1996 Vancouver Memories

Royal Hudson 2960 returning to North Vancouver as seen across Burrard Inlet from Stanley Park.

In the spring of 1986 I visited Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend Expo 86. I met up with Bill Surdyk there and he introduced me to several attractions.

In addition to the Expo, we explored the SkyTrain automated transit system that had opened in December 1985.

Bill also showed me the steam-powered clock in the Gastown section of Vancouver.

In July of 1996 I returned to Vancouver with Ursula and we expanded on what I had seen 10 years earlier.

Here are a few of the highlights. We rode and photographed the Royal Hudson steam excursion and did the same with the SkyTrain.

We also saw the West Coast Express commuter trains, which had begun running in November 1995.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

The fabled steam clock in the Gastown neighborhood

Vancouver’s Sky Train

West Coast Express with Sky Train in the background.

The Royal Hudson (former Canadian Pacific 2960 at Squamish, British Columbia.

On board the train pulled by the Royal Hudson returning to North Vancouver.

At Britannia Beach, British Columbia

Ed’s Favorite Steam Memories of 1986

The roundhouse on the grounds of Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

My 1986 favorite adventures were an Amtrak trip to the Expo 86 World’s Fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with outings to photograph Norfolk & Western 611 and Louisville & Nashville 152.

In May my Amtrak trip to Vancouver included my only trip on the Pioneer from Salt Lake City to Seattle.

In Vancouver I met up with the late Bill Surdyk to attended Expo 86.

A highlight of the event was the grand steam parade on May 26. The huge crowd witnessed a parade of 17 operating steam locomotives.

As for N&W 611, it operated between Bellevue and Buffalo in August 1986.

During October L&N 152 ran excursions on the former Louisville & Nashville in Kentucky and Virginia.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

BC Rail (Canadian Pacific) Royal Hudson 2860 is shown as part of the steam parade along with Virginia & Truckee 22.

N&W 611 crosses the Nickel Plate trestle over the Grand River in Painesville during a journey to Buffalo, New York, on Aug. 1, 1986.

L&N 152 is negotiating a switchback at Hagans, Virginia during a trip from Harlan, Kentucky, to Appalachia, Virginia, on October 11, 1986.

L&N 152 in Hagans, Virginia, on a switchback.

Ohio Intermodal Service Gets Funding Boost

An intermodal service lane that will use a terminal in Jeffersonville, Ohio, has received seed money from Canadian Pacific and Genesee & Wyoming.

The service links Southwest Ohio and Vancouver, British Columbia, six days a week and began in July.

The 90-acre terminal receives containers from Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton. Owned and operated by corn and soybean producer Bluegrass Farms of Ohio, it located near Interstate 71.

The containers are routed to Chicago by the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern (Chicago-Lima) and the Indiana & Ohio (Lima-Jeffersonville).

“The new service is an ideal end-to-end supply-chain offering for auto parts shippers, as it bypasses Chicago interchanges, offers flexible destinations, and creates compelling round-trip economics, including opportunities for the backhaul of agricultural products,” said CP spokesman Andy Cummings.

CP Contract to Affect Ohio Valley Market

Canadian Pacific doesn’t own a foot of track in Ohio and the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, is thousands of miles away, but the Buckeye State looks to benefit from a recent contract that CP reached that will increase its share of intermodal traffic in Vancouver.

CP will begin hauling starting April 1, about 85 percent of the Ocean Network Express traffic passing through the Port of Vancouver.

How does that affect Ohio? It will boost traffic in the Ohio Valley intermodal partnership that CP has with the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern and Indiana & Ohio.

Ocean Network Express is a consortium of shipping companies K-Line, MOL, and NYK.

Canadian National has 70 percent of the container traffic moving through the Port of Vancouver, but CN officials say they will have to turn away some business due to capacity constraints.

International intermodal traffic moving on CN has experienced faster-than-expected growth and increases in traffic in frac sand, grain, and other commodities have left CN congested, particularly in Western Canada.

CP said the agreement with Ocean Network Express is worth $80 million annually over the three-year contract.

Interestingly, CP is gaining back traffic it walked away from when E. Hunter Harrison was CEO of CP because he thought domestic intermodal traffic was more profitable.

But now CP says its costs are similar to those of CN, which puts it in a position to vie for lower-margin international intermodal traffic.