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 a 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.
Vancouver Electric Street Railway and Lighting Company
In 1888, the Vancouver Street Railway company formed and was authorized by Vancouver City Council to construct and operate streetcars.[2] The company began construction on the preliminary lines, which were planned to be horse-drawn. Pressure from city council and the public convinced the company to go with electric rail instead. The decision was announced on August 9, 1889, only six days before the system was set to launch, resulting in a ten month service delay. The electricity to power the system was generated at a local steam power plant beside the car barn.[3]
In May 1890, the Vancouver Street Railway company merged with the Vancouver Electric Light company to form the Vancouver Electric Street Railway and Lighting Company.[2] In June, 1890 the first six miles of the line were opened to the public.[a] The service began in Vancouver's then-commercial district, linking the perimeters of the east and west residential districts. Residents along the route were among the first in the city to receive running water, sewage, and electricity.[3] At rush hour, six cars operated across the whole system. These cars had the capability to run at speeds up to 32km/h (20mph), but due to an agreement with the city only operated at 9.6km/h (6.0mph). The Vancouver Electric Street Railway and Lighting company also gave the city of Vancouver the option to buy the streetcar system after 30 years.[5] By February 1891, Vancouver's six streetcars had carried nearly 340,000 total passengers.[6]
At the end of 1892, the Vancouver Electric Street Railway and Lighting Company was losing almost $1,300 a month on both transit and lighting operations. By February 1893, the company went into liquidation and was taken over by a board of trustees who hoped to make the system profitable by cutting service. They reduced service frequency in Mount Pleasant and completely closed the Fairview line as well as service east of Westminster Avenue. By 1895 the trustees were able to successfully borrow funds which allowed them to expand Vancouver's streetcar system, adding new lines and double-tracking existing ones. The system continued to expand until the company went into liquidation a few years later.[7]
National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company
On February 22, 1890, National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company Limited launched streetcar service in Victoria.[8]
Vancouver & Westminster Tramway Company
On April 20, 1891 Vancouver mayor David Oppenheimer and other wealthy business partners created Vancouver & Westminster Tramway Company through an amalgamation with the existing existing Westminster Street Railway Company.[9] On October 8, 1891, the company launched New Westminster's streetcar system.[10]
Also in 1891, they launched the Vancouver–New Westminster interurban line (via Central Park in Burnaby), which was the first electric interurban line in North America.[10] Central Park, and thus, the Central Park Line, were named to honor Oppenheimer's wife, who was from New York City.[11] To connect the cities, trestles had to be constructed through swamps and forests, the longest trestle being 26 meters high and 36.5 meters long.[12] The company convinced land owners along the route to donate land to the company, and the BC government made a land granting match of 196 acres north of the interurban route. Two of the company's directors collectively owned thousands of acres of land along the route. In Vancouver, the Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company agreed to build the portion of the line from Cedar Cottage to Carrol Street, which they could operate streetcars on.[13] At the launch of the line, there were two round-trip journeys per day at a cost of 50-cents for one-way tickets, or 75-cents for return. The 22.9KM line effectively doubled the total track mileage for public transit in Canada. The line was initially quite popular, with the News-Advertiser writing that the cars were "packed on every trip both ways to and from Vancouver".[14]
