JOURNAL OF THE C.R.H.A. PACIFIC COAST DIVISION
Vol. 40, No. 1, Issue 157

Spring 2015

ISSN 18188-1755

 Hope Bridge at 100

In This Issue

 Amtrak’s Vancouver revival
 Arbutus Line work advances
 Evergreen Line update

Spring 2015 - Page 1

This journal is the official publication of the
CANADIAN RAILROAD
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

PACIFIC COAST DIVISION

P.O. Box 1006, Station A, Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2P1

Table of Contents
To Our Readers

Page 3

Dates to Remember

Page 3

Division News

Page 4

Years Ago in The Sandhouse

Page 5

Hope Bridge: 100th anniversary
of a vital road and rail link

Page 6

Amtrak’s Vancouver revival
marks 20 years

Page 18

Arbutus Line follies continue
with track repairs

Page 33

Elevated guideway all done,
but tunnelling hits more snags

Page 36

Short Hauls
Canadian National
Canadian Pacific
BNSF
Rail Industry
Southern Railway of B.C.
VIA Rail
Rocky Mountaineer
West Coast Express
SkyTrain
TransLink
Port News
Preservation
Special Events
Parting Shot

Page 41
Page 41
Page 42
Page 44
Page 45
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Page 47
Page 48
Page 50
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Press Date — May 13, 2015
Front cover: CPR P1n class 2-8-2 locomotive 5256 leads a westbound freight train across Hope
Bridge in this painting by well-known railway artist Max Jacquiard. In the background is Isolillock
Peak, better known as Mount Holy Cross because late summer snow remains on the face of the mountain in the shape of a cross. In this issue Barrie Sanford writes about Hope Bridge, which is 100 years
old this year.
Back cover: The first southbound departure of Amtrak’s Mount Baker International train to Seattle
is seen departing Vancouver on May 26, 1995, restoring passenger rail service between the two cities
after a gap of almost 14 years. (Photo by Ian Smith)

Page 2 - The Sandhouse

To Our Readers
For The Sandhouse, anniversaries are an
opportunity to examine the history of various
facets of railways – lines and routes, trains and
locomotives, organizations and structures -- that
perhaps are otherwise taken for granted.

In this issue, we observe two anniversaries – one
a centennial, the other more recent.
The leading article, by historian Barrie Sanford,
is the first part of an in-depth look at a structure
that has reached its 100th birthday – the Kettle
Valley Railway bridge at Hope. Its railway days
are long past, but the bridge continues to serve
as a vital link for road traffic.
Barrie’s story is a fascinating account of the
methods, machines and materials used a century
ago to build such a key piece of infrastructure in

a challenging location.
A more recent event was the re-introduction of
passenger rail service between Seattle and
Vancouver in May 1995, after an interruption of
almost 14 years. The rebirth of passenger
service between the two largest cities in the
region known as Cascadia has been a success
story that is reported in another major article.
We also look at the work to restore CP’s
contentious Arbutus Line, and present another
update on the building of the Evergreen Line,
which one day will have anniversaries of its
own.
Ian Smith, Editor

Corrections and Clarifications
 Spring 2014 issue, page 7: The paragraph on the restoration of Royal Hudson 2860 failed to note
that much of the work was carried out by employees of Robert Swanson’s firm Railway
Appliance Research Ltd.

 Winter 2014/15 issue, page 8: The map gives an incorrect distance by highway between Dawson
Creek and Fairbanks. The correct mileage is 1,520, as stated in the text on page 6.

Dates to Remember
May 21 — PCD Meeting, Place des Arts, Coquitlam, 19:30. (Entertainment: Chris Wasney, Rocky
Mountain Circular Tour)
June 18 — PCD Meeting, Place des Arts, Coquitlam, 19:30. (Entertainment: Ian Smith, Evergreen
Line Progress, 2014-2015)
September 17 — PCD Meeting, Place des Arts, Coquitlam, 19:30. (Entertainment TBA)
Spring 2015 - Page 3

Division News
Our winter meetings continued with a gathering on February 19, with Ron Keillor presenting two
videos on Indian railway subjects – the “Monsoon” Railway and the Darjeeling Railway.
March 15 saw the Division once again participating in the annual Western Rails hobby show at the
Cameron Recreation Centre in Burnaby, with board members Ian Smith, Chris Wasney and Ron
Keillor manning the sales table.
At the March 19 membership meeting, Ian Smith presented the first part of a slide show based on his
travels to Germany last autumn. The first part focused on the busy railway scene in Frankfurt and
Berlin.
The second part of Ian’s show was the entertainment following the business of the Annual General
Meeting on April 16. This time the scene shifted to Hamburg and Lübeck. Ian rounded out the
evening with a look at the rebuilding and renovation of several major British railway stations.

At the AGM, the incumbent Board of Directors was re-elected by acclamation for the 2015/16 term,
as follows: President, Chris Wasney; Vice-President, Ron Keillor; Secretary-Treasurer, Ian Smith;
and Director-at-large, Doug Battrum. Two positions of Director-at-large remain vacant.
During the meeting, Douglas N.W. Smith of Brockville, Ont., was announced as the winner of the
2015 Norris Adams Memorial Award, as selected by a panel of judges consisting of Dave Davies,
Henry Ewert and Eric Johnson, all past recipients of the award. Doug Smith has been co-editor of
the national CRHA publication Canadian Rail for 25 years and also has his own publishing venture,
Trackside Canada. In these capacities, he has written numerous in-depth articles on B.C. railway
subjects, with an emphasis on passenger rail, and has commissioned similar contributions by other
railway historians. As Doug was unable to attend the meeting, arrangements have been made to have
the award presented to him by CRHA leaders in Montreal.
Two more membership meetings will take place before the summer break – please see Dates to
Remember on page 3.

Page 4 - The Sandhouse

YEARS AGO IN THE SANDHOUSE
35 Years Ago (April 1980 issue)
— A derailment along Seton Lake claims the life of a BCR engineer.

30 Years Ago (April 1985 issue)
— The red, white and blue livery begins to appear on BC Rail .

25 Years Ago (March 1990 issue)
— VIA operates the last runs of the Canadian on the transcontinental CPR route, departing
eastbound from Vancouver on January 14 and arriving there westbound on January 17.

20 Years Ago (March 1995 issue)
— BC Rail cuts summer passenger service to Prince George to three times per week.

15 Years Ago (March 2000 issue)
— VIA’s Canadian makes its last stop at Port Coquitlam on January 17.

10 Years Ago (Spring 2005 issue)
— VIA celebrates the Canadian’s 50th anniversary on April 24.
— Ex-CPR 2-8-0 No. 3716 makes its first run on the Kettle Valley Steam Railway on May 22.

5 Years Ago (Spring 2010 issue)
— Vancouver’s Olympic Line streetcar demonstration draws 500,000+ free riders in 60 days.
— West Coast Express daily ridership averages 17,415 during Olympic Games, up 58%.
— Olympic crowds drive SkyTrain to a single-day record of 567,000 riders on February 20.
— The new Canada Line carries a single-day record of 287,400 riders on February 19.
— British Columbia Railway personnel are transferred to the B.C. Ministry of Transportation.

Spring 2015 - Page 5

Hope Bridge: 100th anniversary
of a vital road and rail link
by Barrie Sanford
This is a year of many railway centenaries in
British Columbia, owing to the fact that 1915
was the high point of the railway construction
mania in the province.
Already the date of January 23 has passed,
marking the 100th anniversary of the driving of
the last spike on the Canadian Northern Railway
at Basque, just south of Ashcroft.
Two other major railway events of 1915 were
the driving of the last spike on the Kettle Valley
Railway at Princeton on April 23, and the official commencement of regular service on the
railway on May 31. Although both events were
given media attention at the time, the KVR was
not really complete.
A major component of the ultimate railway – the
section through Coquihalla Pass from Brodie,
southwest of Merritt, to Hope – was still under
construction in 1915 and wouldn’t be open to
regular train service until July of the following
year. The Coquihalla Line not only shortened
the KVR’s route by approximately 100 miles, it
was largely responsible for defining the railway’s identity in the years that followed.
The Kettle Valley Railway had begun life as a
private shortline near Grand Forks. By 1910,
the Canadian Pacific Railway had acquired the
KVR and commenced using the charter rights of
its new acquisition to complete a rail link between Midway, then the end-of-track on the
CPR west from the Kootenays, and Hope. CPR
civil engineer Andrew McCulloch was assigned
the position of Chief Engineer in charge of construction, and his legendary skill in building the
railway resulted in the KVR being dubbed
Page 6 - The Sandhouse

“McCulloch’s Wonder.” The adopted nickname
became the title of a book about the railway by
the author of this article.
One major challenge confronting McCulloch
was the fact that the KVR’s route down the Coquihalla Valley brought the railway to Hope, on
the south side of the Fraser River, whereas the
CPR mainline was on the north side of the river.
The KVR would either have to continue down
the south bank of the Fraser River to the CPR’s
Mission Bridge, 50 miles to the west, or build a
new bridge somewhere between Hope and Mission. The Canadian Northern Railway was already building along the south bank of the river,
so it soon became obvious that a second bridge
at or near Hope would be needed.
Hope and Yale, upstream, had been established
as minor Hudson’s Bay Company fur-trading
posts in the mid-1800s. The fur trade evaporated with the discovery of gold in the Fraser
River near Yale late in 1857, which brought
thousands of gold-seekers into the region. The
Fraser was navigable as far upstream as Yale,
and access to the region from the coast was relatively easy on board the numerous steampowered stern-wheeler riverboats operating on
the Lower Fraser.
The collapse of the gold rush in the early 1860s
reduced the number of riverboats operating on
the Lower Fraser, but almost all riverboat service above Chilliwack ended with the completion of the CPR through the Fraser Valley in the
early 1880s. This left the village of Hope isolated because it was on the opposite side of the
Fraser from the CPR.

Ferry service across the Fraser at Hope began in
the 1880s but suffered a tumultuous history.
Ferry tolls were never enough to cover the cost
of operation, so private operators were reluctant
to provide the service. Offers of subsidies for
the service came and went with the vagaries of
the political winds. Drifting ice in winter and
swift-flowing water during freshets made conditions dangerous for rowboats and even small
steam vessels.
The only permanent solution was a bridge.
In the heady days of 1910, the CPR had embarked on an ambitious plan to double-track its
entire mainline through British Columbia. Construction of double track from Vancouver to
Ruby Creek was soon underway and completed
in 1912. CPR’s plan at that time was to leave
Ruby Creek as the end of the double track until

the KVR’s Coquihalla Line was completed.
That way, trains could be diverted via HopeBrodie-Merritt-Spences Bridge while the difficult task of double-tracking through the rugged
Fraser Canyon was undertaken.
In fact, further double-tracking east of Ruby
Creek was never carried out because of the radically changed conditions brought about by
World War I and the rapid rise of automobiles
and trucks as substitutes for trains. Ruby Creek
remains the end of double track to this day.
Andrew McCulloch and his counterparts in the
CPR conducted extensive drilling tests in the
Fraser River between Ruby Creek and Hope
with the objective of finding the best location
for a bridge. Ultimately, a decision was made to
construct the bridge immediately adjacent to the
village of Hope. The fact that this location required the least construction of new trackage to

This poor quality reproduction from a magazine is one of the few known photos of the
Lady Fraser, one of several small vessels used with a barge to provide service across
the Fraser River at Hope prior to completion of Hope Bridge in 1915.
(All illustrations from the collection of Barrie Sanford)
Spring 2015 - Page 7

connect the CPR and KVR was undoubtedly a
critical factor in the decision. But the provincial
government was also interested in having a
bridge constructed at Hope, so a combined roadrail bridge was proposed.

es. Hope Bridge now carries only road traffic.
New Westminster Bridge carries only rail traffic, unless one considers the thousands of imported automobiles that cross it every year
aboard triple-deck railway cars.

The parties agreed that the KVR would build
and own the bridge and the provincial government would pay the KVR $200,000 to have the
bridge incorporate an upper deck to carry pedestrians, horse-drawn wagons and driven cattle.
Automobiles were then still scarce.

There was a long delay between the ratification
of the provincial subsidy agreement and the actual start of construction. The major cause was
the uncertainty as to the bridge’s exact location.
As of early 1912, the CPR had not decided on
details of its mainline double-tracking and line
improvements opposite Hope, so the location of
the planned junction between the KVR and CPR
could not be set.

