The E&N is gettting back a customer it lost to trucks years ago. A Poleyard, a company called BC Pole, just south of Courtenay will be shipping at least 5 loads off the island per week. They used to ship by rail in the 1980’s and early 90’s until CP chased them to trucks. No word on when they start shipping but the cars are sitting in Wellcox and the spur is still under construction.
Hopefully they will get back some Budd Railcars to haul the logging cars eh???
I know that the Island Corridor Foundation is trying very hard, and still talking to the local media (last week’s edition of the rags) that they want to get traffic going in the Cowichan corridor once again (don’t know what it woud be), and most especially out to Port Alberni from Nanaimo/Parksville. They also said they are working hard to provide the service of passenger routing both ways in the same day between Victoria and Courtenay. In other words, and RDC leaves each place and returns. That would be a great improvement, but I can’t see how it would be anything except an fiscal disaster…not with the ridership the valley can generate…just my uneducated opinion.
In any event, this is good news since a railfan can watch something other than RDC’s ( I am sensitive to the fact that some fans can only hope to see such a thing…but we live where we live.)
LOL, could you picture RDC’s hauling poles?