The interurban service had three-stops, and the trip took 50-minutes to travel between Vancouver and New Westminster. The first stop was on Venables Street and Glen Drive in Vancouver, the second at Central Park, and the final stop was at the Westminster and Vancouver Tramways power plant. The stop in Central Park provided Burnaby residents with public transit for the first time, as they previously relied entirely on horse-drawn stagecoaches. Near the power plant, the company built a boarding room which housed 30 engineers, brakemen, mechanics, and station staff. Cottages were available for married staff to live in with their families.[15]
The company suffered several blows during its operation. A smallpox epidemic arrived in Vancouver in 1892 which led to a steep drop-off in passengers. A recession 1894, triggered by the Panic of 1893, stagnated settlement along the route, so the number of passengers the company hoped to draw ultimately did not arrive. Also in 1894, Car 15 derailed en-route to Vancouver, no casualties were suffered. Lightning also struck the power plant, damaging a dynamo. Due to bad finances, the company could not afford to repair it, nor could they afford to pay interest on company bonds. The Bank of British Columbia refused to cover their payments, forcing them into receivership. In 1895, Frank S. Barnard bought the company's assets on behalf of Consolidated Railway and Light Company for $280,000.[15]
Consolidated Railway and Light Company
With the global depression in the 1890s, all three existing transit companies went into receivership, and were amalgamated in 1895 into the Consolidated Railway and Light Company.[16] Consolidated Rail was subsequently purchased by British financier Robert Montgomery Horne-Payne. While visiting BC from London to examine the state of the company, the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster occurred, leading to the deaths of 55 passengers in Victoria. This disaster forced the company into receivership again.[16]
Formation
Following the disaster in Victoria, Horne-Payne re-organized Consolidated Rail into the British Columbia Electric Railway company on April 15, 1897.[17] The BCER created a new headquarters and depot in downtown Vancouver at the corner of Carrall and Hastings streets.[18] Horne-Payne became the first chairman of the BCER, a position he held until 1928.[19]
In the early years of the transit in greater Vancouver, new lines were formed quickly due to heavy demand.[18] From the 1890s to the early 1900s, additional lines were built by the BCER and its predecessors. In 1895, the Robson Street tram line was built, and a line down Pender street to Stanley Park was constructed in 1897. A second interurban line opened in 1905 by leasing the Lulu Island line previously operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1909, a branch line was constructed on the Lulu Island line, linking Marpole to New Westminster.[17] Streetcar service began in North Vancouver on Labor Day, 1906.[20] The first 21 miles of the Fraser Valley line began operation in 1909, reaching as far as Cloverdale. By 1910, the line had reached Chilliwack.[20] At 102.7 kilometres (63.8mi) in length from New Westminster to Chilliwack, the Fraser Valley line remains the longest interurban line ever constructed in Canada.[21]
In the early 1900s, the BCER announced that they would start manufacturing their own streetcars and interurbans at their manufacturing plant in New Westminster. Prior to this, the BCER was relying on manufacturers in the United States and eastern Canada. The first ever BC-made interurban cars were manufactured in New Westminster in 1903, where they continued manufacturing vehicles for over a decade.[21]
In 1909, the BCER debuted its first roofless observation streetcar. These cars were used for entertainment and sightseeing for tourists and locals.[22]
By 1926, BCER was had an annual ridership of 72,000,000 passengers.[23]
In 1920, BCER purchased the Western Power Company of Canada, who owned the Stave Falls power plant. The BCER expanded the existing power plant to become the largest of its kind west of Niagra, and it provided the majority of the BC Electric power on the mainland.[24]
Interurban rail lines
BCER train leaving Chilliwack for Vancouver, British Columbia, between 1910 and 1920.
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.[25] 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.[25]
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.
Officially opened October 4, 1910 (also used by freight) and still in operation today, as part of the Southern Railway of British Columbia.[16] This line made use of the New Westminster Bridge, opened in 1904. In larger centers on the Fraser Valley line there were proper stations complete with baggage rooms, waiting rooms, and an office where BCER agents would sell tickets, market home electricity, collect bills from electricity customers, and arrange for freight shipments. These more complete stations included Cloverdale, Milner, Jardine, Mt. Lehman, Clayburn, Abbotsford, Huntingdon, Sardis, and Chilliwack.[26]
The line itself was used by both passengers and as a freight line. Temporary service exclusively for use by dairy farmers to transport milk to the city started on May 4, 1910 and continued throughout the operation of the line.[26] On November 1, 1910 the BCER introduced the "Market Special" service which brought farmers from the valley to the New Westminster farmer's market. The service was deadheaded at Abbotsford and would pickup farmers, chickens, eggs, milk, and produce en route to New Westminster.[27]
By early 1911, the line averaged 900 passengers a week. Service ran twice daily, with a third train service added on April 1, 1911.[28] To prepare for the royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and their daughter, Princess Patricia, car number 1304 was lavishly outfitted for a royal train ride. The exterior was repainted and the royal coat of arms was affixed to it, and the Connaught name was printed on the sides of the car. Seats and partitions were removed to instead house a living room with carpets, curtains, and chairs. After the royal visit, the car was reverted back to its original state for normal operations.[29][30]
In 1930, due to the Great Depression, several larger stations along the Fraser Valley line were closed and its agents were transferred to other stations. The closed stations became flag stops. By March 27, 1931 passenger counts had dropped from a peak of 1,200 per week to less than 400 a week. Due to the drop in ridership, the midday train service was cut and service reverted to two trains daily.[31] The midday train later resumed service on February 18, 1939, but milk trains number 500 and 501 were discontinued.[32] During World War II, worker shortages and the loss of milk trains caused more stations to close and become flag stops. Station attendants only worked in the Cloverdale, Langley, Abbotsford, and Chilliwack stations.[32]
The final day of service for the Fraser Valley line was September 30, 1950. Trains were decorated and adorned with BCER mascot "Reddy Kilowatt", and the last train to Chilliwack departed with dignitaries, the BCER president, and old conductors on board.[33]
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,[35] 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.[36]
Opened in 1912,[34] 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.[37]
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.[37] 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.[38] 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,[39] 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.[37] 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.[40]
Jordan River
This 5.3-mile railway connected the powerhouse and harbour at the mouth of the Jordan River to the Jordan River Dam.
"Rails-to-Rubber" transition
BCER ended streetcar service in New Westminster on December 5, 1938.[37] 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.[41] 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.[42]: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.[43] 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.[43] The last streetcar line in Vancouver, the 14 Hastings East, ran on April 22, 1955.[43] The Marpole-New Westminster interurban line was closed in 1956, followed by the Marpole-Steveston line on February 28, 1958,[43] 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.[44]
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.[45]
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.[44]
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.[44]
Remaining cars
Restored BCER Interurban car at The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society in Surrey, BC. This restored car does not use a trolley-pole, instead it is powered by a generator towed on a small flatcar.
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 Heritage Railway Society, Cloverdale, BC.
#1231 Built in 1913, operated on the Marpole–Steveston and Burnaby Lake Lines, currently under restoration at the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society, Cloverdale, BC.
#1304 Built in 1911, operated on the Fraser Valley – Chilliwack Line, currently in operation at the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society, Cloverdale, BC.
Accidents and incidents
On November 10, 1909, a BCER Streetcar train collided with a flatbed truck carrying lumber at Lakeview Train Station. Fourteen people were killed and 9 were injured.[48] Lakeview is the neighbourhood of Trout Lake in Vancouver.
In September, 1945 car number 1304 caught fire due to a short circuit while in service toward Cloverdale station. The crews evacuated the car and sped it toward Cloverdale station where the fire was put out. The train was rebuilt and returned to regular service.[32]
↑ The first day of operations is unclear. Modern authors state it started on June 27, 1890.[4] The BCER's own history book claims it was on June 28, 1890[2]
Footnotes
↑ Maiden, Cecil (1948). Lighted journey: the story of B.C. Electric. Vancouver: British Columbia Electric Company. OCLC2777094.
↑ Kelly, Brian; Francis, Daniel (1990). Transit in British Columbia: The First Hundred Years. Madeira Park (BC), Canada: Harbour Publishing. ISBN1-55017-021-X.
Canadian Pacific Railroad v. Vancouver (City)(Court of Appeal for British Columbia2004-04-07),Text.
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)
Conn, Heather; Ewert, Henry (2003). Vancouver's Glory Years: Public Transit, 1890-1915. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books. ISBN1552855171.
Ewert, Henry (1986). The Story of the B.C. Electric Railway Company. Whitecap Books.
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