WCRA NEWS MAY 2008 WILD AT ART A GREAT SUCCESS FOR ALL EARLY LOGGER STORIES WCRA News, Page 2 GENERAL MEETING NOTICE The General Meeting of the WCRA will be held on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 1930 hours at the Rainbow Creek Station in Burnaby. Entertainment will be a video “Scenic Railways of the World”. ON THE COVER West Coast Railway’s Budd RDC’s BC 33 and BC 21 unload passengers along Logger’s Lane in downtown Squamish on March 22, 2008. This was the first running of a train on the Squamish spur since we last ran downtown in December of 2008. For full story, see page 21. (Trevor Mills photo) MAY CALENDAR • West Coast Railway Heritage Park open daily 1000 through 1700k • Saturday, May 10—Newsletter deadline for items to be included in the June 2008 WCRA News • Saturday, May 10—WCRA participates in a North Vancouver Museum school fair event • Sunday, May 11—Mother’s Day at the Heritage Park, free admission and flowers for mom’s, cake at noon. • Wednesday, May 14—WCRT’s Southern Circle Tour departs • Sunday, May 18—374 Pavilion celebrates the anniversary of the arrival of the first train into Vancouver on may 23, 2887—cake, engine outside, activities 1200—1600 • Tuesday, May 20—Tours Committee Meeting, call Bernie at 604-325-0923 • Tuesday, May 27 —WCRA General Meeting, 1930 hours, Rainbow Creek Station in Burnaby, BC The West Coast Railway Association is an historical group dedicated to the preservation of British Columbia railway history. Membership is open to all people with an interest in railways past and present. We are a non-profit British Columbia society, registered as a Canadian charity. Individual membership in the WCRA is $50.00 per year, family membership is $60.00. E Members (electronic newsletter, $15 savings) are $35 individual and $45 family. (Outside Canada, please remit US $) Other categories are: - Junior Member (age 18 and under ) $ 25 - Sustaining Member $100 (tax receipt) plus membership type regular fee - Life Member (one time fee) $700 individual life / $1,200 family life All memberships include the monthly newsletter, Heritage Park admission, mini rail rides and discounts on food and merchandise. The Association holds a monthly meeting on the last Tuesday of the month at 1930 hours in Burnaby at Rainbow Creek Station in Confederation Park. Apply through www.wcra.org or mail to WCRA, PO Box 2790 Stn. Term., Vancouver, B.C., V6B 3X2. WCRA News, Page 3 EDITORIAL WILD AT ART HIGHLIGHTS COMMUNITY CAPABILITIES OF THE PARK What a great week it was! The combination of Spring Break, the Wild at Art Festival, Easter and St. Patrick’s Day all rolled into one week made for a grand time at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park. Around 5,000 guest visits were recorded in this short period, and the Park was alive and busy after a slow start to the year. Wild at Art turned the Heritage Park into a huge community event site, highlighting what will develop even more as the Roundhouse and Conference Centre facility comes on line in 2009. The event showed just what can be done with this great location, often looked at today as being just for tourists and rail buffs. The Heritage Park has both space and attractions for everyone, and the facilities are designed to host a variety of different kinds of events and exhibitions. This is part of what our design is all about—a place where our railway heritage is celebrated, and a multi-function facility for events, functions and the whole community. Don ASSOCIATION NEWS FROM THE MARCH GENERAL MEETING The General Meeting of the West Coast Railway Association was held at 1930 hours on March 25, 2008 with Colin Dathan chairing the meeting and 40+ in attendance: • Don Evans presented the president’s report, updating the membership on current financial issues as well as a new donation from the Wilkinson Foundation in Michigan of an O Scale “CN Super Continental” trainset • Jeremy Davy provided an update on Western Rails and Mini Rail activities • Jeremy also updated re membership, noting new membership brochures had been printed and a membership drive was now underway (started at Wild at Art in Squamish and Western Rails in Burnaby, see report of new members, page 4) • Don Evans provided a brief collection report, focus is on getting the Henry Pickering out for RMV and the Alberta project on track for completion. • Susan Steen noted that almost 5,000 people attended the Heritage Park during the Spring Break / Wild at Art week, and that all went very smoothly. The CarShop is now being returned to its normal functions, and a site audit and clean up activity is underway. • Don Evans added comments about the success of the Royal Hudson operations March 15 and 16, as well as the Budd Car trips to Squamish on March 22. • Bill Johnston provided a Tours update, and