It was estimated that the bridge would cost
$750,000 to build, and considering the rapid
inflation of that period it is unlikely the bridge
cost less than that. However, official records of
the CPR report the cost as being $564,751. Perhaps that was merely the cost to the KVR after
deducting the provincial government subsidy.
In any case, the public share was about onequarter to one-third of the total cost.
The agreement between the provincial government and the KVR was signed on January 12,
1912, and ratified by the lieutenant-governor on
February 27 (a copy can be found in British Columbia Statutes 1912, Chapter 35). A clause in
the agreement stated: “Railway will not alienate,
sell or dispose of the aided line or said bridge
unless the Railway shall first obtain the consent
thereto of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.”
The proposed bridge was soon referred to as
Hope Bridge. More recently, following a major
rehabilitation between 1993 and 1995, it has
been called the Fraser-Hope Bridge. It became
the second of only two double-deck road-rail
bridges ever constructed in B.C., the other one
being New Westminster Bridge.

Several side-by-side road-rail bridges were built
in B.C., and planking of the track deck of railway bridges for road traffic was implemented in
numerous instances. However, no other doubledeck bridges were ever constructed. Both noted
bridges survive, but not as dual-function bridgPage 8 - The Sandhouse

On the south side of the river the KVR and Canadian Northern were squabbling over a crossing of their mutual tracks within the Village of
Hope. The CNoR also wanted building of the
bridge delayed so as not to impede riverboats
delivering construction supplies between Hope
and Yale.
It was clear the CNoR was going to be first in
getting its tracks into Hope. The CPR line between the Coquihalla Valley and the planned
bridge would have to cross the CNoR, so the
bridge would have to wait until the crossing
layout was decided. The CNoR wanted the CPR
to build an overhead crossing; the CPR wanted a
less expensive level crossing. Eventually, the
railways agreed to a diamond crossing. The
CPR, being the loser in the race to get tracks
into Hope, was obliged to build and staff an interlocking tower to prevent trains from colliding.
Hope Bridge was designed to have four identical
steel through trusses, each 238 ft. long, set on
three concrete river piers and two concrete end
abutments. A foot-long expansion gap between
each truss resulted in the bridge’s official length
being 955 ft., three feet longer than the sum of
the lengths of the four spans. It was actually
somewhat longer than 955 ft., if the flanking
spans on the roadway deck are included.

Many of the bridge members were made of
laced steel channels. This was a common design
for steel bridges in those days because steel
channels linked by lacing bars required the least
amount of steel needed to produce a given
strength. However, laced channels involved an
enormous amount of labour to fabricate and
assemble, and were a nightmare to paint. Only
the low cost of labour compared with the cost of
steel in those days gave the design any virtue.
New bridges today never use this technique.
Total weight of steel in the bridge was
5,661,000 lb. As was mandated by engineering
codes in that age before the improvement of
welding techniques, all steel components of the
structure had to be fastened with rivets. About
75,000 rivets were placed, each one by a riveting crew of four men. Each rivet had to be heated to red hot, pushed into place using tongs, and
hammered smooth before it cooled. If the
cooled rivet was not tight, it had to be drilled out
and replaced.

On November 7, 1913, James J. Warren, KVR
president, announced that a contract had been
awarded that day to the Vancouver heavy contracting firm of Armstrong, Morrison & Co. Ltd.
for construction of the bridge substructure. This
same contractor had built the substructure for
New Westminster Bridge a decade earlier. The
company had built, or went on to build, the
foundations for most of the Canadian Northern
bridges in the Fraser and Thompson canyons.
At the same time Warren instructed McArthur
Brothers Construction, which held the contract
for construction of the KVR’s Coquihalla Line
between Hope and Coquihalla, to clear and
grade the two miles of route between the north
end of the bridge and the planned junction with
the CPR downstream of the bridge. McArthur
Brothers subcontracted the clearing to the
Werdenhoff-Cass Co.

A pile driver can be seen at work building the pile trestle across the Fraser River in the
early stages of construction of Hope Bridge. The view is from the Hope side of the river,
with the river flowing from right to left. The photo was taken December 21, 1913, by a
staff member of Armstrong, Morrison & Co., the bridge substructure contractor.
Spring 2015 - Page 9

There does not appear any public announcement
about the award of the contract for fabrication
and assembly of the steel superstructure. However, the contract was awarded to the Canadian
Bridge Co. in early 1914. It called for bridge
“erection”, whereas modern contracts use the
term “assembly” instead of “erection.” Readers
may form their own conclusion as to the reasons
for the change in terminology.

One of A&M’s principals, Alexander Morrison
(1852-1928), was put in charge of the substructure work. The local West Yale Review newspaper records that the other company principal,
William Henry Armstrong (1857-1922), was
frequently on site.
Assembly of the support infrastructure began
immediately on the Hope side of the river close
to the bridge site. The period of low water in
the Fraser has historically been from December
to March, so it was essential for the concrete
piers to be above the river level by the end of
March, when the river began to rise from local
run-off, and be completely done by the end of
May, when the river started rising again from
run-off in the Rockies.
The machinery infrastructure requirements included a large steam-powered compressor plant,
electrical generating plant, numerous concrete
mixers, water supply system for the mixing the
concrete, and a narrow-gauge tramway for delivering gravel to the mixers and the mixed concrete to the bridge site.
The personnel infrastructure requirements for
the 125 men engaged in the work included
bunkhouses, dining room and recreation hall. A
large warehouse was needed to protect the cement from the weather. All supplies were delivered via the CNoR, which by then was providing
limited local service.
Construction of the two concrete end abutments
was relatively straight-forward, especially on the
north shore where the abutment was on rock,
Page 10 - The Sandhouse

completely out of the water. The south shore
abutment was built with a simple cofferdam.
The real challenge was construction of the three
river piers. The Fraser is about 50 ft. deep at
this point, and below the riverbed is a layer of
gravel approximately 100 ft. in thickness before
bedrock is encountered. Such depths could only
be overcome using caissons.
Readers may remember elementary school science lessons in which the teacher placed an inverted glass into a tray or bucket of water to
demonstrate that the air pressure in the glass
kept any water from coming into the open end of
the glass. That is the basic principle of a caisson. As long as the air pressure in the caisson is
at least equal to the water pressure outside, no
water will enter the open bottom of the caisson.
Of course, at water depths much greater than the
classroom water tray, compressed air must be
used to match the pressure of the outside water.
Men and machinery enter the caisson through
airlocks and excavate the loose gravel of the
riverbed. As the excavation advances, the concrete pier is started above the caisson, the weight
of the concrete driving the caisson downward
into the riverbed. The centre of the pier remains
hollow for access to and from the caisson. Upon
reaching bedrock or satisfactory depth, the hollow is filled with concrete as the workers retreat.
The job of the “sandhogs” – as caisson workers
are called – carries with it several dangers. The
caisson could be knocked over if struck by a
major object floating down the river or it might
topple if the cutting edge around the base of the
caisson encountered a large rock on one side. In
either case, the sandhogs would be drowned
instantly. The concrete above the caisson work
area could break through, instantly crushing the
workers. These are all possible dangers faced
by sandhogs. But one certain danger is nitrogen
narcosis, more commonly called “the bends.”
Sandhogs and deepsea divers undergoing outside pressure from air or water can descend

quickly, but they can work at depth for only a
very short time, perhaps as little as 15 minutes,
and their ascent back to normal pressure must be
over several hours. Otherwise, the nitrogen taken into their bloodstream along with life-giving
oxygen can form bubbles, leading to very painful paralysis and often death. The only preventive measure is slow decompression on ascent.
Despite the danger, there was no shortage of
volunteers for the caisson work on the Hope
Bridge after it was discovered that the gravel of
the riverbed was sprinkled with gold nuggets
missed by the gold seekers of half a century
earlier.
Pile-drivers constructed a temporary trestle
across the river to hold the three caissons in position and to allow easy access to the caissons

from shore for delivery of the huge amount of
concrete needed for the piers.
On January 27, 1914, the first caisson was
launched from the south shore. The three river
piers were numbered from the south end, so this
was the caisson for Pier 3, nearest the CPR side
of the river. It was immediately towed into position and the sandhogs went to work. Because
there was no natural light in the caisson, electrical lighting was provided. The sandhogs worked
in three eight-hour shifts, although workers
spent much more time in decompression during
their shift than actually working.
In early February the caisson for Pier 2, in midriver, was launched. However, it was not immediately towed into position, but instead was anchored close to shore. This precaution was taken because a massive ice jam had formed in the

A large steam boiler and large compressors were needed to supply the huge amount of
compressed air required to keep the caissons pressurized and to operate the pneumatic
tools used inside the caissons. “Sandhogs” returning to the surface after working in
the caisson had to go through decompression, so the air lost from the decompression
chamber as it gradually reduced pressure had to be replaced before the next group of
men could enter the chamber.
Spring 2015 - Page 11

river about a mile upstream of the bridge site. If
the ice broke free as a large unit, it could easily
wipe out the one placed caisson and the temporary pile trestle. Crews tried releasing some of
the ice with dynamite, but at about 3 p.m. on
February 11, the ice let loose and drifted downstream, crashing into the bridge works.
Fortunately, the river current was slow and the
damage was relatively minor. About 250 ft. of
pile trestle was swept away and two concrete
mixers and a donkey engine were knocked into
the river. The essential but vulnerable caisson
for Pier 3 escaped damage. No one was injured
because the sandhogs had been evacuated from
the caisson as a precaution. The machinery was
later recovered and put back to work.
The caisson for Pier 2 was immediately placed
and excavation started. This would be the tallest
of the three piers. Once bedrock was encountered, the bottom of the caisson could be sealed
with concrete. Crews could then retreat from
the caisson, filling it in with concrete as they
ascended. The caisson for Pier 1 was launched
on March 19.
The last concrete on the foundations was poured
on May 2, comfortably before the onset of the
annual freshet. The West Yale Review, reporting
on the occasion, noted: “The work has been
completed a month ahead of schedule. But the
most gratifying feature to the contractors and the
superintendent is that the work has been accomplished without the loss of life and even without
serious injury to any one of their employees,
whose numbers averaged about 125.”
Unfortunately, the bridge’s safety record was
not to remain unblemished. Charles Neil, aged
23, was killed when struck by a heavy plank on
December 30, 1914, while engaged in disassembling falsework used during placement of the
steel. He was the only fatality during the
bridge’s construction.
Assembly of the steelwork on the bridge did not
Page 12 - The Sandhouse

begin until the fall of 1914, owing to the track
from the CPR mainline not being completed and
the fact that new pile falsework to support the
steel during assembly could not be driven until
the river flow lessened. Tracklaying crews arrived on September 16, and assembly of the
bridge began in early October. Two spans were
completed by year-end. Work continued through
the winter.
It is not clear exactly when the first train crossed
the bridge. On March 1, 1915, Warren sent a
telegram to B.C. Premier Richard McBride, stating that work trains were now able to cross the
bridge. The West Yale Review on March 5 reported that a work train had crossed the bridge
the day before and tracklaying through Hope
was underway.
The KVR’s contract with the Canadian Bridge
Co. was only for fabricating and assembly of the
main spans of the bridge. The start of World
War I in August 1914 had changed government
priorities for the allocation steel and gasoline,
and in early 1915 serious consideration was being given to delaying construction of the roadway deck until after the war. The opening of the
CNoR meant that Hope was no longer dependent on the CPR. However, a decision was made
to complete the bridge as planned. On March
20, 1915, the KVR awarded the Canadian
Bridge Co. a contract to build the upper roadway
deck.
Throughout the spring of 1915 the bridge was
painted and work on the wooden plank roadway
deck proceeded. The bridge saw frequent use by
trains delivering rails, ties and other supplies for
continuing construction on the Coquihalla Line.
The exact date of the roadway deck opening to
traffic is unknown. Official records in the Provincial Archives are sketchy and news reports in
the West Yale Review newspaper are sometimes
ambiguous. It seems no one was happy with the
sharp turns in the roadway where traffic entered
or exited the roadway deck. Also, the rudimentary road connecting the north end of the bridge

with the CPR mainline Hope station, satisfactory
when only horse-drawn wagons crossed the river by ferry, was the subject of much complaint.
Automobiles were becoming increasingly common and motorists were vocal in their demands
for better roads.
In early September, the newspaper noted that a
new road to the station was being staked out,
and a petition was being sent to the government
asking that the ferry be kept in operation until
the road approaches to the bridge were better.
The West Yale Review of October 1, 1915, reported that the new road between the bridge and
station had opened. Significantly, this was the
first issue of the newspaper in which the ferry
schedule did not appear. It is reasonable to assume the roadway on the bridge came into use
sometime in late September 1915.

