Canadian Railroads > A Sunny Southbound 570 On BC Rail

This past Sunday March 11th, a few fans were out along the former BC Rail Squamish sub, taking advantage of the sunny weather and the last remnants of Winter. Loletas nice coverage of northbound CN 571, was highlighted in his post here: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4506711. Due to the 571s time out of Squamish, a lot of the decent northbound spots were backlit.

Our own pursuit of 571 would take us up to D'arcy, at the edge of Anderson Lake, with word that counterpart 570 was on it's way. A plan was in place for the two trains to meet at Birken. Our arrival in D'arcy found us a bit of time, allowing us to explore options for shooting 570. We would come across Highline Road, which goes to Seton, Shalath and eventually Lillooet. A short drive up this road would find a view of the right of way and the lake. From here the chase would be on.

1-3). The first three views show 570 lead by 8863 and 8024, skirting the last little bit of Anderson Lake. Barely visible is the rockshed structure of the tunnel portal at MP 125.6. In image three mid trains 8885 and 2285 can be seen above a retaining wall.

CP5702

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4). Passing a frozen Gates Lake on the approach to Birken. The mountains provide a nice dramatic backdrop.

5-6). Not far from the last image, we see the meet taking place at the north switch Birken. Whats unusual in this image is the northbound holding the main, whilst the southbound runs through the siding. Under BC Rail and continued by CN, the normal is to have northbounds in the siding, whilst the heavy southbounds continue on the main. For whatever reason, the RTC decided the opposite on this date. Needless to say, 570s crew voiced their displeasure.

CP5702



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/18 23:50 by CP5702.

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7). On the approach to the north end of Creekside. Noticeable in many spots were ties along the right of way. With Spring around the corner work on replacements should be underway.

8-9). With a backdrop of more spectacular mountain scenery, 570 skirts a frozen Green Lake, north of Whistler. From here the sun would disappear behind us and we would call it a day.

Thanks for looking.

CP5702

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Great series and wonderful images. Doug

Simply WOW!

hoggerdoug Wrote:
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> Great series and wonderful images. Doug

Agreed! Also good to see that they're using DPUs now.

I'm from the south ,May only get to see this from pictures taken from grate people like yourself many Thanks

Excellent series!

Great shots!

Is the first one from the ground or a drone? Congrats on a well deserved IOTD.

march_hare Wrote:
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> Is the first one from the ground or a drone?
> Congrats on a well deserved IOTD.

Thanks. This was taken from the ground, using a 55-200 lens and shot a full 200.

CP5702

ATSF5669 Wrote:
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> Simply WOW!




Agreed. Some of the best I've seen here on TO.

First , # 1 is just great shot ! It deserved IOTD ! My first question is , I wonder how the crew guys feel when they are riding on the edge like that ? I don't believe I could get used to that .

GP30Frank Wrote:
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> First , # 1 is just great shot ! It deserved IOTD
> ! My first question is , I wonder how the crew
> guys feel when they are riding on the edge like
> that ? I don't believe I could get used to that .

There is a real pucker factor going around the terrain. One of my previous posts has some images and video clips.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?15,4324580,4324602#msg-4324602
Doug

No better image displays how railroads compliment the terrain vs. a highway!

Great stuff..!! Thanks...

I wonder how deep that water is, right off the tracks?  I would be a bit nervous running this line, and even more so at night time!

Congrats on the IOTD! What a beautiful place and a tough place to build a railroad. I was wondering what level of mountain climbing skill do you have?

BB

On May 5th, 2004 I elected to return to Lillooet from D'Arcy via the Highline "road" (note road is in quotes) rather than drive an hour the wrong way to get around the west/south end of the lake. Oh. My.

My then-girlfriend was with me and she spent a good portion of the ride with her eyes closed. At one point when we were high up on one of the ridges she peeked and asked "If we run off the road, is anyone ever going to find us?".

Me: "Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

She persisted.

I pointed to the lake far below and said "If a rock or tree stops us before we get to the lake, someone will find us - eventually. If we get to the lake, then probably not."

As I recall, I figured out it was 33 miles from D'Arcy to Lillooet as the crow flies. The drive took 3.5 hours. To this day one of my most white-knuckled driving experiences ever. And to this day I don't know what I would have done had I met a vehicle coming the opposite way between D'Arcy and Seton.