1.
Halifax-Montreal
To go to previous page click here
VANCOUVER ISLAND
FRIDAY
1st AUGUST
From
the car ferry could be seen Mount Baker in Washington state - an extinct volcano
covered in snow and 10778 feet high. The sea was beautifully calm and I spent the
whole of the time on deck. The journey through the islands must rank as one of the
most beautiful I’ve ever made- narrow channels, mountains, blue seas etc.
On docking near Victoria the bus headed straight downtown and dropped me off
right outside the hotel door.
|
|
An RDC railcar arrives at Victoria and passes over the lifting bridge
I went down to the VIA station of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo line and saw the two car Budd RDC train come in from Courtenay. The raiilway and road cross the harbour on a lifting bridge . Float planes were continually landing and taking off from the harbour, including a small airliner. In the evening I went for a walk around the town - the whole place, as the guidebooks say, is more English than an English town. The architecture is pure Victorian and if it were not for the roads it could be in the UK. I walked around the park and saw a display of country dancing, but decided not to join in despite the notice inviting people to do just that. Then I wandered round the harbour and listened to a Scottish piper- I even left him a dollar!
|
|
Victoria harbour with a float plane landing
SATURDAY
2nd AUGUST
|
|
The RDC 2-car unit about to leave Victoria for Courtenay
I took
the Victoria to Nanaimo train leaving at 08.15. On the outskirts of Victoria was
a small roundhouse and some evidence of freight traffic. The line is owned by
CP. The train passed the naval dockyard at Esquimalt before starting the climb
from Langford to the summit at Malahat 650’ above sea level.
 |
The
line crosses the Niagara Canyon (260 feet deep) which uses a bridge originally on
the CP mainline to Vancouver at Cisco in the Fraser Canyon. Next comes the
crossing of the Arbutus Canyon on a curved trestle 220 feet high. The line then
descends 900 feet to Duncan. Here there were dozens of totem poles and Indian
products on sale. At Chemainus the line reaches the coast and there is B.C.'s
largest sawmill. The factory used to have extensive logging lines and a steam
loco is preserved by the line. Several large ships were anchored in the bay.
Just before Nanaimo the line runs through a former coal mining area with speed
restrictions due to subsidence.
On the
approach to Nanaimo a line to the ferry terminal branched off to the east.
Another freight only line to the west went off into the forests. The conductor
told us at Nanaimo that we had ten minutes to go to the cafe across the street
for coffee! He told me that the freightcars carrying mainly timber products came
over on the train barge from Vancouver and there is a six days a week freight
service. There are apparently 3 GP9s for the heavy timber trains, one for the
main line pick up freight and on used at the ferry terminal. The passenger
service only operates because a treaty require it to be operated in perpetuity.
|
|
The RDC at the Courtenay terminus before returning to Victoria
At Parksville tank cars are kept for fighting forest fires. The line crossed over the 1045 feet long French Creek trestle. I phoned home from a rail employee’s mobile phone at Courtenay, the Bell phone being out of order - now that is customer care. We left after a 30 minute turnround at 13.15. 1 left the train at Nanaimo and walked into the town to catch the coach back to Vancouver. On the coach I heard a considerable amount of "native" language being spoken by people of obvious Indian extraction.
|
|
The "Queen of Oak Bay arrives at the Nanaimo ferry terminal
Because of the holiday weekend (B.C.Day) the ferry was delayed because of heavy traffic so the bus had to wait about 40 minutes. The ship was "Queen of Oak Bay". The view across the Strait of Georgia to the B.C. mountains became progressively more stunning as the ship neared the mainland. Several cruise ships were seen - Vancouver is a major cruise port for sailings to Alaska.
|
|
The Lions Gate Suspension Bridge at Vancouver
To return to top of page click here
For locomotive observation for this section click here
|
|