I grew up a half mile from the CN Rail Yards at Port Mann in Surrey BC.  We could hear the activities that were taking place there all hours of the day and night which inevitably created a curiosity of all things relating to transportation.  I often wondered what was in those cars. Where they came from, and where bound for.  Even though being a railroader was not to be, the lure of hauling loads was  never far away.  In 1973 I became a truck driver for a local delivery service where I one day ended up in those same Port Mann yards  unloading a half carload of heating supplies.  Now I knew where “this boxcar“ came from and even where it was going.  

 

When our son was born I was given an electric Lego train set set by my wife who knew that I had a fascination with trains.  Wooden Thomas the Tank Engine soon followed when our son had his own fascination with the Thomas videos.  A HO set is now in the process of getting set up as well. We recently moved to Hope BC where two railroads maintains yards.  With CN Rail & CP Rail (Haig Yard) there are many opportunities to watch Trains with many chances to add to my collection.

BC Rail became my railroad of choice when I began truck driving in northern BC. One of our bush roads at the time was sharing a BC Rail bridge over the Fort Nelson River.  At the beginning, taking pictures of this event became apparent, when I had to stop because of a Speeder car coming across the bridge and I realized I had time to take a picture of it.  After that I took pictures whenever I was able to.  It was mostly whenever it was convenient or the opportunity allowed me to stop.