National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company Limited (1890); Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company Limited (1890); Westminster and Vancouver Tramway Company (1891)
The British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER) was an historic railway which operated in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Originally the parent company for, and later a division of, BC Electric Company (now BC Hydro), the BCER assumed control of existing streetcar and interurban lines in southwestern British Columbia in 1897, and operated the electric railway systems in the region until the last interurban service was discontinued in 1958.[1] During and after the streetcar era, BC Electric also ran bus and trolleybus systems in Greater Vancouver and bus service in Greater Victoria; these systems subsequently became part of BC Transit, and the routes in Greater Vancouver eventually came under the control of TransLink. Trolley buses still run in the City of Vancouver with one line extending into Burnaby.
Streetcar and interurban services were inaugurated in southwestern British Columbia between 1890 and 1891, operated by the following companies:[2]
National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company Limited, which launched the streetcar service in Victoria on February 22, 1890;
Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company Limited, which launched Vancouver's streetcar system on June 27, 1890; and
Vancouver & Westminster Tramway Company, which launched New Westminster's streetcar system on October 8, 1891, as well as the Vancouver–New Westminster interurban line (via Central Park in Burnaby) in the same year.
With the global depression in the 1890s, all three companies went into receivership, and were amalgamated in 1895 into the Consolidated Railway and Light Company.[3] The newly founded company was forced into receivership again after a streetcar accident in Victoria (the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster) resulted in 55 deaths, and was reorganized as the British Columbia Electric Railway Company Limited in April 1897.[3]
Power supply
Power was supplied by then-innovative diversion projects at Buntzen Lake and on the Stave River system farther east, all of which were built primarily to supply power for the interurbans and street railway.
Interurban rail lines
Vancouver–Marpole
BCER began the Vancouver-Steveston interurban and freight service in 1905 after leasing the line from Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and electrifying it. The Vancouver-Marpole line's right-of-way (whose northern section runs beside Arbutus Street) remained under the ownership of the CPR, which continued running freight trains on the corridor until June 2001.[4] With the end of freight operations on the line in sight, Vancouver City Council adopted the Arbutus Corridor Official Development Plan in 2000, designating the corridor as a transportation/greenway public thoroughfare to prevent other types of development from taking place along the right-of-way.[4]
Marpole–Steveston (Lulu Island Branch)
The Steveston line's alignment on Lulu Island can be traced by Railway Avenue, Granville Avenue, Garden City Road, and Great Canadian Way. After the end of passenger service in 1958 the Granville and Garden City section of the line was relocated largely parallel to River Road north of Westminster Highway.
Vorce Station is a modest utilitarian passenger tram shelter, originally constructed at the foot of Nursery Street in Burnaby BC as part of the British Columbia Electric Railway Company's Burnaby Lake Interurban Line. In 1977 it was relocated to the grounds of the Burnaby Village Museum.
Following the cessation of interurban services on the Central Park Line, the right-of-way remained under the control of BC Hydro. By 1975, the Greater Vancouver Regional District proposed incorporating the right-of-way into a light rail line linking Vancouver and New Westminster,[6] thereby reinstating passenger rail service on the corridor. The provincial government eventually took over the project, which evolved into the Vancouver SkyTrain's Expo Line.[7]
New Westminster–Queensborough
The tracks from New Westminster to Queensborough and the 'Railway Bridge' across the north arm of the Fraser River are still in operation today, as part of the Southern Railway of British Columbia.
New Westminster – Fraser Mills
Opened in 1912,[5] construction of ramps leading to and from the new Pattullo Bridge resulted in the closure of the Queensborough and Fraser Mills lines in 1937, as well as the truncation of the Burnaby Lake line to Sapperton.[8]
Victoria – Deep Bay
Now called Deep Cove, the Victoria to Deep Cove line (1913), was one of three passenger railways to serve the Saanich Peninsula, and was closed on November 1, 1924, due to low ridership.[8] The Victoria-Deep Cove interurban's alignment can be traced by Burnside Road, Interurban Road and the Interurban Rail Trail, West Saanich Road, Wallace Drive, Aldous Terrace, Mainwaring Road, one of Victoria International Airport's runways, and Tatlow Road to Deep Cove.[9] Besides the stretch through the airport, the stretch at the Experimental Farm (now called the Sidney/Centre for Plant Health) has also been blocked.
