(
AAR Reporting Mark s '''BCOL''' and '''BCIT'''), known as the '''British Columbia Railway''' between 1972 and 1984 and as the '''Pacific Great Eastern Railway''' ('''PGE'''; AAR reporting marks '''PGE''' and '''PGER''') before 1972, was a
Railway that operated in the
Canadian province of
British Columbia between 1912 and 2004. It was a
Class II regional railway and the third-largest in Canada, operating 2 320
Km (1,441
Mile s) of mainline
Track . It was owned by the provincial government from 1918 until 2004, when it was sold to
Canadian National Railway .
Chartered in 1912, the railway was acquired by the provincial government in 1918 after running into financial difficulties. A railway that ran "from nowhere, to nowhere" for over 30 years, neither passing through any major city nor
Interchanging with any other railway, it expanded significantly between 1949 and 1984. Primarily a
Freight railway, it also offered
Passenger service, as well as some excursion services, most notably the
Royal Hudson excursion train. The railway's operations were not always profitable, and its
Debt s, at times, made it the centre of political controversy.
The Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) was incorporated on
February 27 ,
1912 , to build a line from
Vancouver north to a connection with the
Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (GTP) at
Prince George . Although independent from the GTP, the PGE had agreed that the GTP, whose western terminus was at the remote northern port of
Prince Rupert , could use their line to gain access to Vancouver. The railway was given its name due to a loose association with
England 's
Great Eastern Railway . Its financial backers were
Timothy Foley ,
Patrick Welch and
John Stewart , whose construction firm of Foley, Welch and Stewart was among the leading railway contractors in
North America . Upon incorporation, the PGE took over the Howe Sound and Northern Railway, which at that point had built nine miles (15 km) of track north of
Squamish . The British Columbia government gave the railway a guarantee of principal and 4% interest (later increased to 4.5% to make the bonds saleable) on the construction bonds of the railway.
By 1915, the line was opened from Squamish 176 miles (283 km) north to
Chasm . The railway was starting to run out of money, however. In 1915 it failed to make an interest payment on its bonds, obliging the provincial government to make good on its bond guarantee. In the
1916 Provincial Election campaign, the
Liberal Party alleged that some of the money advanced to the railway for bond guarantee payments had instead gone into
Conservative Party campaign funds. In the election, the Conservatives, who had won every seat in the legislature in
1912 Election , lost to the Liberals. The Liberals then took Foley, Welch, and Stewart to court to recover $5 million of allegedly unaccounted funds. In early 1918, the railway's backers agreed to pay the government $1.1 million and turn the railway over to the government.
When the government took over the railway, two separate sections of trackage had been completed: A small section between
North Vancouver and
Horseshoe Bay , and one between Squamish and
Clinton . By 1921, the provincial government had extended the railway to a point 15 miles (24 km) north of
Quesnel , still 20 miles (32 km) south of a connection to Prince George, but it was not extended further. The track north of Quesnel was later removed. Construction of the line between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish was given a low priority because there was already a barge in operation between Squamish and
Vancouver , and the railway wanted to discontinue operations on the North Vancouver-Horseshoe Bay line. However, the railway had an agreement with the municipality of West Vancouver to provide passenger service that it was unable to get out of until 1928, when they paid the city $140,000 in support of its
Road -building programme. The last trains on the line ran on
November 29 ,
1928 , and the line fell into disuse, but was never formally abandoned.
For the next 20 years the railway would run from "nowhere to nowhere". It did not connect with any other railway, and there were no large urban centres on its route. It existed mainly to connect
Logging and
Mining operations in the British Columbia interior with the coastal town of Squamish, where resources could then be transported by sea. The government still intended for the railway to reach Prince George, but the resources to do so were not available, especially during the
Great Depression and
World War II . The unfortunate state of the railway caused it to be given nicknames such as "Province's Great Expense", "Prince George Eventually", "Past God's Endurance", and "Please Go Easy".
timetable from 1964.]]
Starting in 1949, the Pacific Great Eastern began to expand. Track was laid north of Quesnel to a junction with the
Canadian National Railways at Prince George. That line opened on
November 1 ,
1952 . Between 1953 and 1956 the PGE constructed a line between Squamish and North Vancouver. The PGE used their former right-of-way between North Vancouver and Horseshoe Bay, to the dismay of some residents of
West Vancouver who, mistakenly believing the line was abandoned, had encroached on it. The line opened on
August 27 ,
1956 . By 1958 the PGE had reached north from Prince George to
Fort St. John and
Dawson Creek .
