Canadian Railroads > BCR Northbound from Fountain to Pavilion

This is a long-delayed follow-up to a request from Mike N (Helo-Mech) in response to my post (12/02/16, in case I screw up pasting in the URL) of BCR at Pavilion at the following:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4172210
and also spurred by hoggerdoug's note in response to perklocal's post of 01/02/17 for MLW Monday of BCR M420s at: 
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4193442
indicating Overwaitea trailers on a train "VP" or #23. So, this series of four photos is of the same northbound train, with trailers on the head end. It's neat to think that after 16 years, thanks to hoggerdoug, I now know what number this train was.
1. As we came in from Cache Creek and were headed to Lillooet, we saw this northbound coming toward us across the valley. We drove close to where the highway underpasses the railroad at what I think is Fountain (corrections welcomed); the light was wrong at the underpass, but it works for my video-shooting buddy, and I put on the 200 mm lens to catch the train in the distance. The highway is inside the loop of track in this area. Power is 4617 and HLCX SD40-3 6061, at 0823 on July 12, 2000.
2. You can see that the highway has crossed over the tracks and is now outside the loop at a point I noted at the time as Gibbs. This station name is no longer in the Trackside Guide's listings for the Lillooet Sub (any comments?). The time is 0831; you can see the transition from Sultran gondolas (the second cut of cars) to lumber empties in the background. By the way, arwye had a fabulous shot at Gibbs on an MLW Monday a few weeks ago, 12/12/16; not enough people have taken a look at that one, which is a breathtaking view up the valley. It's at
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4178266
and I'll see if I can dig it up and paste it in during an edit before too many people have a look at this. His shot is from the overpass off-camera left, facing up the valley of a SB train, I believe.
3. Sorry for cliche locations, but this is Glenfraser, where the tracks cross under the highway to regain the outside position. This stretch is a train-chaser's paradise; my one regret is this is the only occasion I ever got on this line. The time is 0840, and the Overwaitea trailers are just gleaming on the head-end. My buddy is a Save-On store manager here in Edmonton, and he loved this train. Next are the Sultran gondolas, then lumber cars.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/17 22:47 by feclark.

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To finish off this sequence, we have:
4. The mid-train unit, 4614, perched on the tracks at Pavilion, at 0858. This is essentially the same location as my initial post of 12/02/16, although my memory is too foggy to say for certain where this sits relative to that earlier one. I'm going to guess it's not quite as far along. This stuff looks like a model railroad layout as far as the scale goes. Amazing location.
If anyone can clue me in to a way to leave a post hanging, go out and get something to paste in, then return before posting, I'd appreciate the tip. As it is, I'll see if I can find what I need and edit this post, post-haste.
Fred

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What a route.  Awesome scenery.  And it was ruined by a sale to Canadian National that had (and has) no interest in the property.

KG

Groceries headed for Prince George. Nice stuff !

perklocal Wrote:
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> Groceries headed for Prince George. Nice stuff !

​Possibly to as far as Dawson Creek.

​Agree - Nice!

Great photos, always awesome scenery and mixing trailers with freight cars was an interesting twist giving another reason to like the BCR as an independent road.

What are the cars behind the trailers? They look too big for coal cars, could be the giant chip cars but I don't recognize the lettering across the car sides.

Great stuff, thanks for posting.

BC Rail had an active trucking subsidiary, with warehouses and TOFC ramps at several stations along the line.

The Overwaitea trailers are destined for Pattison group food markets across northern BC.

​The cars behind are BCR trailers on flat cars. For awhile, Labatts brewery shipped beer in their own prominently lettered trailers but they became targets for theives.

One of life's mysteries is why the BC Government elected to sell off the profitable intermodal business before selling the entire railway.

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Here's a little insight into what happened. I worked at P.G.E. as a driver for two years before going to Safeway driving there for 38 years. B.C.R.. intermodal was always a thorn in the side of the B.C. Trucking Association. One time myself and another driver who came from P.G.E. /B.C.R. came across the B.C.T.A. "Christmas Wishlist' The #1 wish was to get rid if B.C.R. intermodal,and they lobbied the government hard. B.C.R. didn't do themselves any good by expanding their service into territories that wern't near their line Taking the beer haul to Kelowna away from B.C.T.A. member companies and hauling over the road caused howls of "they are using our tax dollars to take our jobs away" I think the writing was on the wall after these events, even though as you say it was a good service that probably should have stuck to it,s "Railway Roots" One mans opinion. Cheers Greengrocer

TCnR Wrote:
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> What are the cars behind the trailers? They look
> too big for coal cars, could be the giant chip
> cars but I don't recognize the lettering across
> the car sides.

The first hopper looks like a stray CN coal gon but the black cars behind it are for sulphur (and are lettered for Sultran) These cars are likely headed for loading at Pinesul BC.

-Trevor