During the autumn of 1915, work to complete
the KVR’s Coquihalla Line was rushed, but
heavy snow in December forced work on the
line to be halted until well into the following
year. A station was constructed near the Hope
end of the bridge and a wye, water tank and enginehouse were constructed nearby. The new
station was named Hope.
The station on the CPR mainline across the Fraser River, which had borne the name Hope since
the 1880s, was renamed Haig. The change
greatly pleased Hope residents, who had often
suffered delays in receiving shipments on the
CPR because of the confusion caused by Hope
station being across the river from the town itself.
The name of Haig was chosen to honour Douglas Haig (1861-1928), the British general who

This photo of a caisson under construction shows the steel cutting edge at its base.
Once the caisson has fulfilled its purpose in reaching bedrock, it will be abandoned
around the base of the pier it helped to create. It will then be buried in rip-rap dumped
from the finished bridge to protect the pier against river scour.
Spring 2015 - Page 13

became the Commander-in-Chief on the western
front later in World War I. Haig is often referred to as Earl Haig, but Earl was his title, not
his name. Continuing with the wartime honours,
the junction of the CPR and KVR, across the
river from Hope, was named Petain. This name
honoured Henri Philippe Petain (1856-1951),
French hero of the recent Battle of Verdun.
The editor of the West Yale Review on July 21,
1916, noted: “What with Haig to the north of us
and Petain to the south we have good reason to
feel secure from invasion.” (When Petain sided
with the pro-Nazi Vichy government in 1940,
the name of the junction station was changed to
Odlum, honouring Victor Wentworth Odlum
(1880-1971), head of Canadian forces at the
time.)

On July 31, 1916, the Coquihalla Line officially
opened and daily passenger service over Hope
Bridge commenced. On September 15, CPR
President Thomas Shaughnessy rode over the
Coquihalla Line and Hope Bridge on board a
special westbound train, accompanied by
McCulloch and Warren. It is not recorded if
Shaughnessy specifically commented about
Hope Bridge, but upon arrival at Vancouver he
told reporters he was “greatly impressed” with
his train ride that day. Hope Bridge was now
serving its intended function.
In the next issue, Barrie continues with the story
of Hope Bridge during its years of operation as
a dual road-rail bridge and later road-only

This photo looks toward the Fraser River’s north bank and was probably taken from
one of the pile drivers used in construction. It is dated February 1914 and was likely
taken immediately after the falsework trestle was struck by floating ice on February
11, judging by the slight misalignment of the trestle at the far end, beyond the caisson
for Pier 3. Note the caissons in the river to the right of the trestle.
Page 14 - The Sandhouse

Above: The north shore abutment and Piers 1 and 2 have been completed in this
photo taken on April 14, 1914, looking across the river from the Hope side.
Construction of Pier 1 continues on the right. The temporary trestle seen on the
opposite page has been largely removed since it would not have been capable of
withstanding the coming freshet. When the river is more sedate, a new pile trestle
will have to be driven to support the steel superstructure during assembly.
Below: A crane of the Canadian Bridge Co. positions steel during the start of
assembly of the superstructure in October 1914. One of the many laced channel
truss members in the bridge can be seen just to the left of the track, in this view
looking toward the Hope side.

Spring 2015 - Page 15

bridge, including its significant rehabilitation
between 1993 and 1996.

PRINCIPAL REFERENCES
British Columbian, June 29, 1911, p. 2: “A New Bridge at Hope”
Vancouver Daily Province, September 20, 1912, p. 16: “Contract Let on Coquihalla”
Vancouver Daily Province, November 7, 1913, p.23: “New Railway Bridge”
Vancouver Daily Province, December 19, 1913, p.18: “Task of Bridging Fraser River at Hope”
British Columbian, February 12, 1914, p. 1: “False Work of Bridge Collapses”
Vancouver Daily Province, February 12, 1914, p. 20: “Caisson Saved; False Work Gone”
Vancouver Daily Province, November 6, 1914, p. 13: “Kettle Valley Bridge”
British Columbian, August 3, 1915, p. 4: “Hope News”

Page 16 - The Sandhouse

Above: By mid-January 1915, three of the four bridge trusses were in
place. The laced-channel bridge members are clearly visible in this view
looking toward the Hope side of the river.
Below: This photo, likely taken in March 1915, shows the bridge with
tracks now in place, looking across the river from the Hope side. The
roadway deck has not been completed. The abrupt turn at the end of the
roadway deck frustrated motorists until its removal.

Spring 2015 - Page 17

Amtrak’s Vancouver revival
marks 20 years
by Ian Smith
Since passenger rail service between Vancouver,
B.C. and Seattle, Wash., was restored 20 years
ago this May, it has made a strong comeback
after an interruption of almost 14 years.
Amtrak’s Pacific International had made its last
trip between the two largest cities of the Cascadia region on September 30, 1981, cancelled
owing to low ridership. Last year, 148,000 passengers either boarded or got off the Amtrak
trains that now serve Vancouver daily, two in
each direction.
The revival of cross-border rail service to Vancouver came entirely as an American initiative,
as U.S. federal and state authorities sought to
create a rail corridor in the Pacific Northwest
region. Today, that corridor stretches 467 miles
between Vancouver and Eugene, Ore., attracting
781,000 riders last year, with Vancouver traffic
accounting for nearly one in five of them.
Agitation to create the corridor began in the early 1990s, and by l992 the Washington state legislature had authorized the spending of an initial
$5 million on track and crossing improvements,
with more to come, and the U.S. government
had approved the corridor’s eligibility for federal funding.
By 1994, these efforts were in high gear.
On March 29 that year, a media event was held
at Vancouver’s Pacific Central Station, featuring
a Spanish-built Talgo Pendular 200 articulated
trainset that had been leased by Washington
State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
for a six-month trial service between Seattle and
Portland.
Page 18 - The Sandhouse

B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt spoke to the assembled dignitaries, media and onlookers, but did
not pledge any provincial funding, and indeed
none was forthcoming. It would be many years
before the province would make any form of
financial contribution and to this day that remains meagre, despite the tourism benefits for
the local economy.
The next visible evidence of the train’s revival
came on August 16, when an inspection train
formed of an Amtrak P32-8 locomotive and four
Amtrak and Burlington Northern business cars
made an appearance in Vancouver. Aboard was
Amtrak president Thomas Downs and, along the
way from Seattle, the train picked up the mayors
of Surrey and White Rock.
Finally, on December 13, came the big announcement. Service from Seattle to Vancouver
would start in May 1995. WSDOT would pay
for $24 million in track improvements between
Everett and the border at Blaine, while the $3
million needed for work north of the border
would be covered by the host railway, Burlington Northern Railroad (soon to become Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). B.C. paid
nothing.
On April 28, 1995, a special train headed by
Amtrak P32-8B No. 512 and five bilevel Superliner cars came north, making a stop en route at
White Rock to promote public safety. White
Rock and Surrey politicians had already voiced
fears about dangers to the numerous trespassers
who walk the tracks in those cities.
Then, on May 24, a VIP train operated with

Amtrak F40PH No. 297 leading the Talgo set,
whose lease had been extended by WSDOT. It
spent the night at Pacific Central, and returned
to Seattle the next day with dignitaries and media aboard, generating advance news coverage.
Finally, launch day arrived – May 26.
The inaugural train was formed with the same
equipment as the VIP train, but this time it sat at
Pacific Central on track 8 after the northbound
arrival around noon, completely enclosed in a
quarantine cage consisting of high chain-link
fencing, including a gate across the tracks ahead
of the engine. This sealed off any access to the
train except via the controlled route through the
U.S. immigration checkpoint.
The new train service was named the Mount
Baker International, numbered 760 northbound
and 761 southbound.

The initial schedule took into account the upgrading work still in progress along the route,
with an overall journey time of four hours, 35
minutes. Southbound departure was scheduled
for 18:00, with arrival in Seattle at 22:35. The
northbound train left Seattle at 07:15, with arrival in Vancouver at 11:50.
Clearly, this schedule favoured the U.S. traveller, and quite reasonably so, since it was paid for
by American governments. It would allow an
American tourist to come north to Vancouver
for a day trip or, with a single overnight hotel
stay, the better part of two days in Canada.
Ironically, that meant that Vancouver was getting the economic benefits of such tourism, even
though no funding was provided by any level of
Canadian government.

On May 28, 1995, the third day of service, F40PH 237 trails the consist of low-profile
Talgo 200 Pendular cars, displaying the marked difference in height, as the train crosses Mud Bay trestle in Surrey. Mt. Baker looms in the distance.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Spring 2015 - Page 19

Conversely, the schedule was less beneficial to
Canadian travellers going south for a day trip to
Seattle. After spending an evening on the train,
a Canadian would have to spend that night and
the following night in a Seattle hotel, before
returning on the morning of the third day.
Lorne Nicklason, editor of The Sandhouse at the
time, rode the first southbound train, returning
the next day. The southbound left one minute
late and arrived eight minutes late, on account of
track work (see photo, back cover).
Along the way, the train stopped at Blaine to
allow U.S. Customs officials to board and carry
out inspections on the way to the first station
stop at Bellingham. Twenty years later, this
remains the practice for southbound trains, but
WSDOT has lobbied throughout that time for
the customs check to be performed alongside the
U.S. immigration check at Vancouver.
Customs and immigration requirements have
also prevented a second stop to be made in Canada, presumably at White Rock (the Pacific International stopped at New Westminster). On
northbound services, the Canadian inspections
are performed at the end of the journey at Pacific
Central, so trains cross the border on the fly.
Leaving his Seattle hotel at 06:00 after a brief
sleep, editor Nicklason was back at King Street
Station well in time for the scheduled 07:15 departure of Train 760. This time, there was a
locomotive at both ends of the train, presumably
to avoid having to turn the train on the wye at
Vancouver before entering the quarantine cage,
as the Talgo trainset itself had no operating cabs.
Again departure was one minute late, but arrival
was 20 minutes off the advertised, mainly on
account of a dragging air hose that took 15
minutes to fix during the Mount Vernon stop.
Stops along the way were at Everett, Mount
Vernon and Bellingham, where a new station
was under construction in the Fairhaven district,
Page 20 - The Sandhouse

adjacent to the Alaska ferry terminal. The first
scheduled stop north of Seattle, at Edmonds, was
omitted because a safety fence had not been
completed.
On May 28, the train ran with the same two engines, but by June 1 had reverted to operating
with just one locomotive, which would remain
standard practice for the three years of operation
with the leased Talgo trainset.
As the year wore on and track improvements
were completed, time was cut from the schedule.
On October 29, the arrival time in Vancouver
was cut by 20 minutes to 11:30, and the Seattle
arrival time was similarly slashed to 22:15.
Then, on February 1, 1996, another 20 minutes
was cut in both directions, producing a journey
time of three hours, 55 minutes. The northbound
train now left Seattle half an hour later at 07:45,
arriving in Vancouver at 11:40. Southbound departure from Vancouver remained at 18:00, with
the Seattle arrival now at 21:55. These times
would remain intact for eight years, and indeed
there have been only five-minute variations in
the northbound timing to this day (the southbound timing is another matter).
Meanwhile, corridor service south of Seattle was
progressing well, and WSDOT soon leased a
second Talgo set for the Seattle-Portland service.
This enabled some swapping of cars within these
semi-permanently coupled sets, and the one allocated to the Mount Baker International gained an
extra car, boosting capacity from to 223 seats
from 196.
A year after the launch, WSDOT and Amtrak
announced that they would purchase three new
12-car Talgo sets for delivery in 1998, each with
a capacity of 250 seats.
Mudslides between Seattle and Everett that began in late April 1996 presaged a regular source
of disruption to the Vancouver service. For
nearly three weeks until May 18, passengers had

to be bused between those points. More slides
in January 1997 led to outright cancellation of
the train for several days. Eventually, host railway BNSF would adopt a protocol that sees a 48
-hour moratorium imposed after a slide severe
enough to block the tracks.
As delivery of the new Talgos approached,
Amtrak reshuffled the equipment used on corridor trains. The leased set used on the Vancouver
train was redeployed to operate south of Seattle,
where recent track improvements would enable
the use of Talgo’s tilting system to take curves
at higher speeds. It made its last run from Vancouver on May 15, 1998.
In its place, the Mount Baker International
would operate with bilevel Superliner cars.

