Canadian Railroads > CN detour on the Squamish and Lillooet Subs.

Last month's floods, landlsides, and washouts in BC caused CN to briefly reopen the former BC Rail line between Squamish and Williams Lake to handle some diverted traffic. Here is northbound train 571 crossing the Cheakamus River a few miles south of Garibaldi.

Loleta Fernbridge

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Very nuce!  Too bad only a short time.

Bob

Fantastic shot of a place not easy to get to if I remember correctly. Well Done !

Awesome photo. How many trains went this way?

Posted from Android

P Wrote:
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> Awesome photo. How many trains went this way?

There were four trains in each direction from November 24 to December 9.

railsmith Wrote:
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> P Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Awesome photo. How many trains went this way?
>
> There were four trains in each direction from
> November 24 to December 9.

That works out to a train every other day. Surprised they actually spent the money to reopen the line.  (Inspections and such.)

PHall Wrote:
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> railsmith Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > P Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Awesome photo. How many trains went this way?
> >
> > There were four trains in each direction from
> > November 24 to December 9.
>
> That works out to a train every other day.
> Surprised they actually spent the money to reopen
> the line.  (Inspections and such.)

It wasn't smooth sailing, as this line had its own washout issues, although none as severe as on the main canyon routes. For example, the second southbound train was en route toward Lillooet on November 30 and was held there on December 1 after a washout took place at Mile 101, some 56 miles to the south. Later that day it made its way south to Creekside (Mile 106.5) in anticipation of the washout being repaired, but did not pass through Squamish until about 18:00 on December 4.

These trains carried the "ex-BC Rail" traffic normally handled by Trains 354/355 between Prince George and Thornton Yard, Surrey, via Kamloops.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/22 01:26 by railsmith.

Perhaps CN should re-think this and keep this little back door open.......Relying totally on the route from Kamloops to Vancouver (with directional trackage with CP let alone weather and other issues that could occur) could always be problematic. 

jp1822 Wrote:
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> Perhaps CN should re-think this and keep this
> little back door open.......Relying totally on the
> route from Kamloops to Vancouver (with directional
> trackage with CP let alone weather and other
> issues that could occur) could always be
> problematic. 

It is open in the sense that it has not been formally abandoned and CN is therefore required to perform regular inspections. One issue, though, is that operating crews lose their qualification to run a route after six months absence (I believe that's the duration, corrections welcome) and therefore have to requalify when an emergency arises, meaning that the route cannot be reactivated immediately.

how could CN abandon it ?

Great pic!!

dan Wrote:
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> how could CN abandon it ?

CN can go through the standard federal discontinuance (abandonment) proceedings, if it wishes. It is doing so with much of the Takla Subdivision, 193.5 miles in all. Those proceedings began in 2019.

Permission to discontinue does not mean CN would take possession of the underlying land, which is owned by the B.C. government. But it would relieve CN of its obligations to inspect the line as per Transport Canada regulations.

Fantastic foto!
Craig
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