VIDEOS
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| Above: YouTubeCA video – Downtown Vancouver Streetcar Ride, 1936 – Length: 2:05 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video – Streetcars and Vancouver: Development History Part I 1886 - 1928 – Length: 12:30 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video – BCER Interurban - Downtown Vancouver to Marpole – Length: 10:53 mins. |
PHOTOS
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MAPS
VANCOUVER AND THE LOWER FRASER VALLEY
VANCOUVER - MAIN MAP
INSET: CENTRAL VANCOUVER
INSET: NEW WESTMINSTER & VICINITY
I created the above maps by overlaying OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps with my own data. Copyright on the OSM maps is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).
Please note that the OSM maps used as templates for these maps correspond to the situation at the time the maps were downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, they may show bridges and highways that were built later.
ROUTES
Operator: British Columbia Electric Railway Company (BCER)
URBAN STREETCAR ROUTES (VANCOUVER)
| 1 | Fairview | Granville St. - Broadway - Main St. - Hastings St. - Granville St. [Circular route; both directions] |
| 2 | Main / Davie | Denman St. - Robson St. (back: Davie St.) - Granville St. - Hastings St. - Main St. - 33rd Ave. & Main |
| 3 | Main / Davie | Denman St. - Robson St. (back: Davie St.) - Granville St. - Hastings St. - Main St. - 50th Ave. & Main |
| 4 | Grandview - Fourth | Cedar Cottage - Commercial Dr. - Venables St. - Clark Dr. - Hastings St. - Richards St. - Robson St. - Granville St. - 4th Ave. - 4th Ave. & Alma |
| 5 | Robson - Broadway East | Denman St. - Davie St. (back: Robson St.) - Granville St. - Hastings St. - Main St. - Broadway - Broadway & Commercial |
| 6 | East Blvd. - 49th Fraser | [In rush hour: 49th & Fraser - Fraser