Canadian Railroads > RMR's Whistler Train

Given the choice, I'd rather photograph freight trains than passenger trains, especially when the passenger train looks like a thousand-foot-long corkscrew. But here on CN's lightly used Squamish Sub., you take what you get. And since the Whistler train in its current form--north in the morning and south in the afternoon, five days per week--is in its last season, I'll probably photograph it a lot. Here are some recent efforts:
1. The morning northbound, train 611, winds through Cheakamus Canyon north of Squamish.
2. 8013 south approaches the north switch of Cheakamus.
3. The same train on a different day at Garibaldi.

Loleta Fernbridge

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4. Here's the northbound RMR at Britannia.
5. At the end of the day, after unloading the passengers, the crew wyes the train in North Vancouver. Here it is beneath a massive new crane at Seaspan's shipyards.

- L.F.

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Has CN signaled that line?

Not signalled. If your are referring to the signals in image 2, they are signals for "dual control, self restoring switch" at sidings located on the heavy grades. The crew can line in or out of the siding, once the movement is cleared and complete the switches automatically restore to the "normal position" ie main track and these switches are NOT controlled by the RTC (train dispatcher). Trains on the heavy grade don't have stop to line the switch. These switches were installed when BC Rail went cabooseless.  At one point the switches had DTMF tones and could be lined via locomotive radio. Doug



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/15 10:29 by hoggerdoug.

I love photographing passenger trains, but I wouldn't waste a single pixel on a train that looks like a World War I dazzle-painted troop transport.

Art House
Gettysburg, Pa.

Though the train may look hideous the ride to Whistler is spectacular especially along the river. Glad I did it and am sorry to hear of the demise of this route.

I may be the only one, but I like the look.