Railway History, North of Ladysmith BC

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3 жыл бұрын

This is a hike where I was walking in railway history, north of Ladysmith, on Vancouver Island.
My start point was Mile 60.76 (Oyster Sto-Lo Road) on the Esquimalt & Nanaimo (E&N) Railway's Victoria Subdivision. My turnaround point was Mile 59.6 (culvert under Highway 1) on the E&N.
Along the way, I walked on ground where 3 industrial railways used to operate:
- Victoria Lumber & Manufacturing (VL&M) Company Railway, at Bush Creek.
- MacMillan & Bloedel logging railway at Velco Yard
- Comox Logging and Railway Company main and diamond.
Seen by me on November 21, 2020.
For the E&N Railway, there have been no trains here since 2014. This railway is owned by the Island Corridor Foundation (ICF) and the operator is Southern Railway of Vancouver Island (SVI). The railway was previously owned and operated by Canadian Pacific (CP). The railway's history is represented by the Canadian Railroad Historical Association (CRHA) E&N Division.

Пікірлер: 11

@markanderson6639 3 жыл бұрын

Interesting video Mike. You're encouraging me to go exploring.

@LowLightMike 3 жыл бұрын

I love this comment. Enjoy your exploring.

@quentingoodbody5903 2 жыл бұрын

Hi Mike. Thanks for the video. Your E&N route took you past the site of the September 1900 horrific train crash (two colliery trains) on the E&N which killed 4 people and resulted in construction of the dedicated colliery railway between Extension and Ladysmith - the reason for the Diamond intersection. Prior to construction of the colliery line, coal trains from Extension used to join the E&N at Fiddick's Junction (near where the Cassidy Hotel used to be before it burned down - there is a Country Kitchen restaurant and ice cream store there now). [GoogleEarth Street View still shows the Cassidy Inn!] I believe the crash occurred a bit south of the Bush Creek (Harrison Creek) bridge. The Ladysmith & District Historical Society has vintage photos of the crash and also of the area of the Velco siding - in particular the demolition of the water tower. I believe the Society also has maps of this yard. I have traced the route of the VL&M logging railway farther up Bush Creek and believe your location of that line on the southwest side of Bush Creek near the bridge is correct. I read a report of a man being killed by a VL&M logging train on this line near Bush Creek - he fell asleep on the track and was run over. The VL&M log dump was near where the Stz'uminus administrative buildings are now behind the Husky/A&W on the east side of the highway. On GoogleEarth you can make out where it was - it appears that they had to do some dredging to keep the water deep enough. The trace of the colliery (later logging) railroad is still clearly evident in the woods northwest of the Stz'uminus Oyster Bay development. We should walk it some day.

@LowLightMike 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this, Quentin. Very interesting stuff. That would be fun to walk that area together, when cooler weather returns and the rain has dampened the dust :) ---------------- I enjoy the history at Fiddick's Junction, where there are still old rails on the ground. Here is a March 2020 view of that area: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jN93iLxztMm9oas.html

@west.coast.hiking 3 жыл бұрын

Very cool channel. Lots of history. Look forward to watching more videos when I get a chance.

@LowLightMike 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much.

@HobbiesHobo 3 жыл бұрын

Mike, another interesting video. I like the extended intro. Mike in Crofton

@LowLightMike 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. I had a lot of fun doing the detailed work on the introduction. :)

@cornbinder Жыл бұрын

I didn't know...

@richardwalker6424 3 жыл бұрын

Hi and thx for the history of the logging and staging area in ladysmith .. I’m in Nanaimo and love the island history .. You were talking about the diamond area and I’m not sure if you know but the large two-story building that was in the diamond area that I think was used as a lookout for trains was moved down to Hutchinson Road south of duncan I will provide my email address and if you want to contact me I will send you the pictures

@LowLightMike 3 жыл бұрын

This is interesting, about the 2-story tower building. I had heard that the tower building was moved to the Ladysmith railway yard, where it was later destroyed by vandals. If you have Facebook, here is the discussion that I was following on that topic: facebook.com/groups/120690895262396/permalink/658312418166905