Author looks at history of railways around B.C.
Squamish railway museum a ‘work of love’ to Ron Brown
Squamish’s railway heritage is featured in a new book about mountain trails, engineering feats and the benefits of connecting with the rest of Canada.
“I’ve always had a fascination with railway stations,” author Ron Brown told The Squamish Chief in a phone interview.
Rail Over the Mountains is the latest in Brown’s series of books looking at railway heritage in different parts of Canada.
“Mountains provide a whole different range of attractions,” he said.
With a long history in Squamish, the community’s railway past is regularly on display at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.
Now, Brown’s latest book covers mountain trails, railway museums, engineering feats like trestles and tunnels, as well as the rail link to the Pacific that connected the province with the rest of Canada.
Brown is an Ontario-based geographer and freelance travel writer who has published more than 20 books and is past chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada.
In his writing, he has looked into histories of small town stations and their station agents.
“That’s what I like about researching. It brings out a lot of interesting little facts,” he said.
As the book looks at history, it’s no surprise that he leans heavily on the province’s railway museums.
“The one thing B.C. has is an abundance of railway museums,” Brown said.
In the book, he cites museums like Squamish’s as being among the best on the continent.
“Squamish was the original terminal for the BC Rail,” he said.
The community marked the end of a line chartered in 1912 between Squamish’s port through the Interior to Prince George. The book recounts the difficulties behind financing and finishing this connection.
The station in Squamish is also one of the few stations with a working turntable in the roundhouse, Brown said, although the structure was not original to the BC Railway site but added in 2005 to house the museum’s collection.
“You’ve got this turntable. There are not very many of those,” he said. “Squamish people are really lucky to have a real work of love.”
Brown delves into the beginnings of the museum, as well as some of the key pieces in its collection, most notably the Royal Hudson steam locomotive.
He also discusses some of the “oddities” in the museum, such as the “Grey Ghost,” an automobile on train wheels that was used as an inspection car.
The author also draws attention to other nearby stops along the rail routes, such as in Britannia Beach.
“That’s a beautiful stretch of track along the shore,” he said.
He covers some of what people can find about rail heritage inside the Britannia Mine Museum.
While the railways played an important role in the history of this region, as well as the rest of the province, Brown is doubtful whether the run from North Vancouver to Prince George will ever operate for passenger rail again, at least under current conditions.
“As long as CN Rail owns that track, it’s not going to happen,”
He does, however, think something could work for tourists between the Lower Mainland and Whistler.
“A summer dinner train would really make sense,” he added.
Squamish and area are only a small part of Brown’s book, of course, as it looks at railways around B.C.
Throughout the book, Brown deals with a range of topics important to the history, such as railway hotels, other associated structures like water towers and roundhouses, and some of the early builders of the railways.
