Railway 100th Videos Collection

Celebratory speeches for the 100th Anniversary of the Railway in Pemberton. This is an enactment of the inaugural speeches of the welcoming of the train in 1956.

Step back to the late 1990s and climb aboard one of BC Rails brutish C40-8 diesels for a fantastic cab ride from sea level at Squamish up through the rugged coastal mountain range to the big sky country at Lilooet. Youll see the line from the crews vantage points and witness the challenge of operating trains over this awesome stretch of railroad.

A look at the British Columbia Railway in August 1985

Made back in 1992 when the old train would run daily
from North Vancouver to Squamish British Columbia.
The guys running the train in this documentary are the last generation of men
to run locomotives on the Canadian Pacific Railroad in the 1950’s

This short documentary offers a step-by-step account of a fast freight train on a run from Toronto to Halifax, with glimpses of the vast amount of organization necessary in the operation of a country-wide transportation network.

This short documentary is a delightful trip back to an era in which railroad was king. The small community of Melville, Saskatchewan, is a railroad town. Long-time CBC host Fred Davis visits with various railway workers and learns about the operation of one of the vital service stations which keep the Canadian National Railway running smoothly.

This short documentary from the Canada Carries On series celebrates the contribution of Canada’s railroads to the war effort. The film includes a sequence from Buster Keaton’s 1926 silent comedy The General, as well as a re-enactment of Lord Strathcona driving the final spike into the Canadian Pacific Railway Line.

This is a short documentary about winter railroading in the Canadian Rockies and the men who keep the lines clear. The stretch between Revelstoke and Field, British Columbia, is a snow-choked threat to communications. The film shows the work of section hands, maintenance men, train crews and telegraph operators.

This documentary short offers a nostalgic look at the steam locomotive as it passes from reality to history. In its heyday, the big smoke-belching steam engine seemed immortal. Now, powerful and efficient diesels are pushing the old coal-burning locomotives to the sidelines, and the lonely echo of their whistles may soon be a thing of the past.

Here’s a much more serious video than my others… As the title says, this is what NOT to do in front of a 25,000 HP, 10,000 ton train, or any other train for that matter.

I’ve always been an advocate of rail-safety. I’ve seen way too many people take chances around trains. Thankfully, this guy didn’t hit a bump, or something like that, otherwise something much more horrific could have unfolded before my eyes… Look, Listen, Live!

Filmed in Pemberton, BC near Whistler and Vancouver, Canada. From the DDLP Collection

This movie stars Buster Keaton who rides a speeder from coast to coast. We are celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Railroad in Pemberton and thought this was an appropriate movie to kick things off. We are linking to this movie via You Tube and it is also available through the National Film Board of Canada (nfb.ca) online.

This powerful documentary from White River Productions covers the controversy surrounding the end of passenger service on BC Rail in October 2002.
Mike O’Neill, museum member shared the link with us and we have made it available on our website.
Enjoy.

This clip from the documentary film from 1957 by Allan King shows the arrival of the PGE passenger train in downtown Pemberton. To see the whole documentary “Pemberton Valley 1957” check our General Videos Gallery.

This film comes from Mike Dunham-Wilkie’s father Dave and was found on You Tube. Mike says:
“It is a mixture of short clips from along the BC Rail (formerly PGE) route from Squamish to Pavilion. I do not have the date for the trip, but when I get it narrowed down, I will post it. It has to be before 1972 because it is still the PGE.

We first see the Cheekamus Canyon
0:31 is a siding
0:41 is the tunnel along Seton Lake
0:54 a derailed box car almost in Seton Lake
1:20 The Fraser River near Fountain
2:03 another siding, this time to allow the south bound Budd Cars to pass
2:23 headed southwards
2:29 tunnel north of Pavilion
2:40 bridge over Fraser River at Lillooet, I think
2:55 southbound along Seton Lake”

This video was produced by the Royal BC Museum and provides some official history on the development of the P.G.E. railway.