But for the first two days, the train had a consist
of six stainless-steel Amfleet cars, plus a fulllength dome car spliced in the middle. The dome
was AMTK 10030, the former Great Northern
car Mountain View. Superliner service began on
May 18, with a consist of five coaches and one
dining car.
Along with the new Talgo sets, Amtrak had ordered 21 F59PHI locomotives from General
Motors, with five of these to be allocated to the
Pacific Northwest, the others to California.
These began to appear in late 1998, before the
new trainsets were ready.
One of them, AMTK 467, was assigned to the
Mount Baker International and its Superliner
consist in late October. It came in a special liv-

In the transition from the leased Talgo 200 set to Superliners on the Vancouver train,
the weekend of May 16-17, 1998, saw an unusual consist of six Amfleet cars spliced by
ex-Great Northern dome car Mountain View. That equipment is seen northbound at
Braid Control in New Westminster on May 16.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Spring 2015 - Page 21

ery for what would now be branded as Amtrak
Cascades service in the Cascadia corridor.
The colours were green, brown and cream,
meant to reflect the natural environment of the
Pacific Northwest, but this livery was soon
dubbed “evergreen and cappuccino”, supposedly
in a reference to the region’s lifestyle as well as
its geography.

Finally, it was time to unveil the new Series 6
Talgo cars, which had been assembled in Seattle
by the union-owned firm of Pacifica Marine for
Talgo Inc., the American subsidiary of the Spanish firm. Each cost about $10 million US. A
fourth set was purchased by Amtrak for a proposed Los Angeles to Las Vegas service.
A non-revenue preview train for invited guests
ran south from Vancouver on November 30,
departing Pacific Central at 10:30, using a 12car set named Mt. Baker, which was christened
at Bellingham during a 15-minute stopover. The
train was powered by AMTK 470 and the whole
train wore the “evergreen and cappuccino” look.
The new Talgos featured a bold pair of tail fins
on the roof of the cars at either end of the set,
intended to blend in with the roofline of the
much-higher F59PHI locomotives dedicated to
Amtrak Cascades service. The end cars were
likened to the appearance of Batman’s mask,
with its upwardly protruding ears, earning them
the name “Batmobiles” by railfans.
Each consist originally had 12 cars: a powergenerating car, two custom-class cars with 2+1
seating, a dining car, a bistro car, one coach class
car with 2+1 seating, five coach-class cars with
2+2 seating, and a baggage car (some sets now
have 13 cars).
The interiors featured an in-seat audio system,
overhead video monitors, outlets for laptop computers, bicycle racks and wheelchair lifts. A
global positioning satellite system kept track of
a train’s progress, displaying its location on the
Page 22 - The Sandhouse

monitors, which could also show movies.
Passengers on the Vancouver-Seattle run would
have a choice of cafeteria-style food and beverage service in the bistro car, or full-service meals
in the dining car. Trains operating south of Seattle
would offer bistro service only.
Regular Amtrak Cascades service was supposed
to have started December 1, but various interior
details in the cars had not been finished, so the
launch for services south of Seattle was postponed until January 11, 1999. The SeattleVancouver service was delayed further because
its dining car was not ready.
So Vancouver service continued with Superliner
consists, occasionally hauled by F59PHI units
wearing the California livery of silver and blue.

At long last, the final Superliner train ran southbound with just three cars behind AMTK 470 on
February 23, 1999, bringing the Superliner era
between Vancouver and Seattle to a close, for the
second time. The first such occasion had been
September 30, 1981, when Amtrak terminated
service between the two cities.
February 23 also marked the end of the Mount
Baker International named train. With the introduction of Amtrak Cascades service, the names
were dropped from intercity train services in the
Pacific Northwest. Instead, the end cars in each
set wear the names of principal peaks in the Cascade Range. The consist named Mt. Hood, with
its full diner, was regularly used for the SeattleVancouver run at first. The other two sets acquired in 1998 were named Mt. Baker and Mt.
Rainier.
The first revenue run of the new Series 6 Talgos
to Vancouver came on February 24, with
AMTK 468 leading the Mt. Hood set and
AMTK 469 trailing. The train was plagued by
slow orders north of Seattle owing to mudslides,
making it 17 minutes late at Everett and 22

Above: Vancouver’s second Superliner era began on May 18,
1998, with F40PH 389 hauling the first such southbound train
under the Brunette overpass in New Westminster. Below: The new
F59PHI units in Amtrak Cascades livery arrived before delivery
of the new Series 6 Talgo sets. AMTK 466 hauls five Superliner
cars northbound past Braid Control on January 30, 1999. (Both
photos by Ian Smith)

Spring 2015 - Page 23

minutes late at Vancouver. Its southbound run
that day was terminated at Everett, and slides
would annul services on February 27 and 28 too.

at both ends of Cascades trains, and trains also
run regularly with just a single locomotive, and
therefore need to be wyed at Vancouver.

When service resumed on March 1, northbound
train 760 was led by what appeared to be an
F40PH locomotive in the Cascades livery, numbered 90251. But in fact, this was a de-engined
vehicle called a Non-Powered Control Unit
(NPCU), whose role was simply to provide a
cab at the other end of the train from the actual
locomotive, to enable push-pull operation. On
the Vancouver service, this would avoid the
need for the train to be wyed before entering
Pacific Central on the northbound trip.

Accompanying the launch of Cascades service
was a range of advertising using clever slogans
and bold depictions of the stylish new trains.

Six of the 22 F40PH units converted to NPCUs
were given the Cascades livery. As service has
expended over the years, however, it has become commonplace to see powered locomotives

Billboards appeared with the statements “It’s
the train of your dreams. Except everyone is
wearing clothes” and “Plug in your laptop and
pretend you’re working. Just like at the office.”
Ads on the sides of buses declared “Equal parts
’57 Chevy and Space Shuttle”, “There’s nothing quite like that new car smell”, “Until your
couch is street legal”, and “650 feet of legroom”.
Service north of Seattle was ramped up on Sep-

The “batwings” of Series 6 baggage car 7100 swoop up to the roofline of NonPowered Control Unit 90250, which trails the southbound train in New Westminster on
June 24, 2000. Note the single wheels on each articulated car.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Page 24 - The Sandhouse

tember 2, 1999, with the addition of a train between there and Bellingham. WSDOT would
cover the $6-million annual operating costs and
pay $4.2 million for track and infrastructure
upgrades. At the same time, negotiations were
under way with the B.C. government to fund
track improvements north of border for eventual
extension of this train to Vancouver, but it
would be a full decade before that bore fruit.

The new southbound train departed Bellingham
at 10:15, with a connecting bus service from
Vancouver leaving at 08:00. The northbound
train arrived at Bellingham at 20:00, with the
connecting bus reaching Vancouver at 21:30.
To add capacity for this service expansion, the
fleet was bolstered with a fourth Series 6 Talgo
set, named Mt. Olympus.

The new southbound train was given the number
761 previously used by the southbound service
from Vancouver, which was renumbered 763.
The new northbound to Bellingham was numbered 762.
These numbers lasted for three more years until
2002, when a wholesale renumbering of Cascades trains took place. The northbound Vancouver service became Train 510, with the
southbound numbered 517. The northbound
Bellingham service was renumbered 513 and the
southbound 516.
The Seattle-Vancouver service got new equipment in September 2000, when its regular trainset was reassigned to cover service expansion
south of Seattle. The Vancouver run got a longer
14-car set owned by Amtrak and painted in a
unique blue, black and grey livery. It had been

The quintessence of the Amtrak Cascades brand is on display as F59PHI 467 and the
Series 6 Talgo set named Mt. Adams descend the BNSF trestle from New Westminster
Bridge in Surrey on a southbound train on March 27, 2010.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Spring 2015 - Page 25

intended for the Los Angeles-Las Vegas service
that never materialized.
By then the Cascades locomotive fleet had become somewhat mongrelized, and this new set
often operated with an F59PHI locomotive and
an NPCU both in the California livery of silver
and blue, but it was also seen with “evergreen
and cappuccino” units.

The “Las Vegas” set was the regular equipment
for the Vancouver service until September 14,
2004, when the 12-car Mt. Hood was assigned to
this run. The move came after WSDOT purchased the “Las Vegas” set from Amtrak and
withdrew it from service for repainting into the
Cascades livery. During that process, it was
reduced to 12 cars and then returned to Vancouver service in late 2005, now wearing the name
Mt. Adams.
With this acquisition, WSDOT owned three
trainsets (Mt. Hood, Mt. Olympus and Mt. Adams), while Amtrak owned the Mt. Baker and
Mt. Rainier sets.
Ten years after Vancouver service began, variations in the type of locomotive used started to
appear. Instead of the usual NPCU at the north
end and an F59PHI at the south end, at least one
train in January 2005 had Amtrak P32-8 units at
each end, and P42DC No. 183 worked the train
for several days starting February 7. The latter
type would become commonplace in the years
ahead.
Now seven years old, the Bellingham service
was extended to Portland as of July 1, 2006,
becoming the first Amtrak Cascades service to
run through Seattle, rather than originating and
terminating there. This involved an earlier
southbound departure of train 513 (08:45 instead
of 10:25), arriving in Portland at 15:00. Northbound 516 would depart Portland at 14:50 and
reach Bellingham at 21:05. Corresponding
changes were made to the times of connecting
buses to and from Vancouver.
Page 26 - The Sandhouse

During 2006, the Mt. Adams trainset was reassigned, leaving Vancouver service with just
the short 10-car Mt. Hood, which was missing
two economy-class coaches after an accident in
Portland on a different service.
But a much bigger change of equipment was in
the offing. Inspectors had noted cracks in the
distinctive Talgo tail fins, so repairs of the
whole fleet were required. This process took
longer than expected, and ultimately would be
followed directly by a $9-million refurbishment
of the cars’ interiors, including new floors, new
leather seats, and upgraded washrooms and vestibules.
This extensive work required a full trainset to be
out of commission for an extended period, with
the result that the Vancouver service was assigned Superliner bilevel cars for the duration of
the work, beginning April 10, 2007. This was
the first regular use of Superliners since the nine
-month interval between the old and new Talgo
sets in 1998-99.
What had initially been planned as a short-term
substitution actually lasted until August 3, 2009,
when the Mt. Adams trainset returned to Vancouver service.
The 28 months without Talgos saw some equipment oddities. From mid-February through early
April in 2008, an ex-Santa Fe bilevel converted
to a “Pacific Parlour” lounge car was spliced
between two Superliner coaches to serve as the
meal and lounge car. And from September 26 to
28 that year, a Superliner sleeper was added to
the usual three coaches to handle extra traffic –
it’s not known how the sleeping compartments
were allocated to daytime passengers.

During the Christmas season in 2008/09, the
Superliners were needed elsewhere to meet high
demand on long-distance trains. That resulted in
Amfleet coaches and a Horizon-class clubdinette car being used for several weeks until
mid-January.

An F59PHI in the silver-and-blue livery for California trains is
southbound at MP 145. 1 in New Westminster on April 25, 2004,
pulling the 14-car Talgo set intended for Las Vegas service,
which featured a grey roofline, black window band, and dark
blue lower bodysides. That set was later reformed into a 12-car
consist in Cascades livery named Mt. Adams, and in that guise is
seen below at Sperling in Burnaby on August 5, 2005, dwarfed by
P42DC 137, the trailing unit in a southbound train. These large
locomotives are now commonplace on Amtrak’s Vancouver
services. (Both photos by Ian Smith)

Spring 2015 - Page 27

A breakthrough came in the spring of 2007,
when the B.C. government announced it would
pay $4.5 million for a siding in Delta to accommodate BNSF freights, amounting to 57% of the
project’s cost. That would create the operating
flexibility to enable the Bellingham-Portland
service to be extended to Vancouver, thus finally providing the long-sought second daily train.

But this second service did not start on August
1, 2008, as planned, even though all necessary
track and signalling upgrades had been completed (Oliver siding in Delta had become operational in March). The hold-up was the Canada
Border Services Agency, which had not agreed
to the necessary staffing levels to screen passengers arriving on the northbound train in the late
evening.
Finally, with Vancouver’s hosting of the 2010

Olympic Winter Games approaching, the federal
government bowed to pressure and agreed to
waive CBSA’s fees for overtime manpower,
estimated at $1,500 daily. But that would only
be for a trial period, ending with the closing of
the Paralympic Games in March.
The second train began service with the northbound’s arrival on August 19. The schedule
called for southbound Train 513 to leave Vancouver at 06:40, with arrival in Portland at
14:55. Northbound Train 516’s departure from
Portland was slated for 14:50, with arrival in
Vancouver at 22:45.
With the second service, crew duties were rearranged so that the crew arriving in Vancouver
on Train 516 at night is assigned to the next
day’s late afternoon departure of Train 517 to
Seattle. The crew of Train 510 arriving in late

During the 28 months of Superliner operation from 2007 through 2009, P32-8 509
leads three bilevel cars southbound past MP 150 in Burnaby on June 14, 2009. These
units have also operated with the Talgo sets.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Page 28 - The Sandhouse

morning from Seattle handles the next morning’s Train 513 to Portland.

