Canadian Railroads > Two Trains in One Day on BC Rail

I made a trip up the Squamish Sub on Nov 9. The plan was to catch train 571 going north. Its been quite a few years since I went this way for freight trains. It's not the same as the BC Rail days that's for sure. As luck would have it train 546, heading south, and 571, heading north, departed Squamish withing 10 minutes of each other. I chased 546 for a ways because of the power then turned north to catch up to 571 from Whistler north.

Train 546 the daily North Vancouver - Squamish turn recently had to assume switching duties in Squamish and now often returns to North Vancouver in the daylight.

1 & 2. Train 546 heading south past Britannia beach. This part of the Squamish Sub was all in shadow this time of day. I played around with these two images to lighten them up a bit. I didn't want to follow this train to far south because 571 was getting away northbound.

2a. I added this shot near Porteau. Still all in shadow this early in the day.

TO member Loleta Fernbridge caught this same train arriving in North Vancouver about an hour later. It was a respectable 69 cars today. You can see Loleta's photos at:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,2914684



cp1400


edit: to add photo 2a and correct train numbers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 20:12 by cp1400.

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Train 571 had climbed through Chekamus Canyon and was just topping the hill at Whistler (Mons siding) when I caught up to it.

3. Coasting down the hill towards Pemberton, train 571 is just north of Wedge. Six units and about 30 cars, three of which will be placed on the spur at Mount Currie.

4. In the Pemberton Valley north of Pemberton and a few miles from Mount Currie.

5. Topping Birken summit passing Gates Lake at the north switch Birken.


cp1400



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/12/12 20:12 by cp1400.

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6. Nice to see a genuine BC Rail unit on home territory. BCOL 4603 along with CN 8844 and 8902 were the train 546 power the day before as noted by loleta a little further down in this same thread:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,2914684


7. Reaching the bottom of the 2.2% hill from Birken to Darcy.


8. In Lillooet the three trailing units were set out and they managed to get in the way of the daily Kaoham Shuttle as it tried to depart for Seaton.


cp1400



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/12 23:42 by cp1400.

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Very nice, thanks for posting.
With the possibility that train 568 may get eliminated, you may have seen one of the last of those six-unit northbound runs.

L.F.

What does 568 do and why might it be eliminated?

568 runs from Lillooet to Squamish, and its three units typically return back north as part of the consist of train 571 as seen in cp1400's photos. If 568 is abolished, then 570/571 will have their usual three units.

-L.F.

riffian Wrote:
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> What does 568 do and why might it be eliminated?

No photos,

But it is 571 northbound, and 570 comes south.

And very good photos!

A 6 unit northbound is still possible, as the 570 usually ties up at Squamish.

The units could be aded to 571 depending on timing.

611

Thanks for the comments gentleman. I have duly edited the train number to 571 for the northbound.


cp1400

The Kaoham Shuttle sounds like a fun ride, I've done some reading up on it, has anybody here on the board ridden it?