This is part one of a three-part series about a local resident who offers day trips by train to small communities in the outlying areas of Prince George.
No, there’s no clickety clack as you ride the rails anymore but the ebb and flow of the swaying train is so mesmerizing.
There’s something so familiar about the locomotion - steady as a heartbeat, comfy as your favourite chair.
The local Train Lady, Linda Campbell, hosts train trips to remote communities mostly along the East Line rail geared for those who wish to step back in time for a moment or two.
Campbell first got the idea of hosting the train trips when she attended a talk at the Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum and heard historian Ray Olson chat about life on the East Line in days gone by. The East Line is the narrow strip of accessible spruce forest bordering the railway that stretched about 160 km east of Prince George.
Olson, who spent some of his early childhood east of Prince George, is the author of three historically-geared books, including Ghost Towns of the East Line, From Liabo to Loos and Hutton: A Historical Retrospective.
“Ray’s passion, interest and willingness to share has just been so important for me wanting to do something as well,” Campbell said. “He and I got to be friends and he’s just opened up a whole new world out there,” Campbell said.
“You learn one thing and you want to learn more.”
On the train heading to Dome Creek, stepping into the glass-ceilinged Dome Car brings life into clear perspective. There’s an instant sense of peace and a hush settles over every filled seat.
A quick intake of breath is the automatic response when you see the front seats are left unoccupied. Do you dare? Absolutely and with an (almost) apologetic pounce those seats are filled.
As the world goes by at a leisurely pace your head is on swivel to take it all in and that quick breath is exhaled with sheer contentment.
Trees, rivers, lakes, hamlets and old town sites, with the occasional precariously angled ancient hydro pole with the glass insulators still on them, whoosh by.
On the train and enjoying the view out the dome car’s windows passengers spy, rather magically appropriate, a speckled eaglet flying along the shore of Eaglet Lake, a burly bear cruising along a distant noll and a healthy moose snacking on the willows in a marshy area alongside the tracks. Giant crows fly ahead of the train, keeping pace, swooping into the train’s path, playing their windshear games.
And then there’s the bridges. They come along pretty early on during the East Line trip and the first one kind of throws you but then you’re ready for the rest. The trestles are so close a hand instinctively moves skyward, fingers reaching to touch them even though you know it’s not possible. But it’s a sensation that certainly brings a smile.
Standing in the aisle, historian Ray Olson has a head set on and talks about the highlights and lowlights of pioneer living between 1914 when the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway came through the area and the mid-1960s when time finally caught up with the East Line communities and modern conveniences like roads were built to connect to the outside world.
“Up until 1940 there were more people living between Prince George and McBride than living in Prince George,” Olson said.
“In fact, at Hutton the mill was owned by United Grain Growers and in the 1920s they had a hospital better equipped than the one in Prince George in that they had an x-ray machine.”
There were big plans for some major cities along the rail line heading east from Prince George.
“Willow River was going to be one of the distribution centres for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. And that was the only town that was laid out by Pacific Western other than the divisional points they have now – McBride, Prince George and Smithers," Olson said.
“It was a build it and they will come sort of thing. So when they put the railway through they had plunked down stations every eight to 10 miles and it didn’t matter what was in the area, mileage was the only consideration. So they plunked these stations down hoping people would show up at those locations and settle.”
Then there was the prospect of Fraser City.
“They had it all laid out – streets, electricity, railways and ferries, and they sold lots in it and it soon became known as a fictitious city because nothing happened there,” Olson said.
“Adjacent to that – east of it – along the Salmon River, there was another town laid out and it was called Fort Salmon.”
Ice bridges across the Fraser Rivere were also mentioned during the trip to Dome Creek.
“Primarily the ice bridges were put in to facilitate logging so that the logging trucks could cross the river to deliver the logs to the mills and the community would use the ice to drive on with their vehicles and that happened in all the communities along the Fraser River,” Olson said.
It was just part of life out there, he added.
“The heyday of the industry would probably have been in the 50s and 60s,” Olson said. “That was the time when the most activity was in that area. That basically came to an end when Northwood came in and started buying up the timber and subsequently the road went in from McBride in 1967 and then the forestry industry was centralized. Mills shut down and that was the end of the communities out there.”
Olson said he appreciates Campbell’s train trips with an historical bent because that way he can share his extensive knowledge of the area.
“I can give these talks on all the trips along the East Line and I never run out of things to say and never repeat myself during the presentations because there is so much history unique to each town,” Olson said. “My biggest concern is that history be preserved and the knowledge shared. It’s so nice to have Linda put together these trips because it’s a nice way to present the local history.”
To find out more about the Train Lady trips visit www.facebook.com/TheTrainLady.