Stave Lake
A 6-mile (9.7km) steam train branch line,[10] the Stave Falls Branch, (constructed during the building of the original Stave Falls hydroelectric plant) was isolated from the main interurban network, and linked the power plant and community at Stave Falls to the Canadian Pacific Railway station at Ruskin.[8] The route of the Stave Falls Branch along Hayward Lake is also now a walking trail managed by BC Hydro and the District of Mission, with sections of it south of Ruskin Dam used as local powerline and neighbourhood walking trails.
Similar to the Stave Lake and Port Moody-Coquitlam lines, the Alouette Lake dam tracks connected power facilities to the CPR that ran on the north side of the Fraser River at Kanaka Creek in Haney.[11]
Jordan River
This 5.3-mile railway connected the powerhouse and harbour at the mouth of the Jordan River to the Jordan River Dam.
BCER ended streetcar service in New Westminster on December 5, 1938.[8] The company then announced its "Rails-to-Rubber" conversion programme on September 30, 1944, with North Vancouver's last streetcar service and two of Vancouver's streetcar lines ending in April 1947, and Victoria's streetcar service ending on July 4, 1948.[12] In Vancouver, many streetcar lines were converted to trolley buses, with the first route of BCER's Vancouver trolley bus system opening on 16 August 1948.[13]:102
One of BCER's first trolleybuses, 1947-built No. 2040, has been preserved, and is shown operating in 2010
The Chilliwack line ceased service in 1950, followed by the Vancouver-Marpole line in 1952 and the Burnaby Lake line in 1953.[14] The stretch of the Central Park line in Burnaby and New Westminster was closed on October 23, 1953, followed by the rest of the line through Vancouver on July 16, 1954.[14] The last streetcar line in Vancouver, the 14 Hastings East, ran on April 22, 1955.[14] The Marpole-New Westminster interurban line was closed in 1956, followed by the Marpole-Steveston line on February 28, 1958,[14] marking the complete closure of the interurban system.
In 1961, the provincial government took over BC Electric, with the railway becoming a division of Crown corporationBC Hydro. In August 1988, BC Hydro sold their freight division which included rolling stock and rails and the rights to run freight trains through Fraser Valley Subdivision, not the corridor, to a company known as Itel of Chicago who resold it to a new shortline operator and the railway is now known as the Southern Railway of British Columbia and is exclusively a freight railway.
At the time, BC Hydro did not specifically reserve rights to operate passenger rail service using Southern Railway of British Columbia's facilities, but did retain the ability to grant operating rights to others, including to providers of passenger rail service, that do not materially interfere with Southern Railway of British Columbia's operations.[15]
In addition, BC Hydro in 1988 also sold the track assets of a section between Cloverdale from Pratt Junction through Langley City and beyond to CP Rail, but retained ownership of the right-of-way. At the time, BC Hydro also granted CPR a statutory right-of-way to use this section of the corridor in perpetuity, but put agreements in place to retain partial running rights for passenger service, which were renewed in 2009.