promoted the White Pass trip in July as a great opportunity to see some unique northern railroading WCRA News, Page 4 • Eric Anderson donated Canadian Tire coupons • Member input was received on the planned Steam Festival for September • Paul Roy noted that DVD’s of the Pacific Great Eastern were available • Dave Emmington noted book sales by donation were available • Ryan Cruickshank and Bill Marchant gave their Trackside Reports • Jim McPherson noted that it was 50 years ago in April that the Hi-Ballers first met • The Calendar of Events was reviewed, guests were welcomed • A raffle was held, winner Norm Shepherd donated his winnings to WCRA • Entertainment was slides by the late Bob Gaevert of various subjects from years past, presented by Bob Hunter and Bill Marchant 50 YEARS AGO—HI-BALLERS An anniversary of note is that the predecessor to the WCRA, the original group called the Hi- Ballers, first met and decided to form a society in April 1958. The Society went on to be formed officially in 1961, and was named the West Coast Railfan Association (which became the West Coast Railway Association of today). (J.M.) WCRA TRIVIA # 232 - by Ryan D. Cruickshank Who said this movie quote…..”What do you do besides lure men to their doom on the Twentieth Century Limited”? (for answer, see Credit Lines) MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS Memberships dated 03/31/2008 have now expired, and if your membership expired 01/31/2008, this will be your last issue. Please check the label on your newsletter and renew today. Remember that renewals are being accepted for memberships with the E–Newsletter—check page 2 for current membership rates. Is your email address current???? It is particularly important that those of you who have registered for access to the Members Only area keep your email address current in the Server. Each time a new issue is posted the Server sends a notice to the email address you supplied when you requested access. Because the undeliverable messages from a Server do not bounce back to it I have no way to be proactive. If you have changed your email address, or think the one we have is out of date because you do not receive notices, please send your current email address to Jeremy at [email protected] and the server will be updated as required. (J.D.) WCRA News, Page 5 NEW MEMBERS The WCRA welcomes new members Tara-Leigh Cain & family of Squamish, Douglas W. Debs of Palo Alto, CA, Jennifer Fletcher & family of Garibaldi Highlands, Jude and Jewell Goodwin & family of Squamish, Ben and Nancy Hawkins & family of Brackendale, Tara O’Grady & Aaron Brown & family of Squamish, Caitlin Roberts and Torben Johannsen & family of Brackendale, Andrew Robertson & family of Coquitlam, Alana Williams & family of Garibaldi Highlands, Cliff and Linda Wood & family of Garibaldi Highlands, Robert Zielinski & family of Mission, and Rosemary Casson & family of Vancouver. We also welcome our newest Corporate member Sally Berry (realtor) of Squamish. We welcome back to membership Dean Fortin & family of Coquitlam, Kim Larsen & family of Squamish, Tracey Lazenby & family of North Vancouver, Tom and Kristy McCandless & family of North Vancouver, and Bernie and Bruce Pawlik & family of Richmond. (J.D.) WESTERN RAILS 2008 - SHOW REPORT This is a brief report on the annual Western Rails Show held on March 16th at the Cameron Recreation Complex in Burnaby, drawing the usual diverse community of vendors and spectators. Commercial ventures and hobby shops were also well represented. Among those ably representing the preservationists were Alberni Pacific Railway, BC Society of Model Engineers, Kamloops Heritage Railway (2141), Kettle Valley Steam Railway, and WCRA. BCSME display included George Massey’s newly acquired 0-6-0 steam locomotive. Among the list of private vendors were many staunch supporters, representing a cross section of the Railroadiana community. New this year with a multi train O Scale layout was WCRA Member Gordon Hall and his family. Their layout was presented the Best of Show award. Congratulations to the Hall family. The West Coast Mini Rail gave rides by donation with proceeds going to the West Coast Railway Association activities., This year’s crew led by Roy Liden operated Mary Roy’s trainset. The Morse Telegraph Club featuring Earl and Lavina Shaw once again fascinated the audience with their telegraphic skills. The West Coast Railway Association display was multi-faceted, featuring Tours, Artifacts, and a WCRA Membership promotion. Surplus books from the collections of Dan Boettcher and Bill Lahr, as well as duplicates from the WCRA were sold as a fundraiser, generating over $1,200 for the Association. (D.E.) Throughout the day our Cashier Jeannie Sansom, with periodic assistance from Mary Roy, kept visitors moving into the Show.