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Royal Hudson in White Rock

Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Rob Howatson in Featured, Living

The Royal Hudson #2860, Canada’s most beloved, functioning steam locomotive, rarely ventures out of its barn in Squamish’s West Coast Railway Heritage Park, but two weeks ago the 70-year-old engine chugged and whistle-blasted down to Vancouver in preparation for a February 8 excursion to White Rock. (Choo-choo fans can book passage on this trip and/or on the February 9 return trip to the Pacific Central Station, near Main and Terminal, at 1-800-722-1233.)

The train’s appearance in White Rock coincides with the city’s 4th annual “Bite Of The Rock” restaurant festival, which runs until February 9 and features 18 participating eateries offering three-course meals for $15-35. On February 9, Royal Hudson passengers who arrive early for the noon steam run to Vancouver (we’re talking 6:30 am early) can also cheer the Olympic torch as it passes through the Boundary Bay town. The relay rally will be followed by a pancake breakfast and musical performances at the White Rock Community Centre, 15154 Russell Avenue, from 7:30 am to 10:30 am.

The Royal Hudson's appearance in White Rock coincides with the city’s 4th annual “Bite Of The Rock” restaurant festival, which runs until February 9 and features 18 participating eateries offering three-course meals for $15-35.

As for the Royal Hudson’s adopted home at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park in Squamish, work is nearing completion on the museum’s 22,000-square-foot CN Roundhouse and Conference Centre. Once finished, sometime in April or May, the impressive train gallery will be the first roundhouse built in Canada in more than a century. The facility will have berths for seven vintage locomotives and railcars, and room for 1,200 conventioneers, making it the largest banquet-meeting facility on the Sea to Sky Corridor. That’s a lot of train spotters.

One can already hear B.C. folk musician Dave Baker’s Royal Hudson echoing through the rail yard:

Once again we’ll hear those sounds of yesteryear -
that haunting wail our fathers used to know,
and we’ll look into the sky to see her plume that billows high
as she crawls along the rocky shore below.

Check out Chor Leoni’s rousing version of this tune, complete with Ken Storey images of mighty #2860 in all her pre-diesel glory.

And share your Royal Hudson memories with us.

Lead photo courtesy West Coast Railway Association