While there has been a number proposals regarding the restart of a commuter passenger rail service along the line, a review was conducted by the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure in 2010. The review noted issues around high cost per ride and low projected ridership relative to bus alternatives.[16]
Subsequently, TransLink conducted a study as part of the 2010–2012 Surrey Rapid Transit Study to explore merits of utilizing the Interurban corridor for fast, frequent, and reliable rapid transit service. The interurban corridor was not selected, nor recommended for further consideration because the corridor does not directly connect relevant regional destinations of Surrey Central and Langley City, resulted in less attractive travel times between key destinations, and would require significant capital investments to meet safety requirements and reliability objectives compared to alternatives.[15]
In particular, TransLink noted that the routing of the interurban line does not directly connect to the largest regional centre in the South of Fraser – Surrey Metro Centre – which is expected to be the focus of future population and employment growth, and the current alignment is indirect and through lower density and diverse areas, with a low ridership catchment near potential stations. Also, TransLink estimated that the interurban estimated travel times are not competitive with rapid transit along Fraser Highway or King George Boulevard, with transit times estimated to be around 63 minutes to travel between Langley and Surrey Central, which is double that of a possible bus rapid transit line or a Skytrain route along the Fraser Highway. Finally, TransLink has indicated that freight traffic along the line is expected to increase along the corridor, due to increased traffic at the Port of Metro Vancouver, in particular the Roberts Bank Superport.[15]
Remaining BCER cars
After the decommission of the BCER streetcar and interurban system, most of the cars were either scrapped or burned underneath the Burrard Bridge, but some cars were sold for various other uses such as becoming bunkhouses, storage sheds and in some cases decor. A handful of cars were also donated to various museums mostly in the U.S. Since then however, many preservation societies have bought back the cars and begun restoring them. The following is a list of the known BCER cars in existence and their current locations (as of January 2016).
#1223 Built in 1913, operated on the Burnaby Lake Line, on static display at the Burnaby Village Museum, Burnaby, BC.
#1225 Built in 1913, operated on the Marpole–Steveston and Burnaby Lake Lines, currently in operation at the Fraser Valley Historical Railway Society, Cloverdale, BC.
#1231 Built in 1913, operated on the Marpole–Steveston and Burnaby Lake Lines, currently under restoration at the Fraser Valley Historical Railway Society, Cloverdale, BC.
On November 10, 1909, a BCER Streetcar train collided with a flatbed truck carrying lumber at Lakeview Train Station, 14 people were killed and 9 people were injured.[19]
↑ Kelly, Brian; Francis, Daniel (1990). Transit in British Columbia: The First Hundred Years. Madeira Park (BC), Canada: Harbour Publishing. ISBN1-55017-021-X.
The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the City of New Westminster, where the city runs its own electrical department and portions of the West Kootenay, Okanagan, the Boundary Country and Similkameen regions, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc. directly provides electric service to 213,000 customers and supplies municipally owned utilities in the same area. As a provincial Crown corporation, BC Hydro reports to the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, and is regulated by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC). Its mandate is to generate, purchase, distribute and sell electricity.
Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892, growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years, adding the original Town of Mission City, long an independent core of the region, in 1969. It is bordered by the city of Abbotsford to the south and the city of Maple Ridge to the west. To the east are the unincorporated areas of Hatzic and Dewdney.
Steveston, founded in the 1880s, is a neighbourhood of Richmond in Metro Vancouver. On the southwest tip of Lulu Island, the village is a historic port and salmon canning centre at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River. The early 1900s style architecture attracts both the film and tourism industries.
The Toronto and York Radial Railway was a transit operator providing services to the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a subsidiary of the Toronto Railway Company. The company was created by merging four Toronto-area interurban operations. The company was part of the empire of railway entrepreneurs Sir William Mackenzie and Donald Mann which included the Canadian Northern Railway and the parent Toronto Railway Company. The line was abandoned by the TTC in 1948.
The Southern Railway of British Columbia, branded as SRY Rail Link is a Canadian short line railway operating in southwestern British Columbia. The main facility is the port at Annacis Island with major import of cars, export of forestry products, and other shipments. The railway has interconnections with three Class I railroads, including Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), Canadian National (CN) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). It operates a fleet of 29 locomotives, mostly consisting of EMD GP-9 and SW900 locomotives. SRY also currently rosters 2 SD38-2s, an SD38AC and an SD35. Additionally, SRY formerly rostered 4 GMD1s. The railroad also operates a fleet 2,000 rail cars, hauling approximately 70,000 carloads per year. It operates around 123 miles (198 km) of track, 62 miles (100 km) of which is mainline track.
