Talk:Island Rail Corridor

The name is 'E and N Railway Company'. It was formerly known as 'Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway', thus that name is mentioned early, and that redirects it. But current operations are under the 'E and N Railway' name; there is no 'Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway' any more. --SPUI 20:46, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

acronyms vs. full name
The acronym vs. full name issue seems to be a bit of a mess on this one. I've come across multiple references on both Government of British Columbia, Government of Canada and various industry sites that refer to "Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company (1998) Ltd." or "E&N Railway Company (1998) Ltd.", and frequently both interchangeably. I would say for the sake of geographic and historical clarification, the article could be placed under "Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway" and readers could find the minutiae of corporate naming issues within the contents should they wish. Cheers,Plasma east 21:16, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * The official page on RailAmerica says "E&N Railway". & is virtually identical to 'and', and is used to shorten matters; very few if any railroads actually use & in the legal incorporated name. For example, http://www.railamerica.com/railmaps/AGR.htm is the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway but uses the &.
 * As for the use of the E and N, none of the other railroads on the RailAmerica site use acronyms like that; the only shortening done is using & and removing Company and similar words. Thus, unless we can find an official incorporation document for the current railroad, we should go with what's on the official company site. My opinion of course. Wikipedia policy says to use the most common name (with conditions), but in this case a lot of people probably do call it by its acronyms, and it appears that that is the official name. --SPUI 22:03, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * That's cool with me - E&N Railway, E and N Railway, E&N Railfreight, E and N Railfreight, or Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway - as long as the redirects work, I'm fine with it any one of these being the main article - I had checked back on it after a couple of days and noticed the change and thought it was a typo, thus my move - didn't realize you were editing at the same time. Cheers,Plasma east 07:52, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

History
The paragraph containing:

"Despite the purchase by RailAmerica, freight traffic has continued to decline and the future of the E&N has been in doubt for several years as RailAmerica is seeking to sell this recent acquisition due to unprofitability."

seems to be out of date and need updating. KenWalker | Talk 16:51, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

History - E&N Land Grant - Dunsmuir
This article says:

"In 1883, the British Columbia provincial government, tired of waiting for the federal government to build the railway, signed a contract with Sir Robert Dunsmuir, Nanaimo coal baron and a member of the provincial legislature, to build a railway between Esquimalt and Nanaimo in exchange for $750,000 from the federal government and 800,000 acres (3,200 km²) of land on Vancouver Island."

Reading Terry Reksten "The Dunsmuir Saga" challenges this. It describes Dunsmuir's insistence that his negotiations be with Ottawa but the provincial government (which he esentially controlled) would have its say when it came time for the province to transfer the land he was to recieve. It talks about 2 million acres of land, $750,000 in exchange for building 75 miles or railway. It describes the friendly relationship Dunsumuir built with Sir John A. Once he made his deal with Ottawa, the provincial government confirmed it with the passage of the settlement Act. At the same time Dunsmuir bought the Albion Iron Works in Victoria and allowed other provincial politicians to invest in it including Joseph Trutch who was Sir John's BC advisor having been one of the group that brought BC into confederation and a Lt Gov. After the Settelment Act was passed the land included was to remain open to settlement for 4 years. Preemptors could claim land for $1 per acre but when the railway was done, the land remaining was to be transferred to the railway and then it could sell the land for what it could get. There was suspicion that Dunsmuir was behind the red tape that meant applications for preemptions were often delayed.

So, looks like the idea of the province acting first needs to come out, the number of acres needs to be checked and either here or in Robert Dunsmuir there is some history to add.

Thought I would mention it here first in case there are comments or suggestions.

KenWalker | Talk 05:47, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Done. KenWalker | Talk 16:43, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Land Grant (more)
I am working on something to show the size of the land grant. For the moment it is at User:KenWalker/sandbox/E and N Land Grant. I suspect the northern boundary did not run east and west as that reaches the east side of the island below Seymour Narrows. Does anyone know of a reference for the actual location of the north east corner of the grant? Also does anyone have a source for the date of the subsequent further grant to the north of the original grant and its coordinates? The Map Coordinates link produces a map showing the corners. It would be better if we had an actual map showing the boundaries. -- KenWalker | Talk 00:06, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I've seen a map of it somewhere, either in print in something like Hayes Historical Atlas of British Columbia & the Pacific Northwest or online somewhere, maybe on one of the www.livinglandscapes.com or digital collections pages. There might be width specifics in Howay & Scholefield but I don't recall seeing a map; though I never really looked at the plates; I know they discuss some of the political issues surrounding the grant and/or the Dunsmuirs over the years.  As I recall its western boundary roughly parallels the overall "strike" of teh rail line, so it's equally twisty/sinuous, albeit in a more angular township-and-rnage kind of way.  Also I think the grant was of similar or identical width to the CPR mainline grant through BC, i.e. so many miles on eithr side of the line.  I'll be poking around back in H&S soon so I'll try to remember to have a look at page refs for info about the grant; and again you might want to look up the E&N on digital collections or maybe one of the railway museum/archive/hobby sites....the land grant was Big Politics in late 19th Cehntury BC, or specifically Vancouve Island especially; I know you know that, just cmomenting by way of how much this article could be eventually enriched.Skookum1 (talk) 03:02, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
 * This report 'Crown-Land-Grants-A-History-of-the-E-and-N" includes a map of Vancouver Island showing the boundaries of the land grant [] D1doherty (talk) 15:18, 29 April 2011 (UTC)

