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Pacific Great Eastern Steam Locomotives by Patrick Hind Soft COver
Pacific Great Eastern Steam Locomotives by Patrick Hind
The British Columbia Railway Historical Society
Soft cover
Copyright 1984
55 pages
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Locomotive Number 1 3
Locomotive Second Number 1 4
Locomotive Number 2 6
Locomotive Number 3 7
Locomotives Number 4 and 5 9
Locomotive Number 51 13
Locomotive Number 52 15
Locomotive Number 53 17
Locomotive Number 54 20
Locomotive Number 55 23
Locomotive Number 56 26
Locomotive Number 57 28
Locomotive Number 58 31
Locomotive Number 59 33
Locomotive Number 160 36
Locomotive Number 161 38
Locomotives Number 162 and 163 41
Locomotive Roster 48
Introduction
At 7:30 a.m. daily, a train of Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) leaves the British Columbia Railway station in North Vancouver and heads north to the towns of Squamish, Pemberton and Lillooet. Three times a week it continues north from Lillooet to Williams Lake, Quesnel and Prince George. These names are synonymous with the growth and development of British Columbia. They are towns which for the most part owe their existence to the line known today as the British Columbia Railway.
Nevertheless, most residents of this sparsely settled region still refer to the railway by its former name, the Pacific Great Eastern Railway.
This is the Pacific Great Eastern which for so many years was called by a variety of names from "Please Go Easy" to "Prince George Eventually" and "Past God's Endurance", to name a few. It was and is a pioneer railway to the interior of British Columbia. It was incorporated by the provincial government in 1912 and it endured many hardships before it became the Class One carrier that it is today. The original charter called for the railway to be built from North Vancouver to Prince George, then known as Fort George. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that construction difficulties would preclude building the line along the shores of rugged Howe Sound and so the line was only extended 12.7 miles to Whytecliff where a temporary terminal was established. This southern portion was operated for some years with Hall-Scott and General Electric gas cars which were supplemented in service by locomotives No. 2 and No. 3.
In the meantime, the mainline of the Pacific Great Eastern was constructed northward from Squamish, then known as Newport. It too progressed in stages: first, to Lillooet in 1915 and thence to Clinton and Chasm by 1916. It was there that the railway contractors, Foley, Welch and Stewart, ran out of money. The railway remained in operation to this point until 1918 when the provincial government took over construction and hired the Northern Construction Company to complete the line. By 1921 it had only reached Quesnel, although the section between that point and Prince George was graded and some bridges constructed. Cottonwood Canyon, north of Quesnel, became the main obstacle to completing this section of the railway and it was not until 1952 that steel was eventually laid through to Prince George.
The Pacific Great Eastern was a friendly railway where everyone knew each other and travelling by train to any point on the line was an adventure in itself. It was a leisurely journey to travel from the city of Vancouver northwards. For many years the connection from Vancouver and the beginning of steel at Squamish was by coastal steamer. Union Steamships provided this connection with the trans at Squamish Dock. Once the train was loaded, it moved up the line to the town of Squamish where it picked up additional passengers and mail before proceeding north for Quesnel.
Many stops were made along the way. In fact, the engineer would stop wherever one might wish to alight. The P.G.E. was the only means of transportation through the region
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