British Columbia Electric Railway Co — Langley, BC - British Columbia Heritage Markers on Waymarking.com

The scope of the British Columbia Electric Railway was impressive. Even its predecessor companies were pioneers in electric railway operations.

During the mid-1880s Frank J. Sprague was experimenting with electric railway operations. His proof of concept came to fruition during 1887 and by 1888 he was building the first electric streetcar operation in Richmond, Virginia.

Meanwhile, on the Canadian Pacific Coast, the City of Vancouver was founded in 1886. This burgeoning terminus port for the Canadian Pacific Railway took off in May 1887 when the first transcontinental train across Canada arrived in Vancouver from Montreal. But the progressive community of Vancouver quickly realized it needed a public transportation system. Not even looking at horsedrawn trams it set its eyes on Sprague's invention over in Virginia.

By 1890 the Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company Limited began to serve Vancouver. Earlier that same year the National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company Limited was serving Victoria with electric streetcars. And in 1891 the first electric interurban railway sprang up linking Vancouver to New Westminster. This latter route is still in operation as an electrified rapid transit line with the SkyTrain following much of the original right-of-way.

The electric railway companies ultimately were bankrupted during the volatile boom-and-bust cycles that hit Canada's financial community during the mid and late 1890s. The British Columbia Electric Railway Company Limited formed in April 1897 and had a secure future.

The British owned company now controlled all three electric railway services and began a steady expansion of the electric railway system while building hydro-electric dams in the close by mountains. It built the Buntzen Lake dam system, the Coquitlam Dam, and the Stave Falls Dam. This increased supply of electricity also spread out into businesses and homes using this clean source of power.

As to the railway network, the BCER was quickly expanding it's Lower Mainland system.

The city streetcar lines serving Vancouver and Victoria were joined by city lines in North Vancouver, New Westminster, and along Burnaby's Hastings Street.

For the original Interurban line connecting Vancouver to New Westminster, it was now called the Central Park line. This core line became part of a growing network. In 1905 the BCER leased the Vancouver & Lulu Island Railway subsidiarity of the CPR. The BCER electrified this route between Vancouver and Marpole.

But they didn't stop there. The BCER built a bridge across the North Arm of the Fraser River and extended south from Marpole to the important fishing port of Steveston. This line was known as the Marpole-Steveston Line but is often referred to as The Sockeye Express.

In 1909 starting in Marpole they built a line reaching east to New Westminster following close to the shore of the North Arm of the Fraser River and serving the growing number of sawmills along the river's edge.

The following year they built the Fraser Valley Branch that started in Downtown New Westminster and went all they out to Chilliwack. It was the first railway to serve the farms on the south side of the Fraser River.

Then they built the Burnaby Lake Line that linked Downtown Vancouver to New Westminster through the Brunette River - Burnaby Lake - Still Creek Valley.


In addition, the BCER built short lines from New Westminster to Fraser Mills and to Queensborough.

Over on Vancouver Island, they built a line running from Victoria to Deep Cove in North Saanich. This line was the last to be built in 1913 but was the first to close in 1924. Similar to the Fraser Valley, the Saanich Peninsula was served by three different railways.

Then there were the industrial lines built to serve the BCER's hydro-electric projects. Many of these lines only existed during the time of the construction of the dam sites to close quickly afterwards.

As to passenger service on the Interurban network, the routes slowly closed through the late 1940s until 1954 when the last section of the Central Park line. The city streetcar lines also were shut down mostly in this early. The first victim of progress was the New Westminster city streetcar system when an extensive part of the system was destroyed when the Pattullo Bridge was built in 1937. North Vancouver closed in 1947 and Victoria stopped in 1948.

As to Vancouver many of the lines were converted from streetcar to trolleybus routes starting in 1948 until the final streetcar trip on April 22, 1955. However, today Vancouver is the only operating trolleybus system in Canada. Still using environmental sound and pollution clean hydro-electricity.

Throughout the Lower Mainland, you can see the last few remnants of the electric railway area. If you know where to look. The Coghlan Substation, where this sign was erected, is one of those sites.

Type of Marker: Cultural Type of Sign: Historic Site or Building Marker Describe the parking that is available nearby: On street What Agency placed the marker?: Township of Langley

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