VANCOUVER

INSET: DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER

ROUTES

Operator: British Columbia Electric Railway Company (BCER)

URBAN STREETCAR ROUTES (VANCOUVER)

The last day of operation of streetcars in Vancouver was 21 April 1955.

INTERURBAN ROUTES

The last days of operation of interurbans in the Vancouver area were:

• A4: 28 February 1958.
• A5: 17 Nov. 1956.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM

NETWORK LENGTH

• Vancouver streetcar lines: ? km.
• Interurban lines: ? km.

HISTORY

• Vancouver streetcars: (electric) 28 June 1890 - 21 Apr. 1955.
• North Vancouver streetcars: (electric) 1 Sept. 1906 - 23 Apr. 1947.
• Interurban trams: (electric) 3 June 1891 - 28 Feb. 1958.
• SkyTrain (automated LRT): 3 Jan. 1986 - today.
• Canada Line (Metro): 17 Aug. 2009 - today.

GAUGE

• Vancouver and North Vancouver streetcars: 1453 mm.
• SkyTrain / Canada Line: 1435 mm.

TRAM PRESERVATION

The Transit Museum Society runs vintage interurban streetcars between Granville Island and Science World on weekends and holidays during the summer months. A demonstration service by modern trams from Europe was run on the same line during the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver.

SOURCES

PRINT

• Cockle, D. "Tram-train community rail for Fraser Valley", Tramways & Urban Transit, Dec. 2010 (73: 876), p.465-466.
• Conn, H. & Ewert, H. Vancouver's glory years: Public transit 1890-1915. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2003.
• "End of city trams in Vancouver" (news item), The Modern Tramway, July 1955 (18:211), p.142.
• Ewert, H. The perfect little street car system. North Vancouver: North Vancouver Museum and Archives Commission, 2000.
• Ewert, H. The story of the B.C. Electric Railway Company. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 1986.
• Guide to Vancouver. Vancouver: British Columbia Electric Railway Company (BCER), 1930.
• Hyde, R. The Sockeye Special: The story of the Steveston tram and early Lulu Island. Richmond (B.C.): Author, 2011.
• Kelly, B. & Francis, D. Transit in British Columbia: The first hundred years. Madeira Park (B.C.): Harbour Publishing, 1990.
• Simons, V. "Vancouver prepares for the Winter Olympics", Tramways & Urban Transit, Jan. 2010 (73: 865), p.11-13.
• Till, H. Diary of significant events in the history of B.C. Electric's transportation system, 1889-1946. Vancouver: B.C. Electric Co., 1947 [?].
• Transit System Map of Vancouver, B.C. [Vancouver]: Challengers Cartographers, 1949, 1952 and 1954.

WIKIS

• British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER)
• Canada Line
• Evergreen Line
• SkyTrain (Vancouver)
• TransLink (Vancouver)
• Transportation in Vancouver
• Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway

WEB SITES

• Canadian Street Railways
• The History of Metropolitan Vancouver
• History of the B.C. Electric Railway Company
• TransLink

Copyright Gabor Sandi 1998-2024

Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.

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