Page 17 - May June 2007

world­class winter sports resort. Pemberton has a place to eat and good views of Wedge Mountain.
Hwy 99 carries on over the mountains with a hairpin bend posted for 14 km/ hour maximum speed, and an exhilarating descent down Cayoosh Creek to Lillooet on the Fraser River. North of Lillooet, the line climbs to Horse Lake, the grade being 2.2% for 34 miles (beating the 27 miles up from Penticton to Chute Lake on the CPR Kettle Valley–Crows Nest Line).
Anyway, there were good camera sites to catch the train leaving Squamish with a huge rock named Stawamus The Chief in the background, and passing Porteau Cove where road and rail curve round a rocky cliff. At Squamish, passengers coming by ship changed places with train travellers in order to experience both modes of transport. The Pacific Coast is very often wet, by the way, and may also be foggy.
The BC Rail line was not, of course, built at vast expense to please passengers, although it ran a daily RDC service to Lillooet (157.7 miles from N Vancouver) and thrice weekly to Prince George (462.5 miles). The rest of the 1000 miles or more was freight only, often having six 3000 hp diesels pulling a mile­long train loaded with lumber, woodchips, minerals or sulphur. Four diesels were stationed at Pemberton (94.7 miles) to act as mid­ train ‘pushers’ in both directions. Now that Canadian National has taken over, heavy freights have been diverted via Red
Pass Junction and Kamloops, so the pushers are no longer needed.
The Howe Sound & Northern Railway started from Squamish in 1909 and changed its name to Pacific Great Eastern in 1912, having no connection with a similarly named UK line. In 1914 a railcar service began from N Vancouver to Whitecliff through what are now the suburbs of West Vancouver. That line was abandoned in 1928 and residents were amazed when told in 1949 to remove their garages, swimming pools etc from the right of way. Through traffic began in 1956, when residents objected to diesel horns blaring for grade crossings, and they got them banned.
But when Royal Hudson No 2860 arrived in 1974 the public were asked for their opinion, and a large majority voted in favour of that melodious chime whistle. Before 1956 everything went by ship or barge to Squamish and then behind a small number of 2­8­0s and 2­8­2s, and later light diesels. Diesel liveries were orange at first, then two­tone green and finally red, white and blue stripes. Few PGE or BC Rail locos survive today, but 2­6­2T #2 from 1910 is preserved at the West Coast Museum.
The Pacific Great Eastern was known as the ‘Prince George, Eventually’ or the ‘Please Go Easy!’ because it took so long to get there. Prince George was not reached until 1952 but the far north, close to the Yukon, gave up its wealth at last and the name was changed to
‘Progressively Greater Earnings’. Freight cars retained the PGE markings after the change to BC Rail in 1972.
Passenger cars and cabooses were highly individualistic, and they are shown to good effect in Adolf Hungry Wolf's ‘Route of the Caribou’ (1994 Canadian Caboose Press, ISBN 0­920698­37­9).
Overland brass models have included some colourful but expensive PGE and BC Rail items. Apart from boxcars, I don’t know of any good decals to suit, but new items appear frequently these days and it would be foolish to say they are unobtainable. A sense of adventure and willingness to overcome a challenge make things good fun, or so I’m told. But with or without models, I’d recommend a visit to the West Coast Museum at Squamish, any time. It is short on steam locomotives but it does have atmosphere.
And how did the golden age come to an end? A supermarket was opened at Park Royal and shoppers started staggering along the tracks as a short cut with all their shopping. So on my 1985 visit I found my favourite camera site ringed with substantial chain link fencing. About the same time a lovely Ford Anglia was no longer to be seen parked outside a residence near Denny’s. It must have been used for shopping trips, and had lasted so long because they don’t put salt on the streets in those parts. Now there’s a thought!
Rolling through the rain past Porteau Cove, southbound in the 1980s
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W Alan Corkill