Well, here it is May 29 and I have just completed my lunch and am sitting back in my new easy chair when my door buzzer rings. Not expecting a caller, I went down and found, to my surprise, my WCRA friend George Blakley. I asked him “What are you doing here?”, to which he replied that he was on his way to Squamish and I was coming with him! I grabbed my coat and said, “Let’s go!”
The last time I got to Squamish was in October 2001, when the caboose #1817 was opened and dedicated to me. That was a proud day for me as I unveiled the wall plaque. It will be there forever and I say thanks to everyone who made that possible.
We left New Westminster at 1300k and arrived Squamish around 1430k. It was a beautiful drive, although raining on and off. George is a good man to drive with, but I advised him to use wings from now on (he said he has a pilot’s license) - if he gets a ticket it would not be for speeding but for flying too low!
As we drove into the Heritage Park lot the most beautiful sight greeted us—there sat the Royal Hudson #2860 in all her glory. What a beautiful steam engine! It brought back memories of my early railway days—she was a proud engine then, and even more so now having survived into the 21st century when most of her sisters are long gone.
After thoroughly inspecting her from top to bottom, and having photos taken by Sherry Elchuk, we went on a tour of the whole Heritage Park. We both liked the whole set up as it is now, the passenger line was just like the old days. The mail car was in fine condition coupled behind the locomotive, then the consist of exhibit cars, coach and sleeper fit perfectly. The freight consist line was done to running rules—the boxcar looked so fine I wanted to climb on top and head for my old home town of Revelstoke, but George held me back!
We went through the shop and noted a lot of work being done there—we have some wonderful volunteers in the WCRA and it makes me very proud to be an active member. After a couple of hours we went back to the station. There, up on top of the Royal Hudson, was volunteer Bill Marchant and down below, Bob Hunter. They would not stop working—except to say hello. On the platform were more volunteers—Nick Monkhouse, Glen Wideman, Trevor Mills and our manager, the lovely Sherry Elchuk. For the middle of the week, things were really happening!
I heard that the last mini rail trip for the day was at 1600k, so I said to George—let’s go. Our engineer was John Fitzpatrick, one of the best! We had a nice ride and, on arriving at Silver Fox station, another true WCRA volunteer, Ken Mason, was just getting ready to head home.
This whole day of six hours for me was just a great time meeting old friends and really enjoying some WCRA time. I thank George for picking me up and say to all members, all aboard for Squamish for a real look into the history of railroading.