However, that would also rule out another station stop north of the border.

Another change for the Olympic Games was a
later evening departure for Train 517 to Seattle,
giving U.S. visitors more time in Vancouver.
From February 1 to March 31, 2010, the train
left at 19:45, with arrival in Seattle at five
minutes past midnight.

Another impact of U.S. border control is a
change in the published departure time from
Vancouver.

Soon before the end of the trial period for the
second train, the federal government agreed to
an extension to September 30, while CBSA assessed whether traffic volumes justified the extra cost of its border control services. That was
extended to October 31, and just before that
deadline, Ottawa agreed to absorb the cost for at
least another year. Finally, on August 16, 2011,
it agreed that CBSA would eat the costs, permanently.
U.S. border control issues continue to detract
from the service, however.
There appeared to be a breakthrough for a station stop in White Rock in 2001, when the city
and Amtrak signed an agreement on August 30
that called for about $100,000 in communityfunded improvements. Canada Customs had
agreed to inspect northbound passengers there as
well as at Pacific Central, making a stop feasible
in that direction, at least.
Those hopes were dashed just 12 days later,
when terrorist attacks struck New York and
Washington. U.S. Customs began stopping
trains at the border for 20 to 30 minutes to carry
out searches. Eventually that ended, but if the
U.S. authorities had their way, stopping southbound trains would be normal procedure, rather
than the onboard inspections between Blaine
and Bellingham. To date, Amtrak and WSDOT
have successfully lobbied against that.
They continue to press for a combined U.S. immigration and customs check in Vancouver,
saying that would cut 10 minutes off the southbound train’s time by avoiding the Blaine stop.

With the May 12, 2008, timetable, the published
departure time of Train 517 was advanced to
17:45, after 13 years of leaving at 18:00, with no
improvement in the Seattle arrival time. However, an internal Amtrak document stated that
the train would actually depart 15 minutes after
the new published time, which was to ensure
adequate time for immigration control, meaning
that there was effectively no change.
Nevertheless, this does not seem to be actual
practice. The published time has since been
moved up to 17:35, and the train on May 1 this
year left at 17:38 and the May 2 train left right
on the advertised, which is apparently commonplace. The result is a trip scheduled for four
hours and 25 minutes, some 30 minutes worse
than the scheduled time from 1996 to 1994.
On top of that, boarding for the train starts at
16:30, resulting in as much as five and a half
hours on board if Seattle is reached at the scheduled time of 22:00. That’s hardly an incentive to
take the train instead of driving.
Mudslides continue to be a bugbear. After a 100
-ft mudslide at Everett derailed a passing BNSF
stacked container train on December 17, 2012,
service was suspended for 19 days during the
busy holiday season. Altogether, 164 trains
were annulled in the slide-prone October-June
months in four years to 2013, according to a
WSDOT study, which notes this has an effect on
the public perception of service reliability. Given that there are four trains daily between Seattle and Vancouver, this equates to 41 days without trains, an average of 10 days per year.
On the positive side, the route has seen steady
improvements in facilities over the years. New
Spring 2015 - Page 29

multimodal stations were opened at Everett in
February 2002 and at Mount Vernon in 2004.
An extra stop was added at Stanwood, midway
between those two stations, on November 21,
2009.
There have been continued improvements in the
trains, too.
Refurbishment of the Seattle-built Talgos continued, with upgrading of their bistro and lounge
cars in 2012/13, while the rest of each train underwent a deep cleaning. Suspensions and onboard computers have been upgraded, and wi-fi
reception and new video monitors installed.
That work led to more Superliner substitutions
on Trains 510-517, from mid-March to May 23
and September 6 to mid-November in 2012 and
from February 27 to May 23, 2013. Together
with the earlier lengthy substitutions, Superliners have been used for roughly 45 months since
service to Vancouver was restored 20 years ago.
But that should be rare in the years ahead, what
with the repairs and improvements to the Series
6 fleet and the latest additions to the fleet – two
new Series 8 Talgo sets built in Wisconsin and
introduced in 2013.
The state of Oregon paid $37 million for two 13car sets, named Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Bachelor.
The most distinctive difference from the five
Series 6 sets is a driving cab at one end, featuring a long protruding nose to protect the engineer. This avoids the need for a second locomotive or NPCU on a train to provide a driving
position at both ends.
One of the new sets made a test run to Vancouver on June 14, 2013, arriving under the cover of
darkness at 03:00, and departing soon after. The
first Vancouver appearance of a Series 8 set in
revenue service came on December 12, 2013,
when the Mt. Bachelor set was used on Trains
510-517, making a few more showings over the
coming week. The Mt. Jefferson set then apPage 30 - The Sandhouse

peared those trains on January 11, 2014, and
worked them for most of the next two weeks.
Trains 510-517 then reverted to a Series 6 set,
and the new sets are more likely to be seen in a
regular rotation on Vancouver-Portland trains
513-516 (see Winter 2013/14 issue, pages 2025, for details and photos of all three types of
Talgos used in Vancouver service).
Soon, the seven-train Talgo fleet will be joined
by new locomotives. WSDOT has ordered eight
Siemens Charger locomotives in a group buy
with rail authorities in five other states. The
units will be built in California and enter service
in 2017.
That should bring some uniformity to the Cascades motive power fleet. After starting 20 years
ago with F40PH units and then moving to
F59PHI locomotives paired with NPCUs, the
power allocation has become more eclectic in
later years, with P32-8 types seen occasionally
and P42DC units appearing regularly. Neither of
the latter two wear the Cascades livery.
Mechanical breakdowns have contributed to
unusual power assignments over the years. In
the earlier days, GP38-2 and GP39V units in BN
green were drafted in when the regular locomotives were unavailable, and there was at least
one appearance with a leased LMX B39-8.
Now, the substitute is most likely to be a BNSF
C44-9W unit in orange and green, and for a
week in March 2011 a Union Pacific SD70M
powered Trains 510-517.
Over 20 years, Amtrak service to Vancouver has
become an entrenched part of the region’s transportation options, with Pacific Central seeing
148,000 passengers using the four daily services
in 2014. That’s well behind Seattle and Portland, both in the 400,000 range, but ahead of
Tacoma at 94,000.
Fares are still good value, with one-way Vancouver to Seattle adult tickets costing from $41
to $74 (the 1995 base fare was $29) and Van-

couver to Portland costing $64 to $114 (all figures in $US).
The $4.5 million US from trips between the
Vancouver-Seattle city pair represented 16% of
Amtrak Cascades ticket revenues in 2014, and
the $1.3 million from the Vancouver-Portland
city pair accounted for another 5%. Altogether,
$3.4 million in ticket revenue was attributed to
Vancouver.
But the financial situation has become uncertain,
with the U.S. federal government withdrawing
subsidies to Amtrak for intercity services of less
than 750 miles, as of October 1, 2013. Since
then, funding of Cascades services has been
entirely the responsibility of Washington and
Oregon, which have to absorb the roughly 40%
of costs that are not covered by ticket revenue.
B.C. contributes nothing to operating costs, despite the gains for the local economy.

While Washington has been the enthusiastic
driver of Cascades service over the past two
decades, Oregon’s commitment now appears
shaky, with the state legislature recently proposing to provide $5 million less than needed to
maintain current services. If that is approved,
the Portland to Eugene segment of the Cascades
corridor will be in jeopardy.
That wouldn’t have direct impact on Vancouver’s services, but it would represent a rare setback for the Cascadia passenger rail corridor,
which has seen nothing but success for the past
20 years. Let’s hope this does not come to pass,
and that Amtrak Cascades can keep going from
strength to strength.

The Series 8 Talgo set named Mt. Bachelor is seen trailing in northbound Train 510 on
December 15, 2013, as it skirts Gunderson Slough in North Delta. The photographer is
standing beside the new South Fraser Perimeter Road.
(Photo by Chris Wasney)
Spring 2015 - Page 31

SOURCES
Picur, John. “In Pendular Suspense, or Talgo Visits Vancouver,” The Sandhouse, June 1994, pp. 4-7.
Nicklason, Lorne. “By Train To Seattle, Again,” The Sandhouse, June 1995, pp. 6-15
Smith, Ian. “Striking New Talgo Equipment,” The Sandhouse, December, 1998, pp. 44-46.
Smith, Ian, and Ken Storey. “New and Improved: Mount Baker International Replaced by Amtrak
Cascades,” The Sandhouse, March 1999, pp. 11-14.
Smith, Ian. “Futuristic Talgos to Vancouver,” Canadian Rail Passenger Review, Number 2 (Ottawa:
Trackside Publications, June 1999), pp. 41-42.
Smith, Ian. “2010: a Cascadian Rail Odyssey,” The Sandhouse, Summer 2010, pp. 22-28.
Smith, Ian. “New Talgo Trains are Quite an Eyeful,” The Sandhouse, Winter 2013/14, pp. 20-25.
Washington State Department of Transportation. “Amtrak Cascades: 2014 Annual Performance
Report”, at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Rail/PerformanceReports.htm

Page 32 - The Sandhouse

Arbutus Line follies continue
with track repairs
Restoration of CP’s Arbutus Line for car storage
has been in full swing over the past months,
following the railway’s court victory over the
City of Vancouver on January 20 (see previous
issue, page 37).
Vegetation clearance work resumed on February
10, working northward from West 70th Avenue.
This was handled by A&B Rail Services.
A few days in advance, CP sent notices to nearby residents and schools that the work would be
resuming, stating that: “It is neither safe nor
legal for anyone to use CP’s land along the Arbutus corridor as a commuter route (walking,

running, cycling), for storing personal goods or
for gardening (planting or removal.”
About 150 metres had already been cleared by
last August, but CP had halted the work pending
the outcome of the B.C. Supreme Court hearing
Brush clearing was completed all the way to the
West First Avenue crossing, where local condo
dwellers had a long established garden on both
the Arbutus Line and the short remaining stub of
the former South Shore Branch, which runs
southeast from the crossing as far as West Second (see “With the trains gone, a ferro-garden
emerges,” Winter 2009/10 issue, pages 30-32).

Replacement ties are laid out beside the Arbutus Line awaiting installation, in this
view looking downgrade toward West 33rd Avenue on April 3 this year. Most of
these have been recycled from earlier use.
(Photo by Corwin Doeksen)
Spring 2015 - Page 33

Although the South Shore stub is severed from
the Arbutus Line, it was cleared too.

and that day 16 hoppers of ballast were seen at
the O Yard. There it was transferred by a Komatsu shovel into hi-rail dump trucks.

Then, in late March, Central Cariboo Railroad
Contracting of Kelowna moved in to begin the
job of tie replacement and ballasting. The firm
used a small fleet of leased track equipment for
the work, comprising a spike puller, a tie remover/inserter, two tie cranes with trailers, a spiker,
a ballast tamper and a ballast regulator.

The application of ballast was largely complete
by the third week of April. In some spots, it can
best be described as a “sprinkling” or a
“dusting”, lying loosely atop the vegetation that
can still be found between the ties in places.

In the O Yard adjacent to West Kent Avenue,
seven gondolas of recycled ties and associated
hardware were spotted by a CP transfer freight
from Coquitlam on March 30.
By April 3, rotten ties had been removed as far
as King Edward Avenue. In its court pleadings,
CP said it would not be storing cars north of that
point, so the clearance work north from there to
West First was apparently for political effect.

Next phase of the work will involve rehabilitating the grade crossing control gear, after which
CP can call in Transport Canada for track inspection.
(Thanks to PCD members Corwin Doeksen and
Eric Johnson for detailed field observations.)

Tie replacement was nearly finished by April 8,

A Nordco tie exchanger ties up traffic on busy West 41st Avenue on April 8. Work
will include upgrading the crossing control gear here.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Page 34 - The Sandhouse

Tracing the progress of the Arbutus Line’s fall
and rise, Eric Johnson took these photos — two
years apart — from the same spot, at a point
adjacent to West 39th Avenue where the line
runs between East Boulevard and West
Boulevard in the heart of Kerrisdale. The view
is looking south toward the West 41st Avenue
crossing.
Clockwise, from top, the springtime vegetation
has completely obscured the track on May 9,
2012. Next, top right, the track as it appeared
on April 5 this year after brush clearing had
been completed, but before tie replacement.
Finally, at bottom right, this view on May 1
shows replacement ties and new ballast.

