Royal BC Navy Railway Flotilla

The Royal British Columbia Navy Railway Flotilla (AAR reporting mark RBCN), marketing itself publicly as the RBCN Railway, is a branch of the Royal British Columbia Navy dedicated to the provision of rail transport on a network of 260 miles, the vast majority of it on Vancouver Island. Although as a branch of the Navy it is formally subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, but in operational matters it coordinates closely with the Ministry of Labour, Industry, and Railways. The RBCN Railway operates passenger and freight trains, as well as rail ferries between Vancouver Island and the central and north coast of the mainland.

= Organisation = The Railway Flotilla is an operating branch of the Navy; it is fully a military organisation within the Navy chain of command, with all staff being sworn members of the Navy and undergo the same basic training as all other Navy personnel. However, as they are "hired" specifically for railway work, they are not subject to reassignment or transfer to other duties as other naval personnel are.

Officer ranks in the Railway Flotilla are identical to those of the rest of the Navy, but there is no rank equivalent to Midshipman; the officer commanding generally holds the rank of Commodore 2nd Class. Other ranks are listed in the table:

= History = The Navy established the Railway Flotilla in 1927 to work the extensive trackage installed on the grounds of HMBCS Rainbow, the Navy's primary northern base located just south of Prince Rupert. A connection, called Navy Junction was built at a spot two miles north of Port Edward, from which a main line of six miles was built with branches to serve the various base facilities.

When the Navy began building a large new base, HMBCS Tyee, at Quatsino on the west side of Vancouver Island, it decided to undertake the construction of a railway line to the base from Campbell River, with a branch to Port Hardy, where a rail ferry pier would be built. To speed progress, the Navy opted to purchase the Nimpkish Valley Railway, a logging railway opened in 1918 with a mainline running from Woss to Telegraph Cove. The NVR was absorbed into the Railway Flotilla, with most of the company's employees joining the it; engineers, firemen, dispatchers and directors became commissioned officers, and other employees became ratings.

The acquisition of the NVR allowed for construction of the new line to proceed from four locations; the work was done with great speed, and the section from Port Hardy to Woss was completed in August 1929 and was immediately put into operation along with the rail ferry from Port Hardy to HMBCS Rainbow. At that point, the line north from Campbell River had reached Elk Bay; construction of the remaining section between to Woss was suspended for the winter; work resumed in April 1930, and was completed in September of the same year. The branch from Suquash to Quatsino was completed in 1932.

Although it had primarily been built to fulfill the needs of the Navy, the "Navy Railway", as it became known, quickly became a vital part of life on northern Vancouver Island as scheduled passenger and freight service was introduced in September 1930. The following spring, an agreement was made with the Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway, whereby an E&N sleeper from Victoria would be picked up by the Navy Railway in Campbell River and forwarded to Port Edward, whence the British Columbia Railway would take it to Prince Rupert. This twice-weekly service was the forerunner of today's Pacific Coast Limited.

The impact that the arrival of the railway to the North Island soon led the government to use it to further develop the region, and expansion quickly followed, with a 39-mile line from Steel Creek (just north of Woss) to Tahsis being opened in 1935, and two years later, a branch from Sara Lake, east of Quatsino Narrows on the Quatsino branch, to Port Alice. The opening of these lines led to the development of industry along them, notably gold and iron mines, fish packers, and sawmills; at Tahsis, an ore dock was built to export iron ore. In 1954, the line was extended from Port Alice to Neucel, a large cellulose factory that brought numerous jobs to the area.

In 1983, the Railway Flotilla unveiled a new look for its public services under the RBCN Railway brand, giving stations and other public-access facilities a friendlier, less "military" atmosphere. This was coincident with the transformation of the single Victoria–Prince Rupert through sleeper into a dedicated express train called the Pacific Coast Limited.

= Motive Power = Some elements of naval tradition were adapted to the Railway Flotilla, such as the flying of White Ensigns: initially, when the Flotilla operated steam locomotives, this was an actual flag mounted on a post at the front left of the locomotive; since the introduction of diesel locomotives, the ensign is now painted on the sides of the cab. Some naval terminology was also adapted; for example, where other railways' locomotives have "road numbers" or "running numbers", in Railway Flotilla usage these are called "pennant numbers". Like ships, locomotives are commissioned and named, the name being prefixed with "HMBCL" - "Her (or His) Majesty's British Columbian Locomotive".

The flag superior for locomotive pennant numbers was L (for "Locomotive") prior to 1942, since 1942 it has been V.

Diesel locomotives
= Network = The RBCN Railway operates over a total network of 260.0 miles of main, secondary, and spur lines; this number does not include sidings and yard tracks, nor does it include trackage at the loading dock of the Tasu mine on Gwaii Haanas (Moresby Island), Haida Gwaii (0.45 miles).

Vancouver Island

 * Line 1 Port Hardy Trunk Line: 163.4 miles
 * Campbell River (BCR)–Bloedel (MBR)–Steel Creek–Kokish–Suquash–Port Hardy
 * • Line 1A Telegraph Cove Branch Line]]: 2.5 miles
 * Kokish–Telegraph Cove


 * Line 2 Tahsis Trunk Line: 36.1 miles
 * Steel Creek–Zeballos–Tahsis
 * • Line 2A Zeballos Docks Spur: 0.9 miles
 * Zeballos–Zeballos Docks


 * Line 3 Quatsino Trunk Line: 38.2 miles
 * Suquash–Sara Lake–Quatsino + total of 14.8 miles of trackage on HMBCS Tyee
 * • Line 3A Port Alice Branch Line: 14.1 miles
 * Sara Lake–Neucel

HMBCS Rainbow
Total trackage on the base is 21.9 miles.


