The Pacific Great Eastern Railway was started in 1912 to run north of Squamish into the hills where there was endless tracts of forest. Later there would be dreams of grain from the north and coal from central BC.
Through the next 108 years there were the good times and the bad times but the railway survived. It is not until you strip everything away that you realize that it can no longer exist.
This is what has happened to the railway between Squamish and Williams Lake.
The founders had visions of big trees being brought out one section of log per car to the tidewater at Squamish where they would be boomed and towed to the sawmills in the city. This dream changed quickly as sawmills started to be built along the newly constructed line and processed lumber started to be shipped out on flat cars and in box cars.
Mining began to be a customer for the railway as people travelled up the line and began prospecting. Gold was found at the Pioneer mine at Bralorne and the mine shipped all the ore out and equipment was brought in by the railway. During the Great Depression the business from the pioneer mine kept the railway alive as all other industries had dropped off.
The railway saw the need to move people not only for work but tourism as many lodges had opened along the line. A passenger service was started right at the beginning of operation of the railway and was kept busy moving people not only from the big centres to outlaying areas but servicing all the small inaccessible locations along the line with mail service and supply runs.
In the times up to the 1950s the railway struggled with two issues. It stopped at Squamish with no connection to Vancouver other than the rail barge and at the north end the line stopped at Quesnel because it was deemed to expensive to build the bridge over the Cottonwood Canyon. This all changed when in 1952 the link to Prince George was completed and in 1956 when the link to North Vancouver was pushed through.
The dreams were back on and the push to transport the grain harvest to market was on. The endless tracts of forest all along the line that the founders envisioned were now finally accessible and the railway did its best to accommodate the movement of these products. The traffic volume increased year over year until the railway was so busy that it was borrowing equipment from other railways just to keep up. The transition from steam power to diesel power was happening at the same time and the newer diesel locomotives were able to pull the longer heavier trains.
The railway’s adaption to this new busy environment meant that it could not always use its own cars and would let other company cars on the line and just charge for hauling them around.
The dream of coal being shipped down the line and loaded onto ships at Squamish began in the 1960s. When an agreement was reached to mine coal at Tumbler Ridge in the early 1980s it was found to be easier to ship the coal to Prince Rupert and load onto ships there.
It is now 2020 and in the last 30 years the principles of running a railway have changed and the ideas of operating for the needs of the small customers has been overshadowed by the ease of operating trains that carry one product per train. This ensures less employee time making up trains and switching cars into industries.
The line from Squamish to Williams Lake is now closed and we shall see if there is enough need for it to be opened again in the future.
Trevor Mills is a railway historian
Larry Murray says
Well written piece, Thanks Trevor.
Rail has always fascinated me as my dad was a CPR conductor on the prisoner of war trains back in the 1940’s. Lots of stories there. Also grew up in North Bay Ontario where 3 rail lines intersected – CPR, CNR ONR – Ontario Northland.
Hope Trevor writes more such informative stories.
J. Singh Biln says
Great article, Trevor. I agree that we need more Railway historical articles from you. You are so knowledgeable about this fascinating Railway, I think you could write a book. I believe the interest in local history is there. Thanks.