Spring 2015 - Page 35

Elevated guideway all done,
but tunnelling hits more snags
The Evergreen Line project passed a major
milestone on March 3, as the launching girder
completed its work. But the tunnelling delays
reported in the previous issue led to the
announcement on February 13 that the line will
not open until the autumn of 2016, rather than
the summer.
In the meantime, though, there will be a visible
sign of progress as testing of trains begins this
summer on the completed guideway between
Como Lake Avenue and the junction with the
Millennium Line at Lougheed Town Centre.
When the launching girder reached the end of its
drive along Pinetree Way in Coquitlam, just
south of Guildford Way, it had lifted 1,005 precast concrete segments into place. In the
following month, an 846-metre stretch of
guideway stretching west from Coquitlam
Central Station, built with cranes lifting long
precast spans, was finished. With that, all the
elevated guideway structures have been
completed.

But tunnelling continues to hit snags. The tunnel
boring machine (TBM) finally moved on from
its maintenance stop under Cecile Drive on
February 12, some 11 weeks after arriving there.
The following day, the project’s management
announced that the delay, coming about onethird of the way through the TBM’s southward
drive, would set back the line’s opening until the
autumn of 2016. The news release stated that
“the contractor is responsible for all costs related
to the schedule delay under the terms of the
fixed-price contract.”
To avoid the sinkhole problems that had arisen
at the TBM’s first two maintenance stops,
efforts had been under way since early January
to prepare the sub-surface conditions for its next
Page 36 - The Sandhouse

stop beneath Clarke Road at Seaview Drive, the
half-way point of its 2-km drive.
The TBM reached Seaview around March 20,
and the project announced that “for the next
three weeks, crews will be inspecting and
changing the cutterhead tools and undertaking
regular maintenance on the TBM before it
advances.”
But it soon became apparent that the injection of
concrete grouting to create a “grout wall”
directly in front of the TBM’s stopping point,
some 45 metres below the surface, had not been
adequate to prevent soils from entering the
chamber where its crew would carry out
maintenance. This was announced on March 23.
Next, on April 9, the project announced that a
sinkhole had opened up in the surface of Clarke
Road, requiring detours of southbound traffic on
this busy artery between Port Moody and
Coquitlam. Although one northbound lane
could be kept open, southbound vehicles would
need to detour through a residential
neighbourhood, leading to irate complaints from
Port Moody’s city council.
On April 15, the detour was lifted, with one
southbound lane opened on Clarke, while the
grouting and water-pumping machinery
remained in place in the centre of the road.
The next announcement, on May 7, conveyed
more gloomy news: “This work has taken
longer than anticipated due to the challenging
ground conditions in this area. The jet grouting
operations will continue over the next few
weeks [mid to late May] until we are certain it
will be safe for the crews to enter the chamber
behind the cutter head . . . The changing of the
cutterhead tools will take approximately one

On February 27,
the launching
girder had only
two spans to
complete. In this
view looking
north on
Pinetree Way, a
section of
guideway built
with cranes lies
north of the gap.
(All photos by
Ian Smith)

On the afternoon
of March 3, the
launching girder
had completed
its work, as
crews make final
adjustments to
the alignment of
the last
segments. This
view looks south
on Pinetree
Way. Coquitlam
city hall is
behind the
photographer.

Spring 2015 - Page 37

month and then tunnel boring will resume.”
Thus it won’t be until late June before the TBM
moves on from this point. (For a video on tunnel
boring, visit www.evergreenline.gov.bc.ca)
With tunnelling paused and the elevated
guideway complete, another focus has been the
at-grade guideway alongside the Canadian
Pacific Railway mainline between Lansdowne
Drive and Bond Street in Coquitlam. This is not
literally at-grade – rather, the guideway here
will sit atop an earth fill held in place by
retaining walls formed with interlocked concrete
segments.
The wall on the south side along the railway was
nearly complete at press-time. To the east, it
joins the elevated guideway section that
continues as far as Coquitlam Central. To the

west, it reaches a concrete ramp that extends
east from Inlet Centre station.
Farther west, for about 2 km through Port
Moody, work on the ground-level at-grade
section is well advanced. The track in this
stretch has been completed to a point west of
Douglas Street, with the two side-collection
power rails installed. Also, the flat induction rail
that sits between the two running rails is
complete to a point near Kyle Street.
Where the at-grade guideway runs closely
parallel to the apartment buildings on Golden
Spike Lane, a concrete noise barrier wall has
been installed, and the roadway fully repaved.
The roofs at all six new stations are in place,
even at Lincoln, where construction could not
start until February after the launching girder
had passed through. Burquitlam and Inlet Centre
have reached the point where glass has been
installed. The third platform at Lougheed Town
Centre has also been glassed-in and the new
structure housing the stairs and escalators to that
platform has been completed, too.
Along North Road and Clarke Road south of
Como Lake Avenue, finishing touches are being
put on the repaved road beneath the guideway,
and soon this section will be like new. This will
present a tidy vista when trains start testing
along this section in the months ahead.

Tunnel grouting work is underway in the middle
of Clarke Road on May 1, looking north.
Page 38 - The Sandhouse

Looking west along the westbound side of the
island platform at Moody Centre Station on May
10, this view shows the track with the induction
rail in place in the centre, and the two sidecollection power rails at right. This photo was
taken from a temporary public walkway to
access the West Coast Express platform,
situated off-camera to the right.
The view below looks east along Aberdeen
Avenue at the foot of Bond Street on March 8.
Here, interlocked concrete segments form a wall
to retain the earth fill for the at-grade guideway,
which connects at left with an 846-metre
elevated section built from precast spans erected
by crane. That section continues east to
Coquitlam Central station.

Spring 2015 - Page 39

The entrance to the third platform at Lougheed Town Centre
station is seen above in this view looking south on April 26. Below,
work on Lincoln station could not begin until the launching girder
passed through in February. Here, on May 1, the platform roof is
already in place, as seen looking east from the northeast corner of
the Coquitlam Centre shopping mall parking lot.

Page 40 - The Sandhouse

SHORT HAULS
The Events of Today are the History of Tomorrow
purchase in the future. For that reason, they are
classified as ES44AC T4C (Tier 4 Credit).

Rockslides closed the ex-BC Rail
mainline for several weeks in late winter.

The chain of events began around February 3-4,
with a slide at Mile 150.8, north of Retaskit
siding, alongside Seton Lake. The rockfall was
so heavy that the roadbed was pounded away
down to water level and some of it was washed
away, creating a gap of about 200 ft.
The washout was severe enough that CN
considered building a small bridge across the
gap. In the end, repairs were made without a
bridge and the line re-opened around February
12-13, but with some work still to be done.

Initially, 2925-2950 were to be numbered 30253050, which would help to identify their U.S.permitted status, but after the first 10 were
delivered with those numbers, CN changed its
mind and decided to use the 29xx numbering for
this batch.
The export units restricted to Canada have
begun to make appearances in B.C. on the
former BC Rail territory. Units 2952, 2954,
2965 and 2967 were seen on trains 570-571 on
the Squamish Subdivision on April 11 and 12.
With this order, CN has 176 ES44AC
locomotives. (Branchline/Tempo Jr./Chris
Wasney)

In the following week, a helicopter inspection
determined that some 5,000 square metres of
rock above this site was unstable and the line
was closed again, followed by a blasting
operation. The line finally re-opened to traffic
on March 11.

CN’s 1,800 engineers in Canada have a

Yet another order of ES44AC

A tentative agreement between CN and

This batch is split into two groups: 26 numbered
2925-2950 and 25 numbered 2951 to 2975. Nos.
2951-2975 are export units that do not meet the
tougher Tier 4 emissions standards that took
effect on January 1, 2015, and thus will not be
allowed to operate in the U.S. In contrast, 29252950 will be allowed to work in U.S. revenue
service, although built to Tier 3 standards, as a
credit against 26 Tier 4 units that CN will

CN and the Unifor union announced the
tentative deal late on February 23, with a
lockout looming at 23:00. The deal came after
the union had rejected CN’s proposal that the
dispute be submitted to binding arbitration, and
followed a declaration by the federal
government that it would not impose back-to-

locomotives has been received by CN, totalling
51 units.

new three-year contract lasting through 2017.

A tentative agreement between the Teamsters
Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and CN on
February 14 was ratified in April. (CN/TCRC)
4,800 mechanical tradesmen, intermodal/clerical
workers, truckers and excavator operators was
reached just before a deadline set by the railway
to impose a lockout.

Spring 2015 - Page 41

work legislation.
One stumbling block in the negotiations was a
Unifor demand that CN contribute five cents per
employee per hour to a union-administered fund
from which the union would make charitable
donations to causes of its choice. CP had agreed
to such contributions in a deal reached with its
1,800 employees represented by Unifor (see
next page). CN flatly refused this “on principle”,
although it said it would consider making joint
donations with the union to mutually agreeable
causes.
When Unifor responded by saying it would take
a strike vote among its members over three
weeks, CN hit back by giving 72 hours’ notice
that it would lock out the workers, with chief
executive Claude Mongeau stating: “The
differences separating the company and the
union are as clear as they will ever be, and they
will not become any clearer over a month-long
strike mandate process.” (Bloomberg/CN/
Unifor)

CEO Hunter Harrison had passed through town
on a business train in March, and it’s rumoured
the changes are not a coincidence.
Also in the Kootenay region, the Boundary Subdivision (Nelson to Castlegar) and Rossland
Subdivision (Castlegar to Warfield) have been
combined and renamed the Columbia Subdivision. The current Nelson Subdivision, which
runs from Curzon to Nelson, is to be renamed
the Kootenay Subdivision. (Mark Johnson/
Kevin Dunk)

An SD30C-ECO locomotive worked the

Huntingdon Turn wayfreight from Coquitlam on
at least two days in early April. CP 5016 was
seen on this job paired with SD40-2 CP 5939 on
April 7 and 10.
The small fleet of 20 SD30C units is based at
Golden. They are usually used as the trailing
head-end unit in coal trains. (Editor/Ken Storey)

GP7u 1507 had been retired to the deadline at Coquitlam and is listed for sale, but in
late February was leased to Viterra Inc. for
switching Pacific Terminals on the Vancouver
waterfront. It was spotted working there on February 27 and was still in use in April.

But it was seen on May 11 in CP’s Vancouver
yard with GP38-2 3050, suggesting its lease
might be over and a return to the deadline imminent. (Marc Simpson)

Fire damage to the Marpole bridge has
Cranbrook Yard was closed as of April
19, leaving only a siding and another track.

The remaining tracks, including all shop tracks,
will be removed. It is expected that the roundhouse will be demolished and the turntable pit
filled in.

Page 42 - The Sandhouse

finally been repaired, following the blaze on
July 9 last year that severed CP’s access to the
remaining stub of track on the south shore of the
Fraser River’s North Arm. Work underway in
April has been completed, including new ties, a
new timber walkway and curbs, and a new platform at the top of the access stairway.
However, as of May 8, the swing bridge had not
been used. The 20-some tank cars that had been
stranded at the Univar Inc. facility since last
summer were still there and the rails leading to

the plant were rusty. Univar, a chemical distribution firm, has been served by truck since the
bridge was damaged. (Eric Johnson)

A strike by 3,300 engineers, conductors,

trainmen and yardmen represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) was cut
short on the second day when the union and CP
agreed to send the dispute to binding arbitration.
The move came as the Harper government was
poised to introduce and pass back-to-work legislation all in a single day’s sitting of Parliament.
In the previous dispute in 2012, the back-towork law was passed nine days into the strike.
The strike had begun at 00:01 on February 15,
after members voted 93% in favour of striking.
The union said that fatigue management and
crew scheduling were key points of the dispute.
"CP is completely unable to provide the majority of our members with any sort of accurate information on when they are required to work,”
said TCRC president Douglas Finnson, on the
eve of the strike. “The CP negotiators have admitted their line-up model is completely unpredictable and they are simply unable to fix it.
Furthermore, CP is either unwilling or unable to
comply with the collective agreements that require train crews stop operating and obtain rest
after 10 continuous hours of work."
At the same time, the railway said: “CP proposed changes to work schedules to improve the
quality of life for engineers and conductors.
TCRC leadership claims that lack of time off is
at the heart of its reluctance to negotiate, yet
72% of all engineers and conductors do not take
the time off they are entitled to. Furthermore,
60% of the conductors and engineers at CP
make between $80,000 and $160,000, while
working an average of 31 to 35 hours a week.”

ment. (Globe & Mail/TCRC/CP)

A strike by 1,625 shop workers and car

men represented by Unifor local 101R was
averted at the last moment, when a tentative four
-year deal was reached just before the deadline.
Unifor said the deal was favoured by 79% of
those voting. As well as wage and benefit increases, the pact includes a commitment to continue operations at Weston Shops in Winnipeg,
which employs 160 workers.
The Unifor members had voted 97% in favour
of striking and the union had given notice that
would have allowed a strike to begin at 00:01 on
February 15, at the same time that engineers and
conductors were set to strike. (Unifor/CP)

Chief financial officer Bart Demosky re-

signed his position effective May 31, after only
17 months on the job. He had given notice on
February 11, calling it “the right time for me to
focus on my family and other opportunities."
Demosky started at CP on December 28, 2013,
after holding a similar position with Suncor Energy, also based in Calgary. His predecessor at
CP, Brian Grassby, lasted only 14 months in the
job, after replacing Kathryn McQuade in November 2012. That made Demosky the company’s third CFO since Hunter Harrison took over
as chief executive in July 2012. (CP/Globe &
Mail/Editor)

CP said its offer included wage increases, better
benefit plans, and re-instatement of the employee share purchase plan in a long-term agreeSpring 2015 - Page 43

train, the first time on February 27. It left the
following morning, leading the train south, but
returned on March 5, departing the next day.