Johnson Street bridge and new terminus
There should be some information in this article about the removal of the rail bridge into downtown Victoria due to the construction of the new Johnson Street Bridge.--Skippingrock (talk) 14:23, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Chart
here is a chart layout, all we need is data for E n N
 * updated with data from Via Rail ticket. See also Malahat (passenger train) that should be merged with this.  -- KenWalker | Talk 03:44, 11 October 2008 (UTC)
 * It would be helpful to both articles to have the rail line table in a template that could then be included into both articles (and edited in only one place). The one in the Malahat (train) article does not mention the tunnel nor does it link to station or settlement articles like this one does. 67.86.75.96 (talk) 02:27, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

unsourced text about ICF and WP:DE
184.151.231.205 reverted deletion of unsourced, unverified text regarding the ICF, which is disruptive editing. Please help improve the article by providing reliable sources. Jeandjinni (talk) 12:24, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

Car float
Train ferry Delta, British Columbia – Nanaimo, British Columbia (E&N Railway) No mention of the car float Peter Horn User talk 01:18, 1 June 2021 (UTC)

Freight service resumed?
Am I reading this wrong? Has freight service actually resumed on the Island? (It's clear passenger service has not) If so, me thinks this article needs updating. Masterhatch (talk) 10:45, 1 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Freight service has never stopped on the Island Corridor. It reduced to a much smaller portion of the line. Freight operation occurs 5 days a week, and is based in Nanaimo. Virailfan (talk) 21:48, 29 April 2024 (UTC)
 * To be clear, freight service operates within Welcox Yard at the Nanaimo waterfront, and from the yard to Wellington, about 10 track miles away.
 * Multiple customers recieve goods by rail that are transloaded into trucks within Welcox Yard. Most notably and most consistently, Top Shelf Feeds in Duncan receives product this way. In addition, Superior Propane receives loaded tank cars at their facility on McCullough Rd at Dorman Rd in Nanaimo. Trains to Superior Propane continue further north to Wellington (Jingle Pot Rd and Wellington Rd) to allow the locomotives to run around the cars for the trip back to Welcox Yard.
 * Welcox Yard to Stocket, the junction with the main line, is about 3 miles. The distance from Stocket to Wellington is about 7 miles. So, there is a small 10 mile section of the Island Corridor that continues to have regular freight operations. Virailfan (talk) 10:53, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

Island Rail Corporation
Information about the Island Rail Corporation that is repeatedly being added is promotional, using wording from their website and press releases. This includes information that has never been publicly supported. Though it may be factual, it cannot be proven publicly to be factual. More neutral working must be retained. Virailfan (talk) 23:47, 29 April 2024 (UTC)


 * Another user has removed the promotional IRC material due to copyright violations. Virailfan (talk) 00:37, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Island Corridor
The correct name for the line is the "Island Corridor". The owner, the Island Corridor Foundation uses this name, and no other name. "Island Rail Corridor" is incorrect, and has never been used by the owner, nor in any formal documents. All references to "Island Rail Corridor" should have "Rail" removed to be correct, and this includes the title of the page.

The Island Corridor is not just a railway corridor, but it is also a corridor that is used by walkers, runners, cyclists, and many other rollers. In addition, it is also an information corridor as it has a very significant fibre optic cable running much of the corridor. This fibre optic provides for much needed Internet and long distance phone call communications. Virailfan (talk) 23:51, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Dates of Operation.
The dates of operation currently have an error, which needs to be fixed when this article is unlocked. It should read as follows:

‐

Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway 1884-1905

Canadian Pacific Railway 1905-1998

RailAmerica 1998-2006

Southern Railway of Vancouver Island (under contract with the Island Corridor Foundation) 2006-present–

‐-

Note that while CPR still owned portions of the E&N rail line (now Island Corridor) up to 2006, they did not operate anything after 1998. Virailfan (talk) 10:36, 10 May 2024 (UTC)


 * Or perhaps:
 * E&N Railway Co. (1998) Ltd. (RailAmerica) 1998-2006 Virailfan (talk) 19:21, 10 May 2024 (UTC)

England?
" It was a matter of Colonial policy and Imperial policy in England that the road should be constructed."

The use of the term "England" in this context is inappropriate and should be replaced with "Great Britain". The province is called British Columbia, not English Columbia. JimRobinBSc (talk) 07:10, 24 June 2024 (UTC)