Description
Only one copy is available of the original publication of this classic transportation history book by esteemed author Robert Turner.
The companion volume to The Canadian Pacific’s Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway: The CPR Steam Years, 1905 1949, this is the continued story of the ever-fascinating, often troubled E&N Railway. The E&N became the key transportation link along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island and to the west coast at Port Alberni. Freight service was tied to forestry and mining, and the E&N also carried everything from furniture to fruit for a growing population that depended on the trains. Even the circus came to Vancouver Island on the E&N Railway. The E&N faced rapid change in the post Second World War years. In the late 1940s, in a dramatic modernization, the E&N became the first railway in Canada to begin using new, more efficient diesel locomotives. In 1955, the streamlined Dayliner arrived and replaced the well-worn wooden passenger cars. In spite of increasing competition from the automobile, the train somehow survived for over 50 years, attracting people from all over the world to explore Vancouver Island on the scenic, leisurely railway. Featuring hundreds of spectacular photos and beautiful drawings, the book presents a sweeping portrait of the E&N Railway: from the first diesels to the formation of VIA Rail Canada and its operation of the Dayliner, through CP’s sale of the E&N and the eventual formation of the Island Corridor Foundation. With Turner’s trademark exhaustive research, MacLachlan’s years of experience, and many insights from people who worked for and traveled on the railway, this is at once an invaluable reference and fascinating history.