A “Pennsylvania Railroad” locomotive
in the classic Tuscan Red livery made two
appearances in the Vancouver area this winter.

How can that be? The locomotive in question is
actually Norfolk Southern 8102, a modern
General Electric ES44AC unit that is one of 20
NS diesels painted in the livery of a predecessor
railway.

Its livery re-creates the look worn by Pennsy’s
famed GG-1 electric locomotives and General
Motors’ F and E units used in PRR passenger
service, complete with five gold pinstripes and
the “keystone” herald.

NS had 20 new locomotives painted in
predecessor liveries when they were delivered in
2012. (Chris Wasney/Steve Goodman)

NS 8102 came north twice on BNSF’s daily MINBVBC (Seattle Interbay-Vancouver, B.C.)

Norfolk Southern ES44AC No. 8102, wearing heritage Pennsylvania Railroad livery, is
caught by the camera crossing the Canada-U.S. border with a southbound BNSF train at
Blaine on February 28. Unfortunately, black-and-white printing does not do justice to its
gorgeous Tuscan Red paint scheme.
(Photo by Steve Goodman)

Page 44 - The Sandhouse

Rail Industry
The Harper government has allowed the

minimum grain shipping thresholds imposed on
the railways to lapse as of March 29, with the
expiry of such provisions in its Fair Rail for
Farmers Act. It said the railways had worked to
restore the backlog of grain awaiting rail shipment to normal levels and there was no need to
continue enforcing the legislated volumes with
the threat of fines.
In response, shippers of small volumes and specialty crops complained that the minimum
thresholds had driven the railways to focus on
shipping large volumes through the three largest
ports (Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Thunder
Bay) and ignore routes into U.S. markets for
such products.
While the minimum volumes were in place, the
federal government fined CN $100,000 and CP
$50,000 for failing to meet the weekly threshold.
CP has appealed its fine (see previous issue,
pages 38-39). (Globe & Mail)

New standards for tank cars carrying
highly-flammable liquids have been jointly
adopted by Canada and the United States, as
announced on May 1.

Under these standards (designated TC-117 in
Canada and DOT-117 in the U.S.), tank cars will
be built with features such as increased shell
thickness (9/16 in.), full-height half-inch-thick
head shields, minimum 11-gauge jackets, a recloseable pressure relief valve, thermal protection, and roll-over protection for top fittings.
The new regulations also set the timetable for
the retrofitting or retirement of existing DOT111 cars and the newer industry-sponsored
CPC-1232 cars constructed since 2011. Those
cars must be upgraded to meet DOT-117 standards by May 1, 2025, or retired.

There is also a timetable for withdrawing cars
from handling volatile commodities. The schedule requires unjacketed DOT-111s to be removed from the most-volatile Packing Group I
crude oil service by January 2018, jacketed
DOT-111s by March 2018, and unjacketed
CPC-1232s by April 2020.
For Packing Group II, jacketed and non-jacketed
DOT-111s may remain in service until May
2023, non-jacketed CPC-1232s until July 2023,
and jacketed CPC-1232s until May 2025.
(Railway Age)

A four-month lockout of SRY crews

ended on May 5 after ratification of a new contract a day earlier.
The seven-year deal, retroactive to April 1,
2014, preserves post-retirement benefits, improves dental benefits, training and working
conditions, and provides a cumulative wage
increase of 11% over the life of the contract.
The contract was approved by two-thirds of
CUPE Local 7000 members voting at a ratification meeting on May 4.
During the 120-day lockout, Southern Railway
managers operated the system.
The dispute saw the union winning a case before
the Labour Relations Board. The union had protested SRY’s use of A&B Rail contractors to
replace switch ties on Annacis Island. The LRB
sided with the union, issuing a cease-and-desist
order against SRY forbidding the use of private
contractors to perform union work and awarding
the union $5,000 in damages. (CUPE 7000)
Spring 2015 - Page 45

The defunct Central Park Spur is being
lifted, although the work had been suspended
while the lockout of SRY union staff continued.
The four-mile line between 14th Street Junction
in New Westminster and Nelson Avenue in
Burnaby – part of the former B.C. Electric Railway interurban mainline to Vancouver -- had
already been severed at numerous locations
years ago, with some track lifted, but SRY now
apparently intends to lift the remaining track.

the Westminster & Vancouver Tramway Co.
By early April, this track had been lifted westward as far as Buller. There it connected with
the later double-track route opened in 1912 by
BCER, known as the Highland Park cut-off,
which today is followed closely by the SkyTrain
guideway.
Last use of the Central Park Spur to serve the
few remaining freight customers is believed to
have been in 1997. (Editor/Chris Wasney)

Work to date had been carried out by Westcan
Rail Ltd. of Abbotsford.
The initial work focused on a short spur between
Gilley and Buller avenues in Burnaby, which
was the final remnant of the original single-track
route to New Westminster, opened in 1891 by

The original W&VT route to New Westminster diverges to the left, while the 1912 line
curves to the right, in this scene of the track lifting work on April 8, looking east.
Highland Park station lay just beyond the junction.
(Photo by Ian Smith)
Page 46 - The Sandhouse

the drumhead all the way to Toronto and was
still in place when the same trainset returned to
Vancouver on May 2.

The Canadian’s 60th anniversary on

April 24 went officially unremarked by VIA, but
the event was recognized in a small way in
Vancouver. By good fortune the anniversary
date fell on a departure day for the eastbound
train from Vancouver, which was well
patronized with 18 cars.
On his own initiative, Greg Menard, who works
in the baggage room at Pacific Central Station,
produced a commemorative poster for the
lounge used by sleeping car passengers, and a
sign made by local railfan Bob Walters was
taped to the drumhead of observation car
Laurentide Park. The sign remained affixed to

VIA’s indifference to the occasion was a far cry
from its enthusiastic observation of the 50th
anniversary in 2005, when anyone born in April
1955 could travel the full distance of the train’s
route for just $50 throughout that month (see
Spring 2005 issue, pages 24-25). That said, the
timing of the difficulties noted in the next item
would have made a repeat of the 2005
promotion impractical. (Editor)

Transcontinental service was suspended
for five weeks after a crude oil train derailed in
northern Ontario on March 7, severing CN’s
single-track mainline.

VIA baggage handler Greg Menard (left) and railfan Bob Walters pose with the 60th
anniversary sign that Bob made for the drumhead of the Canadian departing
Vancouver on April 24. (See also page 54)
(Photo by Terry Muirhead)
Spring 2015 - Page 47

The accident, near Gogama on the Ruel
Subdivision, saw numerous tank cars catching
fire and a bridge heavily damaged.
Although limited freight service through the
area resumed on March 10 when a temporary
bypass was completed, VIA had already
cancelled westbound service from Toronto on
the Canadian until March 21, owing to
“unfavourable operating conditions for
passenger trains.”
But by the time the CN line was fully re-opened
on March 18, VIA had decided to cancel all
Toronto-Winnipeg service indefinitely, and the
suspension continued until April 10, when the
first ex-Vancouver train continued eastward
from Winnipeg. The first westbound departure
from Toronto was on April 11.

With the re-opening on March 18, CN had
issued a 35-mph speed restriction, for a 60-day
period, from Winnipeg to Capreol, Ont., on any
train carrying more than 20 loaded railcars of
flammable liquid products. VIA said this
slowdown of freight traffic would prevent it
from maintaining its passenger train schedules
and would result in significantly longer trip
times.
Service between Winnipeg and Vancouver was
maintained throughout the disruption.
Passengers on the cancelled trains were offered
full refunds or a later trip at the same fare as
their original booking. (CN/VIA)

The North Vancouver-Whistler day

excursion trip will be cancelled following the
2015 season, after 10 years in operation.
Instead, Rocky Mountaineer service over that
part of the route will be added to the once-aweek train that currently operates between
Whistler and Jasper, with an overnight stay in
Quesnel. As of 2016, this will become a threeday trip between North Vancouver and Jasper,
with an additional overnight stop in Whistler.
(RMV)

Banff will be the eastern end of all

Rocky Mountaineer trips via the CP route in the
2015 season.
All eastbound trains will terminate at Banff, and
continue empty to Calgary for servicing.
Westbound trains will originate at Banff. Buses
will transport passengers directly between Banff
and various Calgary hotels.
Last year, eight of the 48 trains in each direction
started or terminated at Calgary.
Significantly more trains on this route will make
a stop at Lake Louise than last year, when 29 of
the 48 trains stopped there. Lake Louise was
added as a stop in 2013, with 19 trains making a
stop there. (“eminence_grise”/RMV)

Red Leaf service will not be offered
after the 2015 season.

The base level service will be discontinued, with
passengers offered only the current mid-level
Silver Leaf and premium Gold Leaf services.
Silver Leaf service was first offered on a limited
basis in 2011, on just four trains in each
direction. It began with the two “Glacier Dome”
cars (numbered 2001-2002) that had been
Page 48 - The Sandhouse

customized for the top-level service on the
Whistler Mountaineer. These are not actually
dome cars, but instead are single-level ex-CN/
VIA cars with windows cut into the roofline as
on a sightseeing motorcoach (see Autumn 2006
issue, page 25).
In recent years, some Gold Leaf bilevel cars
have been used to accommodate demand for
Silver Leaf service. Meanwhile, some of the ex
-CN/VIA cars used for Red Leaf service are
being converted to the Silver Leaf configuration.
Like Red Leaf passengers, those in Silver Leaf
eat meals at their seats, while Gold Leaf
passengers eat in a dining room on the lower
level of the bilevel Gold Leaf cars. Silver Leaf
provides hot meals, although not the same as the
upscale Gold Leaf fare, while Red Leaf meals
are “chilled”.
As with Gold Leaf, passengers in Silver Leaf
have their luggage delivered to their hotel room
for the overnight stop in Kamloops. In contrast,
the baggage of Red Leaf passengers is not
available during the trip and they are advised to
pack an overnight, carry-on bag for their
second-day clothing and toiletries.
The overnight hotel accommodation varies with
each class of service and there is even a Gold
Leaf Deluxe class that provides the most
luxurious hotel rooms.
In the final season to offer all three levels of
service, Red Leaf service between Vancouver
and Jasper or Banff/Lake Louise is priced at
$1,259, while Silver Leaf costs $1,679 and Gold
Leaf $2,099. (RMV/Editor/Earl Roberts)
Ten Silver Leaf cars will be in operation
this year, as Rocky Mountaineer puts more
emphasis on its middle level of service (see
previous item).

next number in the series following the two cars
converted in 2006 for the Whistler Mountaineer.
Those two original cars were produced from
rolling stock owned by the New Brunswick firm
that did the conversion, Industrial Rail Services
Inc. of Moncton, which is now defunct.
The work includes enlarging the side windows
and cutting new rounded windows into the
roofline.
The current round of conversions is being
carried out in the United States by an
unidentified firm, using cars from Rocky
Mountaineer’s fleet of Red Leaf cars, built in
1954 for CN and later used by VIA.
Three more conversions were performed in
2014: car 5722 was converted to 2004, 3252 to
2005, and 3220 to 2006.
Another four will be completed for the 2015
season: 3244 to 2007, 3213 to 2008, 3240 to
2009, and 3215 to 2010. (Earl Roberts)

The 16 Gold Leaf bilevel coaches will

have their interiors fully refurbished, including a
rebuild of their electrical and heating & air
conditioning systems. The work will be
performed over three years by Canarail
Consultants Inc., with much of it subcontracted
to a firm in Quebec’s Gaspé region.
Rocky Mountaineer says this will be the largest
capital investment since it started in 1990. For
Montreal-based Canarail, this will be its largest
project to date. (Branchline)

Conversion of former Red Leaf coaches to
Silver Leaf configuration began in 2013, when
coach RMRX 5717 became RMRX 2003, the
Spring 2015 - Page 49

As the fire raged in mid-afternoon, TransLink
issued an advisory that the first departure, at
15:50, would be cancelled and that passengers
should seek alternative transport.

