Identity area
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Authorized form of name
Royal Hudson (Train)
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Description area
Dates of existence
1940-
History
Royal Hudson 2860 began life as one of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s 65 “Hudson Class” locomotives. These engines were built in three batches by the Montreal Locomotive Works and were awarded the “Royal” designation following King George VI’s 1939 Canadian visit.
Engine 2860 was built in June 1940, and serviced the Revelstoke-to-Vancouver run for 16 years. The engine was retired in April 1956, after which it languished on a Winnipeg scrap heap until a group of railway enthusiasts salvaged it in 1964. The engine was first purchased by the Vancouver Railway Museum Association, but the project failed and the engine was subsequently acquired by the Province of BC. On June 20, 1974, Engine 2860 returned to the rails in the role of a Vancouver-to-Squamish tourist excursion service. In the first year alone, the service saw 47,295 passengers. The schedule was originally set to end on the Labour Day long weekend, but due to the popularity of the service, it was extended a month to Thanksgiving. Sessional Papers for 1975 note that “the demand for seats was so great that a reservation system had to be created after the first few days of operation.” Seats sold out a month in advance, and the trip averaged numbers of 530 passengers a day. During its first year of operation, the train consisted of a baggage car, observation car, nine coaches and a club car, all bearing British Columbia geographical names. The “Royal Hudson” rapidly became a recognized symbol of British Columbia’s heritage. The excursion service partnered with the MV Britannia, and visitors could take both train and ferry for a roundtrip day excursion. The service operated between May to October between Wednesday and Saturday, and was also available for private rental. BC Rail operated the Royal Hudson until the engine’s retirement in 1999, when it faced $2.5 million in boiler repairs. Following retirement, Royal Hudson 2860 was leased to the District of Squamish in 2002 and put on permanent display at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park.
In addition to regularly-scheduled tourist runs, the engine also toured North America in order to promote BC Tourism. Such trips were sponsored by then-Tourism minister Grace McCarthy. In 1975, it traveled to Seattle, where it was displayed alongside the American “Freedom Train” in Seattle for the US bicentennial celebrations, and in 1978 it traveled across Canada. The train also made journeys to northern BC and California.
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Revised : TJONES 2017-06-29
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Script(s)
Sources
Blissett, Rebecca. “Forty years ago, Royal Jubilee tour brought BC to California…by steam train.” Accessed from http://www.vancourier.com/community/forty-years-ago-royal-jubilee-tour-brought-b-c-to-california-by-steam-train-1.12360379 on June 29, 2017
British Columbia. Legislative Assembly. Sessional papers of the province of British Columbia, vol. II, 1975. Victoria: Govt. Print
Moreau, Vivian. “Royal Hudson back on tracks.” Accessed from https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/royal-hudson-back-on-tracks/Content?oid=2154029 on June 29, 2017.
Riddle, John. “Canadian Pacific Railway’s Royal Hudsons.” Accessed from http://rapidotrains.com/hudson-master-class/ on June 29, 2017.
West Coast Railway Heritage Park. “A visit to the West Coast Railway Heritage Park : what you will see.” Accessed from http://www.wcra.org/index.php/heritage-park/189 on June 29, 2017