Members of Cloverdale’s Heritage Rail hope to receive very good news soon.
The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society (FVHRS) has finalized all contracts with BC Hydro and Southern Railway of British Columbia. Now it is just waiting patiently for the two companies to work out their own contract details. Once everything is signed, Heritage Rail will be allowed to run its trains to Sullivan Station again.
“We are waiting for good news about when we can get back on the main line,” said John Sprung, chairman of the FVHRS board. “We are waiting for a decision. That is out of our hands.”
He said Southern Railway owns the freight rights to the old BC Electric Railway line and has a long-term lease on it. Hydro owns the passenger rights – so the two would have to sign some paperwork since FVHRS will operate passenger service on the rail line leased from Southern. FVHRS recently signed a five-year Corridor Consent Agreement with Hydro that gives Heritage Rail the right to operate a passenger train to Sullivan.
He said once they are allowed to use the main line again, they will begin planning their Halloween train. Since they have to plan for several weeks to get the Halloween train on the tracks, they need to know within about three weeks if they can run on the main line again. The main line is an integral part of what FVHRS offers families for their Halloween special train.
“To do it right, we need to go to Sullivan,” Sprung explained. “We need the main route. That works well with things we can do in the car while driving there and back.”
He said if they don’t receive notification of main line access within that time frame, the Halloween train won’t run. And that just has to do with the time it takes to plan the event.
“We fully expect we will get (access), it’s just a matter of time,” Sprung added. “But (the Halloween train) is a wonderful event. A lot of people look forward to it and it’s always a lot of fun. I’m never sure who has more fun, our guests or all of our volunteers.”
However, he mentioned that the railroad’s Christmas train and adventure are well prepared, as the railroad is not using the main line for their Christmas train. The Restoration Car Barn will become Santa’s workshop and FVHRS will only run the Christmas train on their Cloverdale branch. Planning is already underway for Christmas in Cloverdale as it was in 1924.
“We really hope that everything goes well and that we’ll be back up and running very soon,” Sprung explained. “But it takes time. Several steps are necessary.”
Cloverdale Station Summer Music Festival
This was also the first year the railroad hosted a summer music series. The Cloverdale Station Summer Music Festival was held on the platform of the heritage rail station in late June and runs through September 1.
“We would like to thank the City of Surrey and their Cultural Grants program,” Sprung noted. “They helped sponsor our summer music festival this year.”
Sprung said the music fest was a huge success, attracting more visitors to Cloverdale Station this summer. (Sprung also indicated the festival will likely return next year.) Twenty performances were spread out over 10 weeks, with each band/artist playing two sets each Saturday and Sunday, one at 11 a.m. and one at 1 p.m.
Remaining performances at the Cloverdale Station Summer Music Festival include:
August 24: The Shannon Lee Quartet
25 August: Peace Arch Chorus
31 August: Mark Hildebrand
1 September: Kat Moon Band
The Heritage Railway Adventure experience is offered eight times per weekend, four on Saturday and four on Sunday.
The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society operates the railway from the Cloverdale station and Restoration Car Barn at Highway 10 and 176A Street in Surrey, which they now call the Cloverdale Heritage Railway Campus.
For more information about the Heritage Railway Adventure, the Summer Concert Series, Halloween or Christmas trains, or to purchase tickets, visit fvhrs.org.
