Caption: March 16 1985, BCR 722 freshly painted and overhauled,with trailing units 618-621-632, poised on Stone Creek bridge at mile 444.3 on the BC Rail Prince George subdivision. Without much delay I stopped the train for a quick photo opportunity. It was a rather dull morning and I opted to extinguish the ditch / corner lights, less confusion for the camera light meter. The bridge over Stone Creek was a "glue-lam" structure with concrete waterway underneath. Station name sign "Stoner", mileage 443.9 is further back in the train.
As can be seen the 722 is flying white flags and white class lights, train order authority to "run extra", Williams Lake to Prince George BC. On this day we were the symbol freight "VO" (Vancouver-Omnieca). BC Rail as well ran two other symbol freights northbound daily, "VP" (Vancouver-Peace) and the "VC" (Vancouver-Cariboo) these symbolized trains served the three regions of BC Rail. During the days of train orders and time table scheduled trains the symbol VP ran as train No23 from North Vancouver to Chetwynd. The two other north freight trains ran as "extra" although for operation purposes they had a scheduled time of operation. On this particular trip pictured, we would take rest at Prince George and then return to Williams Lake on the "OV" symbol usually running as a No.38 or a late No 36 on a "fourth class" time table schedule. No 23 the VP ran as a "third class" scheduled train.
|