engines. Hmmm, some of those cars aren’t all that “profitable” now that those previously unprofitable cars aren’t being hauled anymore. Guess they’ll have to go too!
So, the train will be down to 8 cars with one engine. Geez, it’s just too expensive to run trains on this line. We should abandon it… [V][:(!][B)][tdn]
A classical move to set up abandonment,> destroy the service level potential,> cut back on maintenance [as it is not justified by car count or line revenue], ergo, Traffic is down, costs too much to maintain, plant deteriorated to the point of viability, therefore it must be abandoned as of no further use. Works every time. Exactly the way GM and National City Lines killed Interurban Trolley transportation in this country. [xx(][xx(][:(]
Most of the traffic goes on the BC North Line to Vancouver via Jasper now. Mostly locals and a few trains between Vancouver and Prince George. Those trains that do run on the old BCR have a lot of pick ups and set outs along the way. CN’s reasoning for sending the traffic over the BC North, although the BCR is shorter, they have killer grades, they save on fuel by sending trains the long way. It’s the same reasoning that CPR used in the 1960’s when they rerouted all the through traffic from the Kootenays over the Windermere Sub to the main at Golden instead of over the Kettle Valley Railway; less power needed for longer trains, and save on fuel costs.
I wouldn’t expect the BCR to be abandoned any time soon. There is still quite a lot of traffic on the north end and still a fair amount of traffic on the south end.