By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: July 2, 2013
“Here,” says Trevor Mills as he slides his finger on a warren of downtown Squamish streets on a fragile map of Squamish from the early 20th century.
“This is where it all started, the railway from nowhere to nowhere.”
Look closely on his disintegrating map and you will see a snaking symbol of railway tracks, only 11 miles long, from downtown Squamish to Paradise Valley.
This was the ‘impossible railway’ built by the sweat, dreams and tears of railway pioneers who paved the track for PGE Railway, which finally morphed into BC Rail, taken over by CN few years ago.
Now, only maps will mark that history. [manual_related_posts]
This May, CN Rail removed the railway switch that brought the tracks into downtown Squamish, silently closing a chapter in a long and storied history of railways in Squamish and the province.
As luck would have it, rail historian Trevor Millis was around when the tracks were removed, and he was able to click a few pictures of the tracks being removed.
“This is the last piece of the original railway, and it had a role to play in the opening up of the interior of B.C.” he says.
Millis says the decision to remove the switch was shortsighted, as the rail line could have been used for transportation with the town, or even to promote tourism down the line.
After all, it was a futuristic vision that first brought entrepreneurs that would pave the way for railway development in the province.
The first tracks in downtown Squamish, about 11 miles in length, were laid out by entrepreneurs to transport logs and other raw products from the Paradise Valley to downtown Squamish, from where they could be moved to Vancouver by ships.
Later, the government took over the railway, using the rail network for business and tourism.
In 1974, the Royal Hudson made its first trip to downtown Squamish, introducing hordes of tourists to the beauty of Squamish.
But the rail tracks have receded along with industry, making downtown Squamish a more suburban place.
Last September, the Reporter wrote about district plans to remove the rail spur in downtown Squamish, a move that presaged the district acquiring a property from BC Rail.
With the latest removal of the switch to downtown Squamish , the possibilities of transportation or tourism are further reduced.
In 2007, the West Coast Railway museum ran a car down into downtown Squamish.
The association has advocated for the retention of the tracks along downtown, on the basis that they could be used to connect the end waterfront development with downtown and up to the Heritage Park with a streetcar or light rail car,” Don Evans told the Reporter last year.
“With this infrastructure now going, this will not be a possibility.”
Dave says
No, no, Trevor and Don; they are gone. Now the track where the track ran should be cleaned up. The alder scrub should be removed, the weeds eliminated and the town will look much better. You have your photos. We all have the history but time to move on and get the downtown enhanced. My opinion!
Don’t get me wrong, I have as much a sense of History as you and covet it but we need to be realistic. Let us not be “town hoarders” to the detriment of sensible progress.
Don Patrick says
There was realism in the air when the street car rails were removed in and around Vancouver… the interurban etc… now what is the thot of the day. Like 400 bikes and 10,000 cars with time being wasted on decisions for the self serving. In 20 years the areas from SODC to Estates could be solid urban and also could be under water… so who is to say ?
Dave says
Don, I detect a lament in your comment which many of us over sixty tend to echo, but the young follow and their needs must be served. Otherwise we would still be using horses and carts or walking in front of a steam driven car with a red flag at five miles an hour. We can preserve our History in so many ways now and still move on. Populations are growing and things need to be paid for.
Yes Downtown may well be under water soon so that is why we should look to the whole valley and it’s higher elevations too. But while there are people shrilly calling for downtown enhancement, let us focus on a progressive, future looking path with optimism in the meantime.
Patricia Marini says
Yes by all means let us keep progressing! Hopefully we can get CN ‘s engineers to stop blowing that @#$% whistle 22 times, one night at 2 am. Please some people get up and go to work, how about a little Coperate consideration for the towns people.
Nick Tattersfield says
should we be like White Rock where stealthy quiet trains can mow down pedestrians?
Glen Andersen says
Apparently Warren Buffet, a conservative investor believes in the future of rail, so don’t count out your chickens yet. That aside , at the very least , could the switcher mechanism not at least be saved as a post-industrial public sculpture reminding of the early days of Newport and its dependence on rail. Then , with a little imagination, extend the celebration with a track sculpture which ascends beanstalk-like upwards into Oblivion as a spiraling vertical sculpture of curved rails welded and supported dramatically , like homage to the glorious industrial past upon which this town was founded. Without relics of the past, we are doomed to forget our origins.
Ted Avery says
I have relatives in squamish and have visited lots since 1979. The railways have been a major interest to me including the heritage railway park. It has irked me for years that the track into downtown has lain in disrepair and neglect for so
Long and I feel it’s had its day. But look to the UK where we have groups and communities who have laboured long and hard to have railways closed by Dr. Beeching reopened and many of these are now flourishing again both as commercial concerns and heritage railways. With some positive forethought by town council these tracks could still have been used by the heritage railway to the benefit of tourism. A small tram or steam train run into downtown would have benefitted both the heritage railway and downtown Squamish.. when I visited in August this year it was nice to see so many young people around town with their families, but these are today’s workers with not much spare cash to spend, whereas the senior tourists (and some younger ones) who would be attracted to a railway into downtown do have the spare cash. Look at the Sea to Sky Gondola. It’s pulling them in from all over the globe.
So my view is a golden chance has been lost, and once property is built on the land there is no going back. At least here in the UK a lot of our closed railways left trackbed that could be reused as has happened in numerous places.
At least you still have a wonderful heritage railway park and long may it reign,but a little assistance from local elected representatives could have made it even more a big attraction.
yours
Ted Avery.