In 1958, British Columbia
Premier W.A.C. Bennett boasted that he would extend the railway to the
Yukon and
Alaska , and further extension of the railway was undertaken in the 1960s. A 23 mile (37 km) spur was constructed to
Mackenzie . A third line was extended west from the mainline (somewhat north of Prince George) to
Fort St. James . It was completed on
August 1 ,
1968 . The largest construction undertaken in the 1960s was to extend the mainline from Fort St. John 250 miles (400 km) north to
Fort Nelson , less than 100 miles (160 km) away from the Yukon. The Fort Nelson Subdivision was opened by Premier Bennett on
September 10 ,
1971 . Unfortunately, the opening of the line was overshadowed by the inaugural train
Derailing south of
Williams Lake , south of Prince George.
The railway underwent two changes of name during this time period. In 1972, the railway's name was changed to the British Columbia Railway (BCR). In 1984, the BCR was restructured. Under the new organization, BC Rail Ltd. was formed, owned jointly by the British Columbia Railway Company (BCRC) and by a BCRC subsidiary, BCR Properties Ltd. The rail operations became known as BC Rail.
In 1973, the British Columbia government acquired and restored an ex-
Canadian Pacific Railway 4-6-4 Steam Locomotive of the type known as "
Royal Hudson s", a name that
King George VI permitted the class to be called after the
Canadian Pacific Railway used one on the royal train in 1939. The locomotive that the government acquired, numbered 2860, was built in 1940 and was the first one built as a Royal Hudson. The government then
Lease d it to the British Columbia Railway, which started excursion service with the locomotive between North Vancouver and Squamish on
June 20 1974 . The train ran between June and September on Wednesdays through Sundays.
In the 1960s, a new line had been projected to run northwest from Fort St. James to
Dease Lake , 412 miles (663 km) away. On
October 15 ,
1973 , the first 125 miles (201 km) of the extension to Lovell were opened. The cost of the line was significantly greater than what was estimated, however. Contractors working on the remainder of the line alleged that the railway had misled them regarding the amount of work required so that it could obtain low bids, and took the railway to court.
The Dease Lake line was starting to appear increasingly uneconomical. There was a world decline in the demand for
Asbestos and
Copper , two main commodities that would be hauled over the line. As well, the
Cassiar Highway that already served Dease Lake had recently been upgraded. Combined with the increasing construction costs, the Dease Lake line could no longer be justified. Construction stopped on
April 5 ,
1977 . Track had been laid to Jackson, 263 miles (423 km) past Fort St. James, and clearing and grading were in progress on the rest of the extension. It had cost
$ 168 million to that point, well over twice the initial estimate.
The management and operation of the railway had been called into question, and on
February 7 ,
1977 , the provincial government appointed a
Royal Commission , the McKenzie Royal Commission, to investigate the railway. Its recommendations were released on
August 25 ,
1978 . It recommended that construction not continue on the 149 miles (239 km) of roadbed between Dease Lake and the current end of track, and that trains be terminated at
Driftwood , 20 miles (33 km) past Lovell. The rest of the track would be left in place but not used. In 1983, after logging operations ceased at Driftwood and traffic declined sharply, the Dease Lake line was closed. However, it was reopened in 1991 and,
As Of 2005 , extends to a point called Chipmunk, still over 175 miles (281 km) south of Dease Lake. Many of the Commission's other recommendations, including the abandonment of the Fort Nelson line, and discontinuation of uneconomic operations such as passenger services, were not followed.
In the early 1980s the railway built a new line and acquired another. The Tumbler Ridge Subdivision, an 82 mile (132 km) owing to the long tunnels and close proximity to the
W. A. C. Bennett Dam and transmission lines, it was one of the few electrified
Freight lines in
North America . Although initially profitable, the traffic on the line was never as high as initially predicted, and by the 1990s was under one train per day. The railway had incurred much debt building the branch line, and the expensive, unprofitable operations on the branch line could not help to repay that debt. In 1984 BC Rail acquired the British Columbia Harbours Board Railway, a 23 mile (37 km) line that connects three
Class I Railways with
Roberts Bank , an ocean terminal that handles coal shipments. Since the line had been constructed in 1969, it had previously been leased to
CP Rail ,
Burlington Northern Railroad , and Canadian National Railway in succession.
In the early 1990s, the provincial government reduced subsidies to BC Rail. As a result, BC Rail, burdened with several money-losing services that it was required to operate, saw its debtload grow more than sixfold between 1991 and 2001.
