A CPR Heavy Lock, circa 1923 – 1960
I’m a train geek, a rail fan, and a person that grew up with the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway on Vancouver Island.
Between 1905 and 1999, the E&N Railway was owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Via Rail took over operation of CPR’s passenger train service, called The Malahat, in 1978.
Until 1996, it was called the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway. It then spent three years as E&N Railfreight, an internal short line. Operations were then sold to RailAmerica. The RailAmerica subsidiary was named E&N Railway Co (1998) Ltd.
In February 2006, the Canadian Pacific donated its 234 km (145 miles) portion of the right-of-way between Victoria and Courtenay, to the Island Corridor Foundation. The CPR was gone,