Comments on: 40 Years of SkyTrain

By: Dr. Beer N. Hockey

Dr. Beer N. Hockey — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 19:23:44 +0000

I liked how the Skytrain’s security staff became immediately known as Skypigs.

By: Rhonda Rutledge

Rhonda Rutledge — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 01:45:54 +0000

My husband worked at the facility where Skytrain was built. In 1986 he was part of a crew that was sent from Ontario to live in New Westminster and work on issues with the train. This afforded our family the opportunity to visit and attend Expo.

By: Skip Savage

Skip Savage — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 21:49:41 +0000

Thanks for reminding readers it used to be called the ALRT. I remember riding to New West in the summer of 1985 for no reason except to see the sights from the SkyTrain. The sights turned out to be East Van rooftops, and the trip has remained a good memory for forty years.

By: Joanne Loewen

Joanne Loewen — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 16:20:43 +0000

In reply to Ingrid Busch. I also took that ride from New Westminster. I lived at Edinburgh st. near 20th. I also road my bike on the paths underneath the train. That was the best part for me!

By: Ingrid Busch

Ingrid Busch — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 21:27:32 +0000

I also was on one of the first trains out of New Westminster, thought that the carpet has to go it will get dirty to fast. Well they did just that not long after the first ride. I lived in New Westminster at the time. Thank you for your stories, Merry Christmas 🎅

By: Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 19:02:05 +0000

I recall being so entranced with Skytrain that I used to ride it just for the experience, with nowhere to go in particular. Every station had attendants wearing royal blue coats, very dignified-looking. I think at one time Grace McCarthy wanted to call it “Spirit.”

By: Alan MacKinnon

Alan MacKinnon — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 18:25:46 +0000

My first ride on the Skytrain was a media event. I was with BCTV at the time and we did a promotional video of Premier Bill Bennet taking a first ride in September of 1985. We were told that only this one time would there be trains on both tracks travelling in the same direction. This was done so that the Premier’s announcement about Expo 86’s theme of “transportation”. Travelling in a Skytrain car with another car on the other track going in the same direction in the background was indeed unique.

By: Anthony Maw

Anthony Maw — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 18:05:14 +0000

The original 2km section from Main Street station eastwards was very much a test track. The original 2 km track developed cracks in the concrete of the horizontal bearing beams. They had to make extensive difficult repairs to the concrete beam bearings and later modified the design for the final construction method. That’s why today if you look at guideways you can see they sawed away part of the covers at the piers. The construction of Skytrain was a huge noisy and disruptive undertaking even more so now with the Broadway tunnel!!!!