BC Rail - Locomotives

Locomotives

Until the late 1940s, most motive power on the PGE was provided by steam locomotives. The majority of the railway's locomotives were of the 2-6-2, 2-8-0 and 2-8-2 (Whyte notation) wheel configurations. In addition, the railway also used a handful of gasoline cars, notably on a flatcar automobile ferry between Shalalth and Lillooet known simply as the Gas Car, once a vital lifeline for the communities of the upper Bridge River basin before the completion of a road from there to Lillooet.

The railway received its first diesel locomotive in June 1948, a General Electric 65-ton locomotive. Over the next two years the railway acquired six GE 70-ton locomotives. In the 1950s, the railway bought RS-3, RS-10, and RS-18 locomotives from the Montreal Locomotive Works (MLW). The railway had fully dieselized by 1956, and by the end of the decade had nearly 40 diesel locomotives. The railway would purchase new locomotives exclusively from MLW until 1980. During the 1970s, the railway also purchased several used locomotives, mostly American Locomotive Company (ALCO) models from American railways. In the 1980s, the railway acquired new SD40-2 locomotives made by General Motors Diesel (GMD), as well as used SD40–2s originally made by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD). In the 1990s and early 2000s, a number of locomotives were purchased from General Electric. Purchased new from GE were 27 C40-8Ms and 14 C44-9Ws. Older, secondhand GE locomotives in the form of B36-7s, C36-7MEs, and B39-8Es were also purchased.

In 1970, the railway started using remote controlled mid-train locomotives, allowing longer and heavier trains to be operated through the steep grades of the Coast Mountains. It initially used separate remote control cars to control the mid-train locomotives, but in 1975 it received eight M-420B locomotives from MLW. These locomotives were specially designed for mid-train operation. They contained remote control stations, and were cabless.

The railway also leased seven GF6C electric locomotives made by GMD for use on the electrified Tumbler Ridge Subdivision from 1983 until electrification was removed in 2000. In 2004, the Paul D. Roy family purchased engine 6001 and they donated it to the British Columbia Railway & Forest Industry Museum in Prince George; the remaining six were scrapped.

For passenger service, the PGE purchased seven Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDC) in 1956. Starting in the 1970s, the BCR started to purchase some used RDCs. The RDCs were retired in 2002, when BC Rail ended its passenger services.

The BCR also used some historic locomotives for its Royal Hudson excursion service. The primary steam locomotive for the Royal Hudson excursion train was Canadian Pacific Railway No. 2860, a class H1 4-6-4 Royal Hudson. Made by MLW for the Canadian Pacific Railway in June 1940, it was the first locomotive built as a Royal Hudson. A sister locomotive, No. 2850, pulled King George VI's and Queen Elizabeth's royal train in 1939. After the tour, the King gave the CPR permission to use the term "Royal Hudson" for the class of locomotives. Between 1940 and 1956 it hauled transcontinental passenger trains between Revelstoke and Vancouver. Damaged in a derailment in 1956, it was refurbished and transferred to Winnipeg in 1957 for service on the prairies. It was withdrawn from service in May 1959, replaced by diesel locomotives. It was sold to the Vancouver Railway Museum Association in 1964 and was stored in Vancouver until 1973, when the British Columbia government acquired the locomotive from Joe. W. Hussey, who had purchased it three years earlier. It was restored and then leased to the British Columbia Railway, who used it in excursion service between 1973 and 2000. It was out of service during the 2001 tourist season, needing extensive repairs. The backup for No. 2860 was Canadian Pacific Railway No. 3716, a 2-8-0 built by MLW in 1912. During the 2001 season, when both steam locomotives were out of service, BC Rail leased No. 4069, a restored Canadian Pacific Railway FP7A diesel locomotive.