Vancouver Island Track Extension
I had visited the vancouver island track in 2003 as part of the northern train mountain ramble. I really enjoyed Vancouver and so when i heard that the track was being extended it seemed like a good excuse for a trip out. I flew into Vancouver with BA then collected my hire car from Avis for a magical early evening late summer ferry trip to the island. I booked a hotel only minutes from the ferry terminal and as no set of holiday snaps would be complete without the obligatory view from the hotel window. I thought we would start with the above.
The opening of the track extension coincided with the Sannich historical society open weekend. After parking up the first thing you saw was this Sawyer & Massey threshing rig churning out the chaff. I spent an enjoyable time going round the exhibits and must say the ladies in the food cabin could make a home made apple pie!
The weather for the two days was overcast on the Saturday and raining on the Sunday so most of the shots are from the Saturday. These two shots are of the station area and the large crowd that was there most of the day enjoying the extended rides on the longer track.
Although i tired, i really did, i have cribbed most of the names from Trevor Heath's LiveSteaming site. So if they are wrong blame him. Trevor has many pictures on his site of the extension build and more information on the club as well. The project began in 2003 and you can follow how it progressed on Trevor's site, who also has a map of the track bed, and pictures of the heavy earthwork and infrastructure required to extend the track.
Steve Alder driving off with his Meg Steam tank engine
The club loco with a happy band of passengers
Don Parsons readying 2335 4-6-2
Reversing onto 5303
The controls on the tender of 5303
Don had a good load here and was struggling a bit as he rounded the bend on a bit of a grade tester. .
Russ Noe's 317 heading onto the new steel bridge.
5303 heading round the same bend .
Alan Von Rudens locomotive up from Seattle .
Lindsay McDonnell's much traveled Britannia in the steaming bays. I was lucky enough to hitch a ride with Lindsay round the new track for a few circuits.
If anyone has more details of the locomotives shown please let me know and i will add it to the above descriptions. thanks to all the VIME club members and helpers who put on an excellent weekend and kept me full of coffle and apple pie.
Yours truly behind Lindsay's Britannia, photograph courtesy of Trevor heath. Snap by Dennis Dalla-Vicenza