I haven’t been to the Lower Mainland in 10 years, so I was wondering if Canadian National & Canadian Pacific were still servicing Richmond to any degree? I think Canadian Pacific serviced just off # 1 Road down to Steveston & Canadian National had two lines, one by # 5 Road & another at the east end of Richmond. Just curious to get an update. [^]
Forgot to ask, what industries are or used to be serviced along these lines? [:I]
The Railway Atlas says yes. Blow this up and have a look around. I don’t know how up to date it is.
http://www.proximityissues.ca/Maps/RAC-2004-Vancouver.pdf
It looks like an auto terminal at Fraser Docks
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.129204,-123.070114&spn=0.003642,0.009173&t=k&hl=en
and perhaps a cement plant at Lafarge.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=49.157938,-123.006835&spn=0.007279,0.018346&t=k&hl=en
Here are the rest of them-
http://www.proximityissues.ca/english/maps1.cfm
Thanks naniamo73 for posting the maps. I throughly enjoyed looking at all of them & they are something I can pass along to other rail fans.
The CPR still switches in North Richmond.
Head for the New River Rock Casino in Richmond, the lines around there are all CP.
They don’t do nearly as much work around there as they did in previous years, but there is still a small yard at the south end of Ontario Street in Vancouver.
The trains are made up in the Ontario street yard, and from there they go east and west (into Richmond) to serve the few industries that still ship by rail in the area.
There is a single crew that works this job and they have two SW1200s that are always facing nose to nose. The yard does not work on Friday or Staurday, and starts work Sunday - Thursday in the late afternoon, it is usually in the late evening before the yard crosses over the Marpole Bridge (directly beside the Oak Street Bridge) into Richmond to do their switching.
If you get the chance to go and explore, it’s a pretty cool place to see, it looks as though it’s abandonded, and there are literally hundreds of customer spurs that are no longer in use. The rails are rusty, and overgrown with weeds, but believe it or not, they still have a few customers in South Vancouver and over the bridge in Richmond.
It’s truly a throw-back to the old days of railroading (lots of boxcars) and it’s one of my favourite spots to visit in the summer evenings.