January’s on-time performance was the
worst for a single month since WCE service
began in November 1995, at 87%.

That month marked the start of an intensive rail
replacement on CP’s Cascade Subdivision that
was to last until mid-April. CP had not notified
WCE about the schedule for the track work.
(Maple Ridge News)

Delays to WCE trains have continued past
the expected end of track maintenance in April.

Freight train congestion caused delays to the
first afternoon train (15:50 from Waterfront) on
May 6 and 7, by 35 and 15 minutes respectively.
The first morning train on May 7 was delayed
more than 20 minutes after debris on the track
severed a brake pipe hose, causing an emergency brake application.
A TransLink spokesman said that more than 100
WCE services had been delayed in the previous
six months.
This performance forms the backdrop to
TransLink’s negotiations with CP for a new
track access contract. The original 20-year contract expires October 31 this year. (Global TV
News)

All five afternoon trains were cancelled

on March 4 as CP’s tracks along the Vancouver
waterfront were engulfed in thick smoke from a
chemical fire in a container at the Centerm terminal that affected a large part of the surrounding neighbourhoods (see Port News, page 52).

Page 50 - The Sandhouse

By 16:00, all trains and the three evening TrainBus services had been cancelled. Passengers
were advised to travel by SkyTrain to Lougheed
Town Centre station, from which a “bus bridge”
would be operated to the suburban WCE stations. Buses carried passengers to stations out to
Maple Meadows, and from there the TrainBus
coaches were used to take onward passengers to
Port Haney and Mission City.
As fate would have it, the fire occurred on a
Wednesday, the routine day for one of the five
consists to be run over to VIA’s maintenance
centre for inspection and light repairs. In this
case WCE 906 and its 10-car train were at the
centre and were unable to return to Waterfront.
As the fire receded by mid-evening, the trains
trapped at the Waterfront layover yard began to
deadhead back to Mission for the next day’s
service. WCE 901 with a nine-car consist left at
19:40 but got only as far as the fire zone, when
it was ordered to stop. Meanwhile, 906 and its
train were approaching the mainline from the
VIA shops, but it also had to stop, and eventually returned to the VIA yard.
At 20:07, with its crew complaining of burning
throats and eyes, 901 started its return to Waterfront, where it finally got clearance to leave at
20:30. It was followed at 21:37 by 902 and eight
cars, and then at 22:32 by a combined “J train”
consisting of 903 and ten cars, with 904 and four
cars coupled behind.
WCE 906 and its train stayed overnight at the
VIA shops, and with only four trainsets returning to Mission City that evening, there were
only four westbound departures the following
morning, with the earliest train being cancelled.
Only 31 cars were in service that morning, com-

pared with the usual 41. (Corwin Doeksen/
TransLink)

manufacturer.
TransLink had been leasing the building since
2012 to serve as the site for refurbishing the
original 114 Mark I SkyTrain cars. It bought the
building in December 2014 and has also spent
$309,000 on restoring the rail connection with
its adjacent Operations & Maintenance Centre
yard, as well as adding a paint booth.
(Vancouver Sun)

A new TransLink chief executive is
All three elevators at Metrotown sta-

tion in Burnaby were taken out of service on
February 26 while the station undergoes a substantial renovation that will take a year to complete.

To provide access for those needing an elevator
to reach the platforms, a HandyDART bus shuttle is operating between Metrotown and Patterson, the next station to the west, with shuttles
leaving each station every 20 minutes.
(TransLink)

TransLink paid $13.9 million to pur-

chase the former Bombardier facility in Burnaby
where the first batch of Mark II cars was assembled from 2001 to 2002.
The province had bought the facility from Bombardier after the company did not win a fiveyear contract to maintain the cars it had built.
This was a provision of Bombardier’s agreement
with the province.
The B.C. government later sold the facility,
which was then used for some time by a clothing

being recruited, following the removal of Ian
Jarvis from that post on February 11.
Announcing the change, TransLink chair Marcella Szel said: “TransLink must restore public
confidence, and new leadership is the first step.”
The change came in the run-up to the plebiscite
on a 0.5% increase in the provincial sales tax to
fund expansion of TransLink’s services. A common theme from opponents of the tax increase
has been distrust of the agency’s senior management and criticism of its past record of allegedly
not operating cost-efficiently.
Doug Allen was appointed to the job on an interim basis for up to six months, but he will not
seek the permanent job. Most recently, from
2011 to 2014, he had been chief executive of
InTransit BC, the private-sector consortium that
designed and built the Canada Line, and operates and maintains it through Protrans BC Operations Ltd. Earlier, he had been the deputy minister of various ministries of the B.C. government over a 15-year period.
TransLink’s official announcement said: “Ian
Jarvis has stepped aside as CEO to become an
advisor to the Board of Directors until the conclusion of his contract in June 2016. The Board
would like to extend its thanks to Mr. Jarvis,
who has served TransLink since 1999, and as
CEO since 2009. In the past three years, he has
delivered a net improvement of a quarter-billion
dollars to TransLink’s bottom line.” (TransLink)
Spring 2015 - Page 51

TransLink fared well in an academic analysis of messages about public transit posted by
users of the Twitter social media channel.

In an article titled "Planning and Social Media:
A Case Study of Public Transit and Stigma on
Twitter," published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, researchers found
that TransLink was the subject of more positive
comments than any of the other 10 North American transit agencies in the study. Portland’s TriMet and the Toronto Transit Commission
ranked second and third.
At the bottom of the rankings was Washington,
D.C., with Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago
also faring poorly. Rankings for New York, Los
Angeles and San Francisco’s BART system
were somewhat less negative.
The researchers noted that TransLink issues
about 90 “tweet” messages a day to interact with
its passengers. (Metro e-newsletter)

Port News
A raging chemical fire in a container at

Vancouver’s Centerm terminal burned
throughout the afternoon and evening of March
4, causing massive disruption to road and rail
transport and forcing nearby residents to stay
indoors.
The fire started in an imported container of
trichloroisocyanuric acid (Ed.: Say it quickly),
which is used as an industrial disinfectant and to
chlorinate swimming pools. The Vancouver fire
Page 52 - The Sandhouse

department was called at 13:40, responding with
more than two dozen firefighters in 10 trucks,
later reinforced by two fireboats.
Huge clouds of smoke billowed as firefighters
rained water down on the stack of containers
that included the one in which the fire started.
A partial evacuation zone was established
between Nanaimo and Main streets north of
Hastings Street, with nearby businesses advised
to close and send their employees home.
Residents south from Hastings to First Avenue
were told to keep their windows closed. The fire
chief lifted the “shelter in place” advisory
shortly before 18:00 and the fire was deemed to
be under control soon after. It was completely
extinguished by 20:00 on the following day,
more than 30 hours after it started.
Centerm and nearby port properties were
evacuated, and port operations on the south
shore of Burrard Inlet were shut down, including
rail and truck access. CPR moved most of its
locomotives away from the area and all West
Coast Express service was cancelled (see WCE
section, pages 50-51). No buses were allowed
to operate north of Broadway between Boundary
Road and Cambie Street.
Sixteen people were hospitalized with skin and
eye irritation, but all were released after
treatment. (Port Metro Vancouver/Vancouver
Sun)

A second-straight record year for Port

Metro Vancouver volumes was posted in 2014.
Overall tonnage reached 139.7 million tonnes,
which topped the record 135 million tonnes of
2013.
Import cargo rose 4.1% to 29 million tonnes,
while exports were up 3.3% to 111 million
tonnes.
The port handled 2,915,928 TEU (20-ft

equivalent) containers, which beat the previous
year’s record of 2,825,475, despite a 28-day
trucking strike in March.

at the West Coast Railway Heritage park in
Squamish. Both daytime and evening events are
planned. (WCRA News)

Loaded inbound containers increased by 6% per
cent, but loaded outbound containers dropped by
7%. Container lines shipped more empty
containers to Asia to meet higher demand for
inbound cargo and facilitate quicker turn-around
of ships recovering from scheduling delays as a
result of U.S. west coast port congestion.

Restoration of ex-CN FP9 6520 is a

Other annual records were set for dry bulk
tonnage (87.9 million tonnes), grain (23.3
million tonnes), and potash (7.5 million tonnes).

Ex-CN 2-8-0 No. 2141 is expected to re-

Bulk coal volumes remained strong, with greater
volumes shipped to several emerging markets.
Automotive volumes declined, largely due to a
shift in vehicle production from Asia to North
America. Breakbulk volumes also fell slightly,
owing to a decrease in log exports. (Port Metro
Vancouver)

priority for the WCRA, which has launched a
fundraising drive aimed at securing the $50,000
to $60,000 needed for the job. The goal is return
the 1957-built locomotive to full operating condition in its original appearance. Contact WCRA
at info@WCRA.org. (WCRA News)
turn to service in June. The Kamloops Heritage
Railway Society said the boiler overhaul work
should be completed in time for the special Canadian Northern centennial event on June 19 and
then will start its first operating season since
2012. KHRS said the City of Kamloops has
approved operating funding for this year’s season. (Kamloops This Week)

Special Events
The Canadian Northern centennial

event noted in the previous issue (page 45) will
be held in Kamloops on June 19 and 20.

Preservation
CPR locomotive 374 now graces the re-

verse side of a $100 gold coin issued by the
Royal Canadian Mint, surmounting a map of
Canada, with the bust of Prime Minister John A.
Macdonald looking on. The 14-karat coin commemorates the 200th anniversary of Macdonald’s birth. Price is $599.95.

Royal Hudson 2860 turns 75 this year
and its custodians, the West Coast Railway Association, will stage a birthday party on June 27

Activities on June 19 will include a trip behind
ex-CN 2-8-0 No. 2141, a tour of the Kamloops
Heritage Railway shops, a Friday evening dinner
event with guest speaker Barrie Sanford and
slide presentations, and a night photography
session.
On June 20, participants will tour the last spike
site at Basque, travelling in private car pools.
Registration fee is $25. For details, contact Les
Kozma at lkozma@telusplanet.net or 780-4054021. (WCRA News)

Spring 2015 - Page 53

Opinions expressed in The Sandhouse are those of the author concerned and are not necessarily those of the
PCD or CRHA. Brief excerpts of articles and news items may be used in other publications, provided The
Sandhouse and author are credited. Photographs may not be reproduced, in any form, without permission.
The Sandhouse is normally published once each quarter, in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and mailed
to paid-up members. Copies can also be purchased from the following retail outlets:
Central Hobbies, 2825 Grandview Hwy., Vancouver (604) 431-0771
Kelly’s Kaboose, 634 Victoria St., Kamloops
(250) 377-8510
All contributions are gratefully received, but are subject to editing. Please send all news items, photos and
articles to the Editor, care of the Division address (see page 2).

Ian Smith — Editor

Parting Shot

The unofficial commemorative drumhead sign for the Canadian’s 60th anniversary is seen
at Jasper during the eastern leg of its cross-country odyssey on April 25 (see page 47).
Page 54 - The Sandhouse

Canadian Railroad Historical Association, Pacific Coast Division
P.O. Box 1006, Station A Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2P1

WE INVITE YOU TO JOIN US
Get together with fellow railway enthusiasts and take part in the varied activities of
the CRHA's Pacific Coast Division.
We meet nine times a year on the 3rd Thursday of the month (see below)
 Meetings feature slide shows, video programs, talks by railway officials and writers on railway
subjects, and the opportunity to socialize with other railway enthusiasts.

 We publish The Sandhouse, a quarterly journal on B.C. railway matters. Membership dues
include a subscription.

 We operate a museum in the preserved Fraser Mills CPR station at Heritage Square.
 We're restoring a CP Rail caboose at Heritage Square.
We hope you'll join us. Please send your address details (name, full address, phone number, e-mail),
together with your payment, to our postal address or bring it to one of our regular meetings.
Annual dues are: $30 for Canadian residents; $30 U.S. for U.S. residents and $40 Overseas

Pacific Coast Division’s regular meetings
are held on the third Thursday of each
month (except July, August and
December) at

Heritage Square, Place Des Arts
1120 Brunette Avenue
Coquitlam, B.C.
Informal socializing starts at 7:15 p.m.
Presentations begin at 7:30 p.m.

Spring 2015 - Page 55

It was 20 years ago this May . . .

Page 56 - The Sandhouse