Important Dates

Sunday June 17, 2012 Father's Day

Oct 8, Thanksgiving, last day of operations 2012.

Welcome to FVHRS

Our mission: To restore and to operate heritage interurban cars on the original BC Electric Railway Route through Surrey and the Fraser Valley to link heritage tourism destinations.

Our initial operations are focused on the red section on the above map. The original rail line still exists from the rail bridge over the Fraser river at Brownsville to Chilliwack.

(Click on blue text to jump to that page.)

News

Volunteer (at) FVHRS.org We are preparing to start operations. If you want to be a part of this great ride of a lifetime, now is the time to get on board! Do you want to learn how to drive BCER 1225? Talk to the passengers and tell stories about 'the good old days' on the rails? Greet and guide passengers on board, or at the stations? We are looking for volunteers to come ride with us on weekends. Call 604 538 9611, or email to Volunteer(at)fvhrs.org [replace (at) with @ please] with your name and what you would like to do with us.

Sullivan Open House

Our second-to-last Sullivan Open House on Sunday May 20th was held on the first rainy day in some time. This same weekend was the Cloverdale Rodeo which also draws people away from Sullivan. We did have a good time and a better than expected turn out given the weather.

Because of the rain, the band, Circle of Friends, decided to sit this one out rather then become the 'Circle of Fried friends'. A good decision as late in the morning is looked like the clouds might move away. By mid-afternoon however it was just wet.

Many people have asked what we do in the morning before opening the gates and selling the hot-dogs. A last clean up of the speeder is needed before we start on the track.

The cooked onions for the hot dogs are prepared onsite just before visitors arrive. Because of the rain and the fact that BCER 1304 has the roof covering off, we decided to keep it inside.

Once we were ready of course thats when the rain started.

It must have been the scent of the onions and hot dogs that brought them in, soon people were going through the barn and watching the movie, or other people.

a bit of rain never spoils a good hot dog

There are a few who seem to prefer the rain with their hot dogs.

This was a special day as we had two visitors:

SIRS BCER 1304 Plaque

Dr. Peter Moogk, a Director with the Steveston Interurban Restoration Society (SIRS) came out with a special plaque to commemorate SIRS purchase of BCER 1304 and the return to Canada. This completes the hand-over of BCER 1304 to FVHRS as SIRS has disbanded. See this page for pictures.

Our second visitor also has a connection to Steveston, Mr. Ron Hyde, author of The Sockeye Special was on hand to see the current condition of BCER 1225 and to sign copies of his book.

Our last Open House at Sullivan is Sunday, June 17 - a special day to bring Dad out to ride on the speeder cart, walk through the two BCER Interurban cars, and enjoy a (hopefully) sunny day with the FVHRS.

Construction update

We are building a new car barn in Cloverdale at 5554 - 176 Street. When the new barn is completed we will move the interurban cars, BCER 1225 and BCER 1304, from the car barn in Sullivan Station - expected to be late August this year. The exact date will be announced later in the summer, in time for you to plan on seeing these very large train cars 'fly' again as they are craned away from Sullivan and brought to our new home in Cloverdale. We hope to see you then.

Older pictures have been moved to the Cloverdale Construction page and are in construction order. The latest pictures are at the 'bottom' of that page.

Click here to jump to latest pictures.

May 14

The East wall framing is done. These timbers support both the end walls and the large train access doors. This view shows where BCER 1225 (North or left side) and BCER 1304 (South or right side) will enter the barn.

Each of these posts are 12" (1 foot) on a side. The slits at the bottom go over the 'fins' that you can see in earlier photos. On the upper timbers you can see more slits where the metal connectors are attached to hold each of the timber parts.

The interior walls have been started. The framed wall on the right will be the workshop and washroom. Where the fellow (back to camera) is standing will be the entrance to the stairs up to the lunchroom.

May 15

The timber frames are connected with these metal tie plates.

Each of the tie plates fit into the slots cut in the middle of the frames. Half of the end wall frame is assembled on the ground and will then be lifted into place.

Each half-frame is lifted into place using a big crane. Here you can see the start of the lift with everyone out of the way.

Choosing the right place to grab onto the frame is as much art as experience. Lifting the half-frame so it is balanced and easy to control requires a lot of coordination between the crane operator and the crew.

Once the frame is placed onto the 'fins' of the anchor plates, it needs to be tied-in with the bolts.

The final connecting bolts are tightened and the West end timber frame wall is in place.

Celebrating 100 years of the Fraser Valley Line.

100 years of the BCER in the Fraser Valley

We are most pleased to bring you a Centenary Celebration of the B.C. Electric Railway Fraser Valley line. This publication looks at some of the events over the past 100 years on the BCER line, and a glimpse of what might be in the near future.

Written by Ray Hudson and Henry Ewert, this includes a few images rarely seen along with sections of the map of the BCER 1909-1950 created by David Reuss.

Our thanks to our partners and sponsors: Surrey Heritage Advisory Commission, SRY Rail Link, Buchanan Printing and The Leader.

Click here to download the PDF version of the Centenary Celebration of the BCER Fraser Valley line.

You will need the (free) Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the publication.

Recent work on BCER 1225

Work on BCER 1225 continues in the car barn. the dedicated volunteers are very busy 3 days per week getting the car ready to run again. Having brought the car from its 50 year California vacation, there is a lot of wood that needs replacing to be able to function in the Wet Coast again. Some items have just not survived the 50 + years of use.

Restoration and rehabilitation from the floor up to the roof has been underway since the car arrived. The car has been raised up and the trucks removed for refurbishing and cleaning. The trucks will be returning very soon, and then 1225 will look proper again.