British Columbia’s newest tourist train is up and running. Your tour director got a chance recently to partake in a familiarization tour for media, tourist industry professionals, and Victoria Hosts. After the on-time professionalism of Helijet Airways and my drop-off at the VIA Rail station at Victoria’s “Blue Bridge”, the ambiance of the PWR was somewhat different. The City of Victoria was cleaning up the station area, and installing decorative protective chains along the curb. By following the well-marked signs I found myself in front of a cheerful attendant who was happy to give me a ticket from their new state-of-the-art computerized ticketing system. A well-restored baggage car houses the gift shop and ticket office, tucked into the last metre of track at the “end of steel” east of the quaint VIA Rail station.

PWR employs some 40 people with the emphasis on cheerful service-oriented people no matter what the size, age, shape or gender. Unfortunately the cheerful attendant had to tell me the not-so-cheerful news that we would be running about one hour late. We later found out that this was the first day running with the 9 car consist and some shuffling of the cars in the yard was necessary to accommodate the location of the wheel-chair lift on the platform. At first glance my arrival at 11:30 for the noon departure looked ideal when the two GP-10s, 705 and 706, came rumbling across the bridge with train in tow. Unfortunately after letting off the 09:00k passengers, the train backed away to the rail yard where the shuffling and run-around was completed. By 12:45 the entire consist was reversed into the station and we were loaded and on our way by 12:52. The cheerful attendant knew of what she spoke.

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The car of choice was the first one, behind the locomotives, the so-called open windowed “Heritage” type. It was “Old Southern” #1632 dated 1924 built by Bethlehem Steel Company. Not only the windows opened but the door was left open so we could feel, smell, and hear the power of the GP10’s hauling us up the grade to Malahat summit. On this particularly beautiful day the scenery was equally so. The greenish hues of fir, cedar, spruce, alder and arbutus contrasted with the vivid yellow of Scotch Broom and the white daisies along the right-of-way. The distant Olympic Mountains across the Strait of Juan de Fuca appeared occasionally as the train wound its way through the dense mountainside forest. The preservation of the forests in the area is a mixed blessing. We are saving trees but sacrificing some great viewing opportunities, as few “open view” photo opportunities present themselves, even at the leisurely pace of 25 mph.

The tag line used in marketing the service is Trains! Trestles! Tunnels! While the use of plurals may be questioned, (it is only one train and there is only one tunnel), the PWR should be forgiven, because the returning train has a different running number and we transit the 145 ft tunnel at milepost 15.6 twice. The “trestles” are significant of course. At mile 14.0 we creep over the spidery 529 ft long bridge spanning Niagara Canyon about 269 ft below us. At milepost 14.9 we cross aptly named Arbutus Canyon on the curved 462 ft long bridge 220 ft above the trees (with the smooth peeling bark) below.

At mile 20, Malahat siding, and about one hour after departure the first half of the journey ends. The locos run by and couple with the more modern air-conditioned coaches. A small station was being built to shelter those detraining here to take in the lunch and dinner packages being offered at the “Aerie”, well known for its fine cuisine and spectacular views. The consist of 9 cars is in good shape and the fresh Tuscan red paint and complementary grey on the locos makes an attractive package. Even the “Heritage” cars are in remarkably good shape after their refurbishment. There is room for wheel chairs and the snack bar is neat and functional. Prices for a variety of sandwiches, cookies, coffee, drinks, etc. are reasonable.

While the train buff responsible for this venture is American Ross Rowland, his right- hand person in the establishment of this package must be Beverley Dragseth. This petite dynamo has been largely responsible for putting together a variety of packages in addition to the basic service. The marketing is coming together in the form of attractive literature, an excellent web page, involvement in the community, liaison with other stakeholders, and a zeal to make this work. Over time we hope this should be good for the pockets of Mr. Rowland, and his other stakeholders, but like the Rocky Mountaineer ten years ago, the benefit to the communities served, the number of people employed, and the overall profitability will take some time to be realized. The Times-Colonist ran an article the morning following the “fam” trip reporting on a disgruntled resident complaining that the train “rumbled” through the area and was annoying people. Inevitably the NIMBY “moaners” come out of the woodwork when there is a change in anything. It is unfortunate that the event of a train passing a crossing for a few seconds 6 times a day is a news-worthy item.

After the first couple of weeks of revenue service passenger loads are lighter than expected, but like all basically good products it takes time to generate enthusiasm. On a stroll along the platform after the shakedown trip it was a pleasure to see the well decked-out engineer of the 15:00k service getting ready to climb aboard the locomotive. It was Ross Rowland himself, a qualified operator of course, living his dream, and hoping the rest of us can share in it as well. We wish the Pacific Wilderness Railway well!

The West Coast Railway Association has been set up as a booking agent for this service and we will be offering one day or overnight trip packages to both members, and the general public. Phone the tours line, 524-1011 for details. If you would like to contact PWR directly their number is 1-800-267-0610. In Victoria the number is 250-381-8600. Web site: www.pacifcwildernessrailway.com