Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway
The Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway (since 2006 after ten years and several name changes E & N Railway or simply E&N ) is a 160 km long railway connection on Vancouver Island , by far the largest of the islands off the Canadian Pacific coast. The E & N Railway connects the provincial capital Victoria via Nanaimo - with branch lines to Parksville and Port Alberni - with Courtenay . The line has been owned by the Island Corridor Foundation , a foundation of the local Indian associations and communities, since 2006 , and is run as the Southern Railway of Vancouver Island .
Rail passenger services on Vancouver Island were temporarily suspended on March 18, 2011 due to safety concerns about the condition of the line. For the same reason, a large part of the rail freight transport was also given up until further notice in autumn 2014. Since then, rail freight transport has been carried out almost exclusively in Nanaimo, where both the ferry terminal with connections to the mainland and the most important customers are located.
The diesel locomotive-driven passenger trains were operated on behalf of VIA Rail Canada . The train called Malahat ran daily between Victoria and Courtenay, with stops in Duncan , Nanaimo and Parksville, as well as stops on demand. In Nanaimo and Victoria there were transfer options to the ferries to Vancouver .
history
The history of railroad construction is closely linked to the emergence of Canada, because British Columbia had provided a rail link to the east coast as one of the prerequisites for joining the Canadian Confederation in 1871. The end point in the west was unclear, but it was supposed to connect Vancouver Island to the emerging railway network via a bridge over the Seymour Narrows . A bridge has not been built for road or rail to this day. On June 7, 1873, the Prime Minister of the Amor De Cosmos Province got this route map approved by the government in Ottawa . The westernmost stop was to be Esquimalt .
But the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was delayed, so that in 1874 Prime Minister George Anthony Walkem threatened to leave the Confederation and sent a petition to the Queen. On the intervention of the colonial secretary, Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon , it was agreed to build a rail link from Esquimalt to Nanaimo. But the Canadian Senate rejected this, whereupon British Columbia again threatened secession . Despite mediation by the Vice Governor , no agreement was reached. Instead, one preferred a terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway on the mainland.
In addition to the leading politicians who wanted to promote the construction project, Robert Dunsmuir , the richest man in the province, was the driving force. He was a member of the government and was interested in connecting his coal mines to the provincial capital. His economic interests, however, moved the rail and ferry connections to the south, i.e. to Washington and Oregon , or California more into the center. Here he could sell the lion's share of his coal. He traveled to Ottawa with letters of recommendation from the first lieutenant governor of British Columbia, Joseph William Trutch , and the New Brunswick politician and " father of the Confederation " John Hamilton Gray . Meanwhile competed, based in Vancouver, but Lewis M. Clement from San Francisco controlled Vancouver Land and Railway Company to construction, the cost of Dunsmuir to 1.5 million dollars had estimated. But the Americans did not succeed in securing the necessary funding.
In 1883 government officials signed a contract with Dunsmuir to build a rail link from Esquimalt to Nanaimo. In addition, Dunsmuir received the same land grants of around 800,000 acres that the Americans had already been promised (around 3,200 km²). There was also $ 750,000. This mixture of political mandate and economic interests met with reservations, but together with Charles Crocker, Collis P. Huntington and Leland Stanford of California, Dunsmuir, who became president himself, founded the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway . At the same time he owned half of the shares.
In the promised area, however, numerous farmers resisted the expropriation, so that the company should receive more land as compensation, especially between Crown Mountain and Seymour Narrows. So the province got a contract through cash grants and nearly 20% of the island's area, which ended up being a private railroad company.
On August 13, 1886, Prime Minister Macdonald drove the last (golden) nail through the last sill at Cliffside , 40 km north of Victoria, with a silver hammer . The railway line was extended to Wellington , where one of Dunsmuir's coal mines was, in 1887 , and reached Victoria in 1888. In 1911 a line was built to Port Alberni , 1912 to Lake Cowichan , 1914 to Courtenay . The First World War prevented further construction to Campbell River .
When the Dunsmuir family withdrew from the railroad system, the CPR took over the line from Robert Dunsmuir's son James in 1905 . VIA Rail ran the main train from 1978 when CPR tried to get rid of its unprofitable routes. In 1996 the CPR sold the freight services on the ferry, but the freight trains ran until 1999. In that year RailAmerica took over the route between Nanaimo and Port Alberni, but leased the route to the RailAmerica subcontractor E and N Railway Company .
With the expansion of the road network, especially Highway 1 from Victoria to Nanaimo, the route finally became unprofitable, especially since even the pulp mills now preferred the road. The attempt to run a tourist train in 2000 and 2001 ( Pacific Wilderness Railway ) was also unsuccessful.
RailAmerica and the CPR were ready to give up their rights. A foundation representing a partnership between the First Nations along the railway line (such as the Hupacasath , Chemainus , Comox and Cowichan ) and the localities was established. This Island Corridor Foundation took over the 234 km long routes in February 2006, plus the route to Port Alberni. The Southern Railway of British Columbia has been operating since July 1, 2006 . There are also lands, such as on the outskirts of the core city of Victoria (Roundhouse Heritage site) or near Bamberton.
literature
- Donald F. MacLachlan: The Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway - The Dunsmuir Years: 1884-1905 , The BC Historical Railway Association (ed.) 1986, ISBN 0-9692511-0-6
See also
Web links
- Island Corridor Foundation , archive.org, February 8, 2008
- History of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway
- Southern Railway of Vancouver Island
Remarks
- ↑ Iceland freight rail held over track safety concerns. Times-Colonist , accessed June 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Derailed? A detailed look at the state of Vancouver Island rail service. Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News / Black Press , accessed June 24, 2018 .
- ↑ Current Traffic (April 2016). Retrieved June 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ See. Round home Heritage Revitalization .
- ↑ See Bamberton .
