Transport Action BC’s last meeting was in Vancouver on December 14th, 2011. As a change to make it easier for members from south of the Fraser River to attend our next meeting will be in New Westminster on March 6th, 2012. It will be at the Waves Coffee shop near the New Westminster SkyTrain station.

Western Newsletter

The Winter 2011/2012 newsletter is being produced now. If you have any articles or photos please let us know.

The following is an automatic summary from WordPress

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,500 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 58 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Wednesday December 14, 2011
5:45pm to 7:45 pm
Firehall Library

1455 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC

Location of meeting. Map from http://openptmap.org

TransLink is doing a comprehensive study of transit options in Surrey called the Surrey Rapid Transit Study. Phase 1 has been completed and phase 2 is underway with public meetings scheduled for early 2012.

As reported in the last Western Newsletter of Transport Action, Surrey has put together a vision of LRT on its website.

Surrey’s video on YouTube:

CBC Story – Mayors push for new transit line for Surrey and Langley  (Mobile version)

An example of a low floor light rail vehicle in Portland, OR

An advantage to non-profits like Transport Action, is that OSM maps can be published, copied and printed without restriction.

Fig 1. OpenStreetMap rendering of the Mission Bridge area

Figure 1 shows the West Coast Express station in Mission and the two VIA Rail stops in the vicinity, which I suspect aren’t widely known about. The Abbotsford stop (it can’t be called a station since it is just a platform) serves trains bound for Vancouver only, the Mission Harbour stop serves eastbound trains only.

Fig 2. OpenStreetMap image of the same area rendered by Osmarender

Figure 2 is the same area, same data rendered in a different manner. Note that this image doesn’t have the names of the train stops and stations. Other renderers exist for specialised uses such as the Cyclemap renderer that highlights cycling paths. A whole list of renderers is discussed on the OSM Wiki page.

Figure 3. OpenStreetMap image of the Coquitlam Central Station area.

Figure 3 shows the level of detail that is present in some areas. Details include the tunnel under the tracks, the wheelchair ramp, and the various paths to the bus loop and parking lots. The database for OpenStreetMap is useful in routing software like GPS navigation, but has details for trails that other online maps don’t have.

Expect to see many more maps created in OpenStreetMap on these pages in the future.

Ken Liddell was a newspaper reporter who worked for several newspapers in the Prairie provinces. This book is a collection of 33 short stories about railroads, their workers, their customers and their role in Canadians’ lives from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries. The stories are based on Liddell’s personal experience – he started his career as a teen-aged news agent working a two car, passenger local out of Regina – and tales, gossip, anecdotes and railroad folklore gathered on his many trips as a roving reporter for The Calgary Herald.
The stories are humorous – “The Runaway Caboose” tells of an uncoupled caboose rolling back and forth across a road-rail bridge on a cold winter’s day in Peace River; sombre -“The Funeral Train” is about 21 RCAF pilots final trip in the baggage car after they are killed in a plane crash as they returned home from their last war-time flights; historical -“Radio Rides the Rails” details Sir Henry Thornton’s efforts to bring radio to the CNR, forming the basis of the CBC; and poignant – “The Last Run” describes the last runs of retiring steam locomotive engineers, one of whom helped build the road he ran over on his last trip, 41 years later.
Liddell writes with a light, but descriptive and evocative, style. In “The Boat Train”, the Minto, a CPR stern-wheeler, working south on the Arrow Lakes is described as “hustl[ing] her bustle down the lake like a fussy old lady with a tall white feather in her hat.” The above mentioned runaway caboose “incident would have drifted into the passing track of memories” except for some innocent questions raised at a business dinner.
British Columbia’s PGE passenger service – pre-RDC – is delightfully described in “The Pacific Great Eastern”. How can one not relish Liddell’s picture of a porter in his moccasin slippers waking passengers to view the Fraser Canyon or the dining car steward valiantly trying to serve passengers iced tea with only two tall glasses assigned to his car?
This book was a pleasure to read. As one who came of age well after steam locomotives and mixed trains to everywhere, Liddell’s stories provide a view, possibly rose-coloured, into a different era of railroading and life. In many instances, the railroad side of the story is incidental to the human interest side but this only serves to emphasise how deeply embedded into Canadians’ lives the railroads once were. This book will interest rail fans, armchair historians or those simply looking for a good chuckle over people’s foibles.
Unfortunately, the book is long out-of-print so those interested in reading it will have to check local libraries or thrift stores to locate a copy.
Review by Rick Jelfs, Secretary – Transport Action BC

As always we are looking for contributions for upcoming issues. Please contact us if you have something to contribute.

Crosscut has a good summary of the news:

Canada relents on cash demands for late Amtrak run from Seattle

Amtrak Cascades sign at Pacific Central

Kettle Falls International asks to cease operating British Columbia route