Train to Dease Lake

[Glacier]

I was driving through Dease Lake recently, and noticed that there appeared to be an old rail bed. This seemed a bit off since Dease Lake is the middle of nowhere, almost 500 km from the nearest rail line.

Well, I did some research, and sure enough, BC Rail built the rail bed to Dease Lake in the 1970s, but abandoned the project in 1977. No trains ever rain the last 450 km. This is quite interesting because I see that new transmission lines are coming up the highway (and ruining the scenic views). I wonder if these will also get abandoned, and if not, would the rail line ever get built?

[KL3-Something]

It never fully got built because the cassiar highway was built into Stewart instead. It made more sense to truck the ore to Stewart, the northern-most ice-free deep water port, than to ship it by rail to PG just to then ship it to Prince Rupert.

There are rails as far as Bear Lake right now. Used by First Nations in the Takla/Ft St James area (the "High Railer" they call it. Soon though, the line will see more action from the Klappan into PG when the big new coal mine that is planned for that area opens up. The steel will be extended to there from Bear Lake.

[bob vernon]

And in the end, it evolved into another scam to raid the provincial treasury by the Socreds. When the construction of the last pieces of rail was cancelled in the 70s, one of the contractors took the BC government to court, claiming all sorts of damages. Even claiming that he was planning to buy all new heavy equipment to build the rail bed and should be compensated for all of it. The old equipment would never do. And there was the damage to his reputation in the industry, and he'd never be able to work for years and years because he was committed to the railway. The province settled for all of it. Everybody sees the rail grade that was built and remains, but we somehow forgot the millions given away when the project died.

[Ken7]

I was driving through Dease Lake recently, and noticed that there appeared to be an old rail bed. This seemed a bit off since Dease Lake is the middle of nowhere, almost 500 km from the nearest rail line.

Well, I did some research, and sure enough, BC Rail built the rail bed to Dease Lake in the 1970s, but abandoned the project in 1977. No trains ever rain the last 450 km. This is quite interesting because I see that new transmission lines are coming up the highway (and ruining the scenic views). I wonder if these will also get abandoned, and if not, would the rail line ever get built?

Build a jigger and run the line on your own as a scenic getaway!!

[Glacier]

I've been told that ATVers love to ride the line. A very beautiful ride they say.

[GEW]

I doubt the transmission line that's being built will ever be abandoned. It is going to link several mines along that corridor to the rest of the BC hydro grid. Also, it will hook up to the Forrest Kerr run of river project. A great deal of the province's mining and timber wealth will be coming from this area over the next 35 years or so. This line is laying the groundwork for our prosperity. Perhaps a rail line could be considered in the area as well

[Glacier]

This highway is extremely remote and unpopulated. It is the smallest and worst maintained highway between the Kelowna and Anchorage, Alaska. I think that the entire population living along the 560 km of highway from Meziadin Junction to the Yukon is in the range of 900 people. This includes the 350 that live in the Telegraph Creek area. I noticed driving down the road that the power lines are obstructing the pristine view, but that's okay since this is still a beautiful drive. Maybe the road will be upgraded and widened, and some of the potholes in the pavement fixed, though I noticed this time that the highway south of Dease Lake is vastly improved from 12 years ago while the section north of Dease Lake is still poorly maintained. I suspect that this is largely because most of the people driving that section of road are from out of province.