Saturday Morning May 19, 2007

Saturday morning up early again to board the bus to Duncan. We went to the Duncan Forestry Museum. Upon arrival we were able to wander around the museum and the grounds while waiting for the train to arrive. The train took us around the park and stopped half way for us to explore a different area then re-board the train to go back to the station. After the train ride we had a quick bite to eat at their station then re-boarded the bus back to the University.

Friday night Layout Tours

Friday night we caught a ride with another Calgary couple and we headed out to the Three layouts starting with the riding layout, then O Scale and finally the amazing G scale. It's amazing that you can grow just about anything.

Friday May 17, 2007 Trip to Port Alberni

Did a full day trip from Victoria to Port Alberni to visit the Alberni Pacific Railway and McLean's Mill. We took a highway bus from Victoria to Port Alberni, where arrived at the Port Alberni Enginehouse at 1030 for a tour by the WVIIHS.




Also rode behind the Alberni Pacific's 2-8-2T #7 locomotive aboard a former CN transfer caboose. They allowed those of us who wanted, to disembark for a photo run by at the entrance to the park. I (Michaelea) stayed on the train to get photos from that point of view while Jon got off to take photos from his view point. Wonderful ride to say the least...Rumours have it they'll be running all the way to Parksville next year...If that's the case, guess where we're going after Chilliwack!







We arrived at the McLean Mill National Historic Site. It is an operating steam sawmill, fully restored to the way it was in the 1920's, with various stam driven saws, carriages and jackladder drawing logs up from the ;ons. There is a large collection of logging equipment and rolling stock on the site where the CPR spur was located.

Ferris Oyster Bar

After checking into the University for our room and for the Conference we attended the end of the Meet and Greet. It was at the meet and greet that we saw that there were a large number of calgary people there as well as the Chilliwack group. They invited Jon to join them in running on their layout.

After the meet and greet we got the phone call from Julia saying that she had landed and that she would call once Sig, TLG, and Brandon picked her up. They picked her up at the airport then picked up at the University and we squeezed into the Jeep! We went to Ferris Oyster Bar for dinner. The food was really good and so was the atmosphere! I was so glad I got to spend the time with them.

Thanks guys!

Obsticle on the rails.

There was one obstruction on our trip though, and it was a boom lift that was parked too close to the tracks. The conductor had to get out and acess the situation. He told the engineer to start pulling forward slowly as he watched how much room was left. Turns out that we had three inches to spare. Any closer and we would have been waiting two hours for a tow truck to come and remove it.

Jon was invited up by a few other railfans who rode the train up to join him on the rear of the train/RDC to take photos of the Tunnel and Bridge.

Ride from Courtney, BC to Victoria

The train trip was fairly uneventfull. I managed to stay awake for the entire trip! Lots of really nice scenery and tons of flowers in bloom.