BC Transit is a provincial crown corporation responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside Greater Vancouver. BC Transit is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 26,377,500, or about 108,500 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
The Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway was a heritage electric railway line that operated from 1998 to 2011 between Granville Island and Science World, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It operated only on weekends and holidays, usually from May to mid-October, and was aimed primarily at tourists. Two restored interurban trams were used on the line, which used a former freight railway right-of-way.
The Transit Museum Society of British Columbia (TMS) is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of decommissioned transit vehicles in Vancouver and the adjoining areas. Based in Langley, the Society currently has a fleet of seventeen vehicles: fifteen operational and two non-operational. These vehicles were previously in use by both public and private operating companies between 1937 and 2021.
Lulu Island is the name of the largest island in the estuary of the Fraser River, located south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the second-most populous island in British Columbia, after Vancouver Island. The city of Richmond occupies most of the island, while a small section at the eastern tip, known as Queensborough, is part of the city of New Westminster.
The 98 B-Line was a bus rapid transit line in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that began service in September 2000. It linked Richmond to Downtown Vancouver, with a connection to Vancouver International Airport. It travelled mainly along Granville Street in Vancouver and a dedicated bus lane on No. 3 Road in Richmond. It was operated by Coast Mountain Bus Company and was funded by TransLink. The route was 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) long. The line carried over 18,000 passengers daily. It was discontinued in September 2009, shortly after the opening of the Canada Line, which replaced it.
Opened in 1931, the Canadian National Railway (CNR) steel truss swing span railway bridge over the north arm of the Fraser River in Metro Vancouver links Burnaby with Richmond and the south arm Vancouver Fraser Port Authority facilities on Lulu Island.
The Marpole CP Rail Bridge is a partially dismantled crossing over the north arm of the Fraser River, and River Dr., in Metro Vancouver.
Marpole Loop is a public transit exchange in the Marpole neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The exchange is a part of Metro Vancouver's TransLink transit network. It is the southernmost transit exchange located within the city of Vancouver.
The Burnaby Village Museum, previously known as the Heritage Village, is an open-air museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, located at Deer Lake Park. It is open seasonally from May to September and opens for special events taking place September to March. The Burnaby Village Museum is a reconstructed 1920s village, containing 31 full scale buildings; its costumed staff demonstrate traditional trades. The museum spans 10 acres (4 ha) of land. Some of the buildings are original heritage buildings, moved from other locations in the community and restored. Others are replica buildings, created to house specific displays and artifacts, including a 1912 B.C. Electric Railway interurban tram. The museum is also known for the 1912 C. W. Parker Carousel, available for visitors to ride.
The Nelson Electric Tramway is a heritage railway at Nelson in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. It is one of two operational historic tram systems in the province.
The Vancouver trolley bus system forms part of the TransLink public transport network serving Metro Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Opened in 1948, the system was originally owned and operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway. By 1954, Vancouver had the largest trolley bus fleet in Canada, with 327 units, and the fleet grew to an all-time peak of 352 in early 1957. There were 19 routes by 1955 and a peak of 20 by the second quarter of 1957. The last route to open in the 1950s was the only express trolley bus service that ever existed in Canada. Several, mostly short, extensions to the system were constructed in the 1980s and later.
The Victoria and Sidney Railway Company (V&S) was one of three railways to operate on the Saanich Peninsula of southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Opened in 1894 the route largely closed in 1919 but a section of track remained in use until 1935.
The Fraser Valley Historical Railway Society is restoring an old interurban streetcar system, which it plans to operate as a heritage streetcar system, centered on Surrey, British Columbia. The heritage service began in June 2013.It is one of two operating historical tramways in the province.
The Port Moody-Coquitlam Railway also known as the Thurston-Flavelle Railway was a short railway line operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway. The line ran from the east end of Burrard Inlet to Coquitlam Lake, British Columbia, Canada.
References
Castle, Geoffrey (1989). Saanich, An Illustrated History. The Corporation of the District of Saanich. (Also includes pictures of BCER railcars on this run from the Royal BC Museum collection)
Ewert, Henry (1986). The Story of the B.C. Electric Railway Company. Whitecap Books.
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