 * HMBCS Rainbow main line: 6.3 miles
 * Navy Junction–Lelu Island (HMBCS Rainbow South Base)
 * • Coal pier loop: 1.25 miles
 * • Grain dock line: 1.25 miles (4 tracks in yard totalling 3.75 miles in length)
 * • Fuel farm spur: 0.55 miles (plus sidings)
 * • Transfer dock branch: 1.25 miles (plus sidings)
 * • Southeast warehouse spur: 0.75 miles
 * • Lelu Island warehouse spur: 0.75 miles
 * • Rail ferry spur: 2.3 miles

Rail ferries

 * Port Hardy–HMBCS Rainbow (270 nmi, 13 h 30 min)
 * Port Hardy–Bella Coola (133.3 nmi, 6 h 40 min)
 * Port Hardy–Tasu (226 nmi, 11 h 20 min)

= Passenger services = The RBCN Railway operates a number of local and railbus services on its network on northern Vancouver Island, along with one long-distance express train operated in conjunction with BC Rail.

Like all other railways in BC, ticket prices for the RBCN Railway's express and local trains are based on the Ministry of Labour, Industry & Railways' Schedule of Railway Fares.

Express

 * 75/76 Pacific Coast Limited (BC Rail/RBCN Railway): Victoria (Union) – Prince Rupert
 * One daily morning departure in each direction with BC Rail first and second class chair cars, baggage cars, sleepers, sleeperettes, and dining cars. Baggage handling is free of charge to first class passengers, and available to second class passengers for a surcharge. A short-trip surcharge is applicable to travel between Victoria and Nanaimo. Between Victoria and Campbell River BC Rail locomotives are used, between Campbell River and Port Hardy, RBCN Railway locomotives are used. BC Rail locomotives haul the trains between Prince Rupert and the rail ferry terminal at HMBCS Rainbow. Intermediate stops: Langford, Duncan, Chemainus, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, Parksville, Courtenay, Campbell River, Woss, Steel Creek, Suquash, Port McNeill, Port Hardy

Local
These trains make scheduled stops at all stations and halts along the route they serve. RBCNR Local trains are second-class only, with baggage and parcel handling service available for a surcharge, and have seat-side drink and snack service.


 * L1/L2, L3/L4: Campbell River – Steel Creek – Suquash – Port Hardy
 * Two daily returns, with an RBCN through car running Campbell River – Steel Creek – Tahsis, and two BCR through cars: one Nanaimo – Campbell River – Port Hardy, and one Nanaimo – Campbell River – Tahsis.


 * L5/L6, L7/L8: Port Hardy – Steel Creek – Tahsis
 * Two daily returns, with an RBCN through car running Campbell River – Steel Creek – Tahsis and a BCR through car running Nanaimo – Campbell River – Tahsis.


 * L11/L12, L13/L14, L15/L16: Port Hardy – Suquash – Sara Lake – Port Alice
 * Three daily returns. Between Port Hardy and Sara Lake these trains are operated as through cars on the Quatsino mixed.

Mixed trains
British Columbia is the last country in North America where regularly scheduled mixed trains still operate; these consist of passenger cars attached to freight trains. Aside from the RBCNR's three mixed trains, the only other one is the BCR's Williams Lake – Bella Coola mixed. Mixed trains have second class chair cars only, along with baggage and parcel service for a surcharge; there is no drink/snack service.


 * M1/M2, M3/M4, M5/M6: Port Hardy – Suquash – Sara Lake – Quatsino
 * Three daily returns. Between Port Hardy and Sara Lake, these trains handle the cars of the Port Hardy – Port Alice locals.


 * M7/M8: Campbell River – Steel Creek – Suquash – Sara Lake – Quatsino
 * One daily return.


 * M9/M10: Port Hardy – Suquash – Sara Lake – Port Alice
 * One daily return.

Passenger service on freight trains
Additionally, all local freight trains of the RBCN Railway - both scheduled and extra - carry an extra-long caboose with a sitting compartment (similar in appearance to the "drover caboose" of the granger roads of the US prairies) in which passengers are carried; these trains will pick up and drop off passengers at any station or halt when flagged. Since these trains do local shunting work at all of the scheduled stops, they are quite slow; consequently the price of a passenger ticket is much lower than on dedicated passenger trains, with a flat-rate price of only one crown (5/-, approximately C$0.75, US$0.58, GB£0.43) per station. For example, a trip from Suquash to Quatsino, a total of six stations, would cost £1.10s.- (approximately C$3.30, US$2.61, GB£1.90); in comparison, of a second-class ticket on a local train over an equal tariff-distance (23 miles) at the standard second-class chair car fare of 2/1 (approximately C$0.31, US$0.24, GB£0.18) per mile would be £2.7s.11d (approximately C$7.19, US$5.69, GB£4.14) - over twice the price.