When the E&N Was for People

There are people for, and people against, the idea of restoring service on the E&N Rail line. If you are in your later years, and grew up on the island, you know that the E&N proved to be a reliable method of transportation for decades – moving people and goods. It was unthinkable, growing up, that it might not always be there… I had the pleasure of ‘riding the rails’ many times growing up and the thing that I remember the most were the views along the route that can’t be seen from the highway and, second, the camaraderie on these trips. Nobody had to worry about traffic or stop lights…they could sit and enjoy the company of fellow passengers, and the beautiful scenery of Vancouver Island that can’t be seen while driving on the highway. I would happily ride the train rather than face Malahat traffic and backups. Read the lovely article by Elizabeth Forbes, written in 1970, about the E&N, and enjoy a trip on the train…

Victoria Daily Times, Monday, November 16, 1970

By Elizabeth Forbes 

Elizabeth Forbes was the social editor of the Daily Times for 20 years until she retired in 1964. She continued to write columns until her death in 1981.

Count me among the thousands of men and women in Victoria who have been expressing satisfaction at the CPR’s action in maintaining the E&N as a transportation medium.

I don’t look on this decision in terms of economic returns to CP Rail. I look on it in terms of what I used to call the “people’s railway,” the E&N, which used to provide much of the backbone to a way of life that’s been changing over the years.

Let me tell you the story of my train rides.

I have nostalgic memories of what we used to call the Saturday excursion train that ran to Shawnigan Lake every summer weekend and all summer long, and was always loaded to capacity.

The E&N used to consist not of one engine and one car, mind you, but four or five cars handed down from the mainline of the CPR, hauled by a huffing and puffing steam engine. That weekend special was always filled to overflowing, as businessmen and young office workers, high school and college students who had been batching at home during the week, joined their families at cottages and camps around the lake.

Some got off where a short piece of double track allowed the regular trains to pass each other. There was a rugged path from there down the hill.

Others went as far as the lake and still others all the way to Shawnigan station proper, and the end of the weekend express.

I remember, too, during the last war and into the late 40s, how the little railway catered to an ever-growing tourist trade, mostly from the United States.

There was a tire and gasoline shortage in the States at that time, so tourists from below the line came to Victoria without their cars, then continued on to the resorts at Shawnigan Lake and other points by way of the train.

They also discovered what many in this city had discovered before them. That it was possible to travel to Shawnigan Lake or even to Duncan, have luncheon at one of several resort hotels, and return to Victoria the same day.

Sometimes for a special outing, friends would get together for a trip as far as Nanaimo.

In the spring perhaps, when the dogwood flowers started the countryside, or in the fall when the leaves had turned golden brown.

On the way we’d “Ooh” and “Aah” as the train crossed over Niagara Canyon bridge, about 200 feet high and around 500 feet long. (It too was a hand-me-down from the CPR mainline at Sisco.)

There would be murmurs of excitement as we swayed around the many curves over Malahat Mountain. Invariably if there were Americans aboard, the conductor would announce in a voice that carried from one end of the car to the other, “I’ll bet you’ve never seen a railroad with more curves than this one.”

Those same conductors—old-time railroaders every one—would, by pre-arrangement, let it pick up hunters, fishermen and picnickers, almost anywhere along the line.

There was no dining car aboard. But Nanaimo was a real stop. Here again it was the everyday occurrence for the conductor to hold the train a reasonable time for passengers to finish snack, pie and coffee.

Certainly the train was occasionally late in its time, but nobody seemed to mind. Back in those days, the E&N was a profitable undertaking. Some trains carried 30 tons away and there were 16 mixed trains a week, 14 of them carrying both passengers and freight. But in between, the passengers, lolling along, were happy at this high-ball arrangement.

Into the bargain, along the right-of-way, a ferry service transferred passengers and cargo from the Pacific Great Eastern to the Vancouver Island line.

The high bridge over Niagara Canyon was a thrill, as was the climb over Malahat Mountain. Potential to attract tourists is as great, if not greater, than back in the 40s.

Let’s hope the “breather” extended by CTC will prove this to be true and that the historic little railway will have many more years.