The West Coast Railway Heritage Park has opened its new six stall roundhouse, which will serve as a display hall for fully restored artifacts and will double as a conference centre for Squamish. Here is the view from across the turntable: Here is the view inside. The building employs geothermal heating: The roundhouse is large enough to accommodate the ex-CPR H1e Royal Hudson 2860, which recently returned to Squamish after some wheel work in Vancouver. It is wonderful to see one of Canada's most important railway artifacts safely inside its new home: Tim
New Roundhouse in Squamish (cont.) The roundhouse is also home to newly restored Pacific Great Eastern express car 722, which is a former U.S. Army troop sleeper: Outside the station another piece of reently refurbished PGE equipment was on display. BC-33 is one of seven Budd RDC cars which provided passenger service between North Vancouver and Prince George from 1957 to 2002. it has been returned to its original PGE paint scheme: I encourage you to visit he West Coast Railway Heritage Park if you live in the Lower Mainland, or if you are visiting the area. They have accomplished a lot in recent years and there is a lot to see! Tim
It's so nice to see some time and effort and money put into preserving our rail heritage! What a nice roundhouse!
Yes, both RDCs are operable, although the second one has some damage to be repaired at some point. Tim
Good to see the Royal Hudson looking so good and that it has a home indoors. Had a cab ride on the 2860 in 1975 from Squamish to North Vancouver. The engineer was Bill Hales. The former BC Rail RDC's bought by the State of Oregon are now owned by the Wallowa & Union RR in eastern Oregon
What a neat roundhouse! A new one in the era where all the old ones are being torn down. I was going to ask if 2860 would live there, and your photos confirm that is true. A fitting home for a beautiful and historic steamer. :tb-biggrin:
Actually I believe that the Royal Hudson will live over in the car shop. The reason is that the roundhouse has been built as a display hall and the Royal Hudson is a working steam locomotive. I do not know if you can see it in my photo but she was leaking water and oil all over the place hence all the paper on the floor. Another reeason is that she has recently had the lateral play in the axles tightened up for mainline running and there are concerns about her negotiating the sharp curves on museum trackage. I think that she was put in there for the grand opening, and will come out again at some point. I forgot to mention that PGE RSC-3 561 remains operational as the museum switcher, which is called upon whenever something needs to be moved. Tim
