Now that he had the support of the City of Vancouver, Dale Laird’s dream of a historic railway along False Creek was nearing reality. But time was of the essence, as the CPR was trying to rezone the land for development.
City council had been very interested in developing a downtown streetcar line, so they “jumped at the chance to use Car #1207”, according to Laird. Prior to the City acquiring the land, the CPR had been trying to get it rezoned to build condominium developments, which added urgency to the proceedings. The purchase of the CPR track between Granville Island and Manitoba Street for $9 million was announced in April 1996. Once the city council had approved the purchase, all development along the CPR corridor was ordered to be stopped. However, before the deal went through, a developer was able to purchase a portion of the land west of the Granville St. Bridge and quickly tore up the tracks and threw up a building, which now houses a Starbucks coffee shop. Unfortunately, this building may make a potential extension to Kits Point more difficult.
Three groups made proposals to the City to operate the historic railway, with TRAMS winning out, undoubtedly due to the vast knowledge of railways held by Laird and the TRAMS volunteers. Work began that summer on getting the tracks ready for the #1207. According to Laird, “very little work was needed on the tracks themselves; CPR had rebuilt them in 1985 just a few years prior to abandoning them in the early 1990s.” In addition to the CPR tracks, the city bought the former Great Northern Railway (later Burlington Northern) track between Manitoba St. and Main St. for another $600,000. In contrast, this section of track was in poor condition, and had to be upgraded section by section over the years. This involved replacing the rotten wooden ties, or “sleepers”, and adding gravel ballast. The final piece of the puzzle was a new section of track added along Quebec St. from 1st Avenue to Science World, which was paid for by the City.
It all came together on July 29, 1998, the first day of operation for the Downtown Historic Railway. “It was the first time that passenger cars operated on this track”, notes Laird. Forty-three years after they had been replaced by trolley buses, Vancouverites could once again ride a streetcar. Laird was surprised at the level of support in the city for the streetcar and “how quickly the idea came to fruition.” But it was also just a start – another Vancouver interurban would soon be joining the fleet.
Next time: The restoration of Car #1231
Many thanks to Dale Laird of TRAMS for his invaluable help with this series of articles. Check out the Transit Museum Society website for more information on the Society.
Read the other parts of this series:
Part 1
Part 2
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John Calimente is the president of Rail Integrated Developments. He supports great mass transit, cycling, walking, transit integrated developments, and non-automobile urban life. Click here to follow TheTransitFan on Twitter.
