Canadian Railroads > CN Carferry "Canora" ,Victoria BC, 1972

The CN's Vancouver Island trackage was built by the Canadian Northern Railway.

To connect this trackage to that on the BC mainland, CNor had the steam carferry "Canora".

Here she is in 1972 being broken up in Victoria's inner harbour. The CN's Pointe Ellice yard is across the harbour. Although much of CN's Vancouver Island trackage was intact in 1972, including a short lived tourist operation called Victoria Pacific, by the time this image was taken, CN in Victoria was basically a terminal switching railway.

Never knew it existed. Did any CN trackage on Vancouver Island touch any of CP's ?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> Never knew it existed. Did any CN trackage on
> Vancouver Island touch any of CP's ?


Yes, there was an interchange in Victoria.
Elsewhere, CN crossed over (on trestles) CP/E&N at Koksilah and Lake Cowichan.
At Koksilah, it was the CN branch to Cowichan Bay crossing over the CP/E&N mainline. At Lake Cowichan, the CN mainline crossed over the CP/E&N Lake Cowichan Branch.

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

I assume never any CN passenger service, such as from a Doodlebug ?

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> I assume never any CN passenger service, such as
> from a Doodlebug ?


The trail built on parts of the CN right of way in Victoria is called the "doodlebug trail" with the profile of an early self propelled railcar on the signage.

I've never figured out if this was on the Victoria & Sidney (a GN subsidiary) , some of whose trackage in the Victoria area was taken over by CN, or on former CNor trackage.

A person who was on board the "Canora" described an ornate passenger lounge which had not been used for many years but was preserved for many years inside the ship.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/14 18:50 by eminence_grise.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> I assume never any CN passenger service, such as
> from a Doodlebug ?

Yes, there was passenger service using a gas-powered car.

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON