Friday, December 10, 2021

Vancouver Railway Landscape 1915-1930


Here are a few images showing Vancouver railways as other lines began to follow the CPR into the city.


Above is one version of the Second Narrows bridge crossing to North Vancouver. Apparently, autos were first to use it in 1925, followed by trains. The Pacific Gatherer collided with the centre span on September 19, 1930 and that was the end of getting across this bridge until June 1934 when it finally reopened. You can easily find some interesting photos of this collision elsewhere on the internet - the damage is quite impressive. 

Except for the map immediately below (from a Government of Canada Atlas from 1915) the other images are from: Vancouver, The Way it Was; Michael Kluckner; 1984; Whitecap Books.




The Great Northern terminal (left) was built 1915-1917 and demolished in the 1960s. The Canadian Northern terminal (right) was built 1917-1919 ... according to the book identified above. This view dates from the 1920s.


The illustrated map above (from 1927) shows a number of new railway features.