Work on the body is reaching completion. It is hoped to be finished by the end of July. The trucks and the motors are in the process of rehabilitation and have a target date of the end of September, 2010.

That trolley Looks Fantastic! Congradulations of your fine restoration effort.

I am sure glad that the 1225 found a good home.

that makes some modern railcars look like tin cans in comparison.

Wow! Great work. We visited the Fraser Valley folks last fall during a side-trip prior to the ARM annual meeting in Squamish, BC. Impressive work done by volunteers.

Thanks!

It is always great to hear about progress at the Frasier Valley group. I scratch my head and wonder how all the disparate little collections of BCE interubans can be brought together for a comprehensive interurban operation.

The downtown historic cars in Vancouver are said to return to operation in a week. The line was upgraded to modern LRV standards (temporarily?) for the Olympics. Would the historic operation would continue if frequent light rail trains were to occupy the line?

http://www.trams.bc.ca/dhr.html


There are also preserved cars in Richmond (Steveson) and Burnaby. The Steveson Interurban website is currently down. Each group has accomplished much, so that makes the idea of accumulating the collections in one location seem like a lot of pride swallowing. I hope that the interurban reunion might happen, and regardless, that the FVHRS idea of a restored BCE rail line becomes a reality.

http://www.fvhrs.org/

Folks,
i saw that car in the past at Orange Empire Railway Museum. Let's just say that it looks a lot better now!
Further about another kind of old things that move; there is a carousel at Barnaby Village and it is gorgous! The volunteer staff member kept it open for my group when we got there late in the day to give us a ride. We helped the balence sheet of the gift shop after the ride.

I have also been to Granby Island and I do hope that they keep the Interurban operation going there. BC Electric was quite an operation in its day; they also ran street cars in the downtown areas.

Ted Miles

Ted,

Think you mean Buranby Village and Granville Island.

Richard

Hi everyone. All the volunteers appreciate your positive comments. They are very proud of the work they have put into the rehabilitation which is now over 15 000 hrs.

The SIRS web site is down because they ended up selling the 1220 car to the City of Richmond (part of Greater Vancouver) and effectively shut down their restoration operation.

I wish I had an answer to the question of bringing all the BCE cars back together as some kind of operation. Maybe someday it might happen? Who knows?

I, personally, want to thank both Dave and John at OERM for their continue support of our effort to bring BCER 1225 to "new" operational condition.

Please visit our web site as we head towards the 100th Anniversary of the BCE Fraser Valley Line. We are working towards a special event in October.

Robert Ashton
1225 project coordinator
FVHRS
http://www.fvhrs.com

I remember reading that the FVHRS will not be putting up overhead wire on the demonstration railroad, and operating only with a generator car. I applaud the effort to get running as fast and efficiently as possible, however, are there other reasons why there will be no wires? As far as I can see the utility poles are all standing adjacent to the track. Some museums have established agreements with power companies (Fox River Trolley Museum comes to mind) whereas they share the same poles for transmission and museum use.
O.

O.
Yes, we will be running an external power source/generator. From our talks with the power company, who own the ROW, they feel that one car running weekends only will impact their power grid. Also, SRY Raillink, who own the track right operate a short line freight service and occasionally will run double containers. So no O/H wire. However, there has been some talk about passenger service returning to the line in the future. In 1910 when the passenger service started in the Fraser Valley there was 18 000 people; when it stopped in 1950 there were 72 000 people. Today the population is reaching 1 000 000 and the highways are jammed. So, who knows what the future holds for the old Fraser Valley line?