February 2020 ; Around Vancouver B.C. and Whistler we have been remembering the 2010 Winter Olympics we hosted 10 years back. I finally have dug through my old collection of photos of trains from that time to post. Here are some photos of the Royal Hudson Steam train that ran on BNSF track to White Rock B.C. and the Canada US border for the Olympic Torch relay. Some shots of the steam train in the distant right by the border Peace Arch you can see the flame on the torch running down the road on the right.
Following are photos of the Rocky Mountaineer Alberta Olympic train. The Alberta provincial government paid to use the Rocky Mountaineer equipment. They had large colored imaging done on the side of most of the train. You were not able to purchase tickets for this train it seems it was for sponsors and folks connected to Alberta that got to ride the train each day leaving early morning from North Vancouver on the former BC Rail track to Whistler. The train was in daylight from north of Squamish to Whistler. It left Whistler and made the trip back to Vancouver in the dark. So there was limited chances to photograph the train. The highway was blocked north of Squamish to only buses and people with passes to keep traffic away from Whistler. So you could not get any photos of the train in action. I was lucky enough to get a ride north and managed to hitch a ride back earlier in the day before the train left. So these photos riding the train headed north through the Cheakamus river canyon in heavy rain. Then I ran on an icy trail around to the side of a lake to get photos of the train headed north to turn around and park for the return trip. I also got a photo of the road that was paved over the BC Rail tracks on one section of highway.
Click on the first photo then you can click right through larger images!
