The Legislature Raids

"It's the link between the Port of Vancouver and the rest of our North American network. It would see in the range of about 30 trains a day."

Does this mean the old line through Seton Portage - Squamish - North Van is now unavailable except to Christy and Gordo's pal and his elitist offshore tourist oriented Mountaineer?
 

the BCR line now owned by CN was never a "transcontinental" line, that means the mainlines through the Fraser Canyon and they've ALWAYS been busier than the BC Rail mainline. Yeah they could reroute stuff via the Yellowhead and PG to use the line through Lillooet/Seton Portage....but 30 trains a day? Not viable on that route, and Whistler would freak to have dangerous goods coming through it that many times a day....
 

How strange is that?

Campbell sold the no good for nothing BCR, which was losing money by the trainloads. And, C.N. are running thirty trains a day on that track???

I think the BC Liberals need to cough up the money, for the no good BCR and the priceless BCR real estate, Campbell thieved and sold. After all, those assets belonged to the BC people.

Can you imagine Harper, sending that total lying, thieving criminal of a Campbell, as ambassador to England? But then again, Harper had a convicted felon working for him.

They had better watch Campbell, he may thieve and sell, England's entire marine fleet. He may even, re-arrange their trains too, and sell them to the C.N.

I am just so outraged by the, rot and corruption in this country, because of the likes, of Harper, Campbell and the BC Liberals.

I loved the old, beautiful Royal Hudson steam engine. I had many trips, with that old steam train.

My six brothers at one time, all worked on the C.N. and the BCR. One brother had a long play record of all the, steam engine train whistles. I used to know all of them. Off the mile board, the crossings, the water tower whistles.

I still have a brother who is long retired now, he works with the old steam engine in Kamloops. Many years ago he was a fireman, on the old steamers.

I have heard years of railroad stories. Most of them very funny.

Selling the C.N. and the B.C.R... Is part of something going on in this country, that I don't want to even think about.
 

Ashcroft B.C. will be the inland port terminal. They are expanding Port of Prince Rupert. The C.N. will carry the goods to Ashcroft B.C. That will be the storage terminal. Those good's, mostly from China, will be moved by the shorter haul trains. The BCR being one of the shorter hauls.

The big, grain, potash and other heavy trains, will bypass the smaller subs. The C.N. crews will hand off the heavy trains to the C.P.R. crews, to haul the freight going to Vancouver. That way, they don't have to switch off trains, it makes the haul much faster.

Same as the C.P crew will haul the freight from Van. The C.N. crews pick up the train, and haul the freight the rest of the way.

They are also expanding the yard at Prince George. Sounds to me like, there are going to be new mines opened in the north, and there are the gas fields.

And of course, the rail lines also go to the U.S. and will carry on to Mexico.

Wikileaks has said, the N.A.U. is no rumor, but a fact. That is why all the re-arrangements of rail all freight ways. The U.S. is also re-arranging, all of their freight rail lines.
 

My point was that at one time the BCR was a "real" railroad that carried freight and passengers who merely wanted to get from point A to point B. I rode it myself three or four decades ago. There is a difference between a "real" railroad accessible to shippers and normal people and a "tourist" oriented high end destination ride that depends on clientele from abroad with reams of cash going for a high end experience.

Trains are the most practical and greenest way to move people and goods long distances and only lost out in the "marketplace" due to unfair competition from the SUBSIDIZED highway system that encouraged evermore use of cars, trucks and petroleum to benefit Detroit, and Detroit's Ontario annex and the Oil Industry whose face is Dick Cheney.

Interestingly the greatest blogger in BC, if not on earth has a weepy story defending his bud Peter Armstrong re: his battle with his employees, which I am uninformed about. I do know that when I was growing up (and riding trains across the continent on occasion) that people worked for the railroad for MANY decades, be it CPR, BCR, the BNSF or Pacific Northern and were happy and felt respected and well compensated. Today, no one apparently deserves compensation at all unless they are the financial masters of the universe, like bankers, brokers, hedge fund managers or corporate CEOs and for them the sky isn't even a limit - even if they fail and drive their company into bankruptcy, which will be made whole by the taxpaying teachers, health care workers and other working stiffs who also need to give up their pensions and sacrifice wages and benefits while they are saving those too big to fail.
 

@Gloria and others: there's some confusion here between this bridge on the old CNR transcontinental mainline which crosses the Fraser at Lytton and the "new" CNR "transprovincial" line which crosses the Fraser at Lillooet; there is 60 miles in between the two of them, and no connection between them....the Lillooet crossing never, to my knowledge, saw thirty trains a day...the reference is ONLY to the old mainline, this has nothing to do with BCR tracks, or a BCR bridge (the Lillooet crossing is a concrete span, not even sure if it has timbers....).
 

My recollection of the unfortunate 'accident' that took the lives of two experienced railroad men, is that CN was using lighter model 'prairie' type engines with less braking power than would normally be used in mountainous steep grade situations.

Why CN made the change is not clear, but I believe they have since returned to using the trains with the superior braking system required in the mountains.

That tragedy was predictable and preventable, and I do not know if CN ever acknowledged their culpability or responsibilty.

No doubt financial considerations were their main motivation.
 

Right Skookum.

I was thinking, the run through, Pemberton, Whistler to Squamish. I couldn't vision, huge heavy trains of grain, tankers and potash, even with ten robots, handling the grade, twists and turns, on the BCR track. I didn't think of that first.

The CN train crews used to call those heavy trains, pigs. They used to be slow and tedious.

It is a good thing, there were no trains on the bridge. The Fraser River has enough locomotives and train cars in it.

My brother was on, Disasters of the Century. He had missed his call. There was a troop train carrying soldiers, who were on their way to the war in Korea. His train collided with another train. The engineer and fireman were killed, along with the death of seventeen soldiers, and other passengers. My brother was an engineer.

This was in 1950, when the locomotives were steam engines. If he wouldn't have missed his call, he wouldn't be here to-day. He always felt so badly about, the engineer that did die.
 

I worked on a Steel-Gang while in school. I remember one fire caused by sparks from a train. And Lytton is bone-dry at this time of year.

Concrete ties can replace wood. Although they could add excess weight to a bridge. Use of non-flammables would solve the problem.
 

As required, RBC will change the rail terminals over which shipments are moved. And true that trains are very helpful that serves as main transportation before.