Angus McIntyre took this photo of the Royal Hudson at Arbutus and Broadway in 1977 travelling to the US on a three-week promotional tour
Going South:
This photo of the Royal Hudson travelling along the Arbutus corridor at Broadway on March 20, 1977 is one of my favourite Angus McIntyre photos. If you’re a regular follower of my blog, you’ve already seen some of his wonderful early street photography. But it wasn’t until I was writing Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History that I did some digging to find out why locomotive 2860 was chugging its way from the old BC Hydro yards in Kitsilano across the border into Blaine.
Turns out that it was part of a three-week promotional tour spearheaded by Grace McCarthy, travel minister and Vancouver Mayor Jack Volrich. The steam engine hauled seven cars filled with BC artifacts. Because it was Queen Elizabeth’s silver jubilee, one of the cars had been turned into a Royal suite complete with life-sized waxworks of Her Majesty, Prince Philip and Prince Charles. Three other cars carried a variety of models, maps and posters of BC’s resource-based industries.
The Photo:
“I heard a steam whistle and I knew that something was going along the Kitsilano trestle. I could see smoke coming up from that area, so I got into my car and drove recklessly across Broadway, parked near Arbutus, got out of my car and took a grab shot. There was no time to set up,” says Angus
When Angus had a show of his photographs at the Baron Gallery in 2012, legendary photographer Fred Herzog attended. He bought a copy of Angus’s photo and told him that some of his best photos were grab shots.
History:
For 25 years, the Royal Hudson steam locomotive 2860 had a regular run from North Vancouver to Squamish.
That ended in 1999 when the engine’s boiler gave out. Aside from a couple of “appearances,” the engine is on display at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish. The Arbutus corridor is now a fancy bike and pedestrian trail. Abe Van Oeveren tells me that the last train to run on the line was on May 31, 2001. “CPR 1237, affectionately known as ‘Queenie” lifted the last two empty malt hoppers from the Molson’s brewery by the Burrard Bridge.”
On November 1, 1975 the Royal Hudson took 800 passengers on a trip from North Vancouver to Seattle for a meet-up with the stream-powered American Freedom Train, which was on a 21-month tour through 48 states. It was the first time a passenger train had crossed the new Second Narrows railroad bridge and travelled through the Thornton Tunnel.
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17 comments on “The Royal Hudson”
We need to see the Royal Hudson , Steam -up again and get it back working what it was intended to do ,pulling trains .The amount of tourism it created by People from all around the world coming to Vancouver to ride the Train pulled by a Vintage Hudson Engine . It is a big part of our rail history that needs to be preserved in running condition.
Highly unlikely that it would or could be brought back in working condition. Finding parts for a 1940 built locomotive is virtually if not impossible today and restoring it would cost millions of dollars. 2860 was rescued from the scrap yard on more than one occasion and its certification expired January 2011. Let the West Coast Railway Association keep it on display in Squamish.
Ask the Brits how they do it. They even built a brand new steam loco using modern technology and got it certified. It has reached 100 mph! See https://www.a1steam.com/.
But there is no available railway tracks for the train to use. The track south from Squamish is nor in private hands as is the old BC Electric line.
Agreed, Art!
Here Here! I went on it twice, when it was doing the North Van to Squamish runs, and it was a great experience. The cost of its upkeep is a tiny portion of what it makes from tourism.
I love the old steam engine, I got a couple of close up pictures of her in May 1977 when 2860 was stopped on the side tracks in my old Kerrisdale neighborhood. The engine was facing North so perhaps this might have been the return trip? I have only ever viewed her when she was underway from a sailboat in Howe Sound but it was great to see the steam, smoke and hear the whistle as she made her way up the Coast.
Hats off to Angus for his terrific historical shot of the Hudson! When living in LA in the mid-1960s I remember the old freight train that made its way along the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard, traveling at night to avoid daytime traffic! I swear I heard that very train’s plaintive whistle during a late night scene in Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown’.
My one great regret is never going for a ride on the Royal Hudson. Sigh. I always MEANT to. I always thought it would be there. Why did it quit?
Enjoyed your article. Interested in local history
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Like local history
If Union Pacific was able to restore
Big Boy #4014 back to operating condition, then why not the Royal Hudson?
I had the privilege of taking a photography course by Fred Herzog through UBC (Fine Arts 475) on Saturdays throughout the semester in 1975. I watched him work with Kodak Ektachrome to get those memorable colourful downtown east side shots.
I rode the Hudson a few times as a kid in the 90s. The most memorable was when it hit a car at an intersection and all of us passengers had to get out and find other ways to get home! I always wondered what happened to the poor passengers of the vehicle that we hit!
My kids were very lucky to ride in the engine with Mr. Smith at Brunswick Beach. They are now in their forties
I saw the Royal Hudson running in 2005 or 2006. It stopped by Mosquito Creek Marina. A spectacular sight, bellowing steam and then chugging off towards Vancouver.
So I am wondering about that failed boiler date of 1995.