Vancouver's Downtown Historic Railway -- Runs July 1-October 16 ?

Comment

Comment by Peter Finch on June 29, 2011 at 8:09am

At least some of Vancouver's history is green.

 From the late 1880s 'till the 1950s, Vancouver boasted one of the best transit systems in Canada (or North America, for that matter).  There were very few buses until the 1940s, and the mainstay of the transit fleet were hundreds of streetcars--some of them built in B.C. Electric Railway's shops in New Westminster.  All of them were powered by electricity.  The bigger interurban cars ranged as far east as Chilliwack and south to Steveston.  Vancouver's wonderful transit system shaped the growth of the city, making it potentially one of the most sustainable urban environments in the world.  Many of the green spaces and wide boulevards in the city were created from streetcar rights of way.  It all came to an end after WW II when it was decided that cars were "better" than light rail.

Car #1207 is one of two New Westminster-built cars that survived, car #1231 (temporarily out of service) is a good example of the cars used on the Central Park (SkyTrain Expo Line route) and Burnaby Lake (SkyTrain Millenium Line route) lines.

Please not that historic interurbans are not wheelchair accessible.  The Transit Museum Society (whose volunteers operate the trains) hopes to have a fully accessible streetcar running within two years.

 

Fares are $2.00 for adults, $1.00 for children and seniors.