Bellingham & Northern Line

The Bellingham & Northern Line is an electrified 36.8 mile (10.7 miles in BC) railway line of the North Western Pacific Railroad (NWP) running from Mission, where it connects with the Canadian Pacific Railway's Cascade Subdivision, to Fairhaven, Washington on the NWP's Fairhaven & Southern Line. In addition, it connects to BC Rail's Inter-Dominion Line at Matsqui; at Abbotsford to the North Poplar Branch, to BC Hydro's Fraser Valley Line (to which it also connects at Huntingdon), and to the Washington & British Columbia Railway's Sumas Crossing Line and VV&E Line; at Sumas, Washington to the Glacier Line, to the W&BC's Sumas Crossing Line, and to the Burlington Northern & Gulf Railroad's Sumas–Seattle mainline, at Everson Junction, Washington to the Lynden Branch, and at Bellingham, WA to the W&BC's Semiahmoo Line and to the BN&G's Bellingham–Seattle and Bellingham–Concrete lines.

The Bellingham & Northern Line is part of the Western Division of NWP's British Columbia District.

= History = After the Northern Pacific Railway opted for Tacoma, Washington for its western terminus instead of Whatcom (today a part of Bellingham), a group of local businessmen incorporated the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad (BB&BC) in 1884 with the intention of building a railway from Whatcom to Port Moody on Burrard Inlet, beginning construction immediately. To satisfy the requirements of British Columbian railway law, the directors of the BB&BC, joined by investors from Abbotsford, incorporated the British Columbia & Bellingham Bay Railway in January 1885, obtaining a charter to build from Abbotsford to the international boundary to meet the BB&BC building towards Sumas, Washington. The BC&BB approached the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was about to complete its line from Port Moody to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, about opening a connection from Abbotsford to Mission on the CPR line. The CPR immediately accepted, being enthusiastic about direct access to the United States, covering a part of the cost of building a bridge across the Fraser River between Mission and Matsqui. The railway was opened to traffic in 1891; the BC&BB remained a "paper railway", as all operations were undertaken by the BB&BC.

The BB&BC expanded over the following years, opening the Lynden Branch in 1894 and the Sumas–Glacier line in 1902; it had gained a friendly connection to Seattle in 1898, when the Fairhaven & Southern Railroad opened its line from Fairhaven to Seattle via Sedro-Woolley. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul Railroad (CM&StP) acquired the BB&BC in 1912, renaming it the Bellingham & Northern Railroad (B&N); at the same time, it bought the Fairhaven & Southern as well. In 1918, the CM&StP merged all its wholly-owned subsidiaries to operate under its own, but the B&N retained its separate identity until 1924. Finally, in 1925, the CM&StP was reorganised under the Chicago, Milwaukee, St Paul & Pacific Railway name - commonly called the Milwaukee Road.

The Milwaukee Road opened the North Poplar Branch in 1942 to connect Abbotsford to the massive new De Havilland BC aircraft plant opened there that year. The mainline and both branches were electrified at 25kV 60Hz in 1966, after the electrification of the Seattle–Chicago trunk line had been completed.

= Services =

Freight
Freight service on this line is extensive. Since the purchase of De Havilland by Boeing, wings and other components for airliners are built at the Abbotsford plant and shipped to Boeing's main plant in Renton, Washington, for assembly; this generates a great deal of traffic for the NWP.

Passenger
The various categories of passenger service are defined by the Ministry of Labour, Industry & Railways in conjunction with the Ministry of Transport & Communications; these categories are applicable to and used by all railways providing passenger service in British Columbia. The NWP operates one Rapid (in conjunction with BC Rail) and one Local service on the Bellingham & Northern Line.

Rapid
Rapid (also known as "semi-express") trains are similar to regular Express trains, making a limited number of scheduled stops, but stops can be booked up to three hours in advance at any station on the route that has passenger service.


 * 135/136 Salishan Rapid (NWP/BC Rail): Vancouver (Pacific Central) – Glacier, Washington, USA
 * One daily return trip runs in the summer timetable with NWP equipment and crews; two daily return trips run in the winter timetable, one with BC Rail equipment, the other with NWP equipment. The trains run on BC Rail trackage between Pacific Central Station and Matsqui, and NWP trackage between Matsqui and Glacier, with the two railways having running rights over the other's trackage for this service. BC and US customs checks occur at Huntingdon and Sumas respectively, and passengers may not board or disembark here. These trains feature first and second class chair cars and a cafeteria car; there is no baggage handling service. This train operates as an Express train in BC (flag stops cannot be booked), and as a Rapid in Washington. A surcharge applies for trips entirely within BC (i.e. travel only between Vancouver and Abbotsford). Scheduled intermediate stops:
 * BC: Abbotsford, Huntingdon (BC and US customs checks eastbound)
 * Washington: Sumas (BC and US customs checks westbound), Columbia, Maple Falls, Glacier

Local
Local trains are passenger trains that make scheduled stops at all stations and halts along the route they serve. All are second-class only, and neither has baggage handling.


 * 9901/9902, 9903/9904: Abbotsford, BC – Seattle, Washington, USA
 * Two daily return trips, second class only with a cafeteria car.

= Route = A yellow background indicates an electrified section.

♦ - Scheduled Rapid and Local stop • - Local stop only | - No passenger service