CP Rail - E&N Railfreight

[@Berubium]

What a great video. Love watching old rickety trains trundle through overgrown rails. Especially the part between Port Alberni & Cameron Lake, but the whole video was superb. I enjoyed the barge loading at the end & the great GP38 sound. I remember seeing 3001 a bunch as a kid on the Kettle Valley rails!

[@shanes3060]

I miss our railway! Thank you for posting this video

[@samshumka8149]

Thank you for this journey back in time.

[@jamesd2128]

Great stuff, although the memories are rather bittersweet, given the current sad state of the E&N. - the 10mph slow order from 12.7 to mile 30 is sure in evidence !

[@pwblackmore]

Many thanks for posting this video... quite sad to see what was, and yet this is a shadow of what CP operations were like. When I moved to Courtenay the Budd car was still in operation, and its horn was heard all over town. Nowadays the station is kept as well as can be expected, even if it's the hangout of 'street people'. I will park there, and run my dog along the Rotary Trail alongside the tracks, dismayed at how much vegetation there is between them, and the poor condition of the ties. With all my enthusiasm for the line (I have a sorta E&N model railway layout complete with a Railfreight loco) I know that it will never be resuscitated. Thanks again... I'll keep this video handy for further reference

[@KTrainz]

those were the days, sad i wasn't born before this

[@vicguy12]

this is fantastic! Not much left now

[@enr3870]

Such a shame politics and lack of maintenance has closed 98% of this railway. Only 6 miles of track is still in use.

[@fmnut]

Yes. To maintain the tracks, you need revenue. And without the mill at Port Alberni there just isn't enough traffic to pay to fix the tracks. You need industry to generate rail traffic, and the Island just doesn't have much industry any more. You can't expect VIA to absorb the cost of maintaining the whole line for a few passengers a day. Net result is the railway will probably be a hiking trail within a few years.

[@jamesd2128]

@@fmnut The ICF's Larry Stevenson is giving me a modicum of faith that the E&N isn't done yet. Compared to the moribund leadership of Graham Bruce, Larry actually knows how to communicate and he has a real railway background. #$%@ bike trails along the E&N ROW aren't here just yet.

[@Kvr3005]

This made my day. Liked and added to favs.

[@JohnNyren65]

What a great video! Wish the freights come back to the island.

[@brendanholme656]

John Nyren kinda did

[@brendanholme656]

Railamerica operates around Nanaimo

[@gradnitzersl]

Passnger too

[@jamesd2128]

@@brendanholme656 RailAmerica has been gone from the Island for 15 years. Southern Rail Vancouver Island operates the freight business at Wellcox Yard & Nanaimo.

[@brendanholme656]

@@jamesd2128 My bad, I meant SRY.

[@narfer]

Isn't much use on this line anymore. The Cameron lake section is pretty much gone. I couldn't even walk on it a few years ago

[@TMandN]

Great video!Added to favs!

[@lawrencecooke8114]

Seems like rail is a greener and safer option to move freight than by road. Shame it’s gone.

[@AwesomeRailFan]

Amazing !

[@archerofloaf]

very nice!

[@CrazyKaboose]

Is the line still in business and if not what’s the track like today

[@fmnut]

There is limited freight service only on a portion of the main line south of Nanaimo towards Victoria, operated by the Washington Group as the Southern Railway of Vancouver Island. The closure of the mill at the end of the Port Alberni branch took away the bulk of the freight traffic. VIA passenger service ceased in 2011 due to poor track and bridge conditions. The balance of the railway not active for freight is out of service, recently purchased by a local group dedicated to preserving the line. While there is considerable local support for restoration, as always, funding is the issue.

[@tylerponsford1394]

​@@fmnut the paper mill in Port Alberni didn't close, it switched to trucks to avoid dealing with RailAmerica and CP. CP still controlled the barge and interchange, and RailAmerica wanted the mill to pay part of the maintenance bill on the Port Alberni Sub. The mill responded by trucking their product to the mainland to be reloaded onto SRY. 20 years later it's still going, with the addition of inbound loads for the mill like clay slurry transloaded in Nanaimo. It's almost like there's a better way to move all that besides our highways

[@fmnut]

@tylerponsford1394 thanks for the clarification and for watching.

[@bcrproductionsofficial]

When was this footage taken?

[@fmnut]

1997

[@southernpacific7200]

They should've thought about building a bridge from the mainland to Vancouver Island. Ferries would cost more money...

[@fmnut]

Ryan Crawford Parry You would need a bridge 30 miles long over water averaging 500 feet deep with provisions for shipping traffic. You can run ferries at a loss for centuries for the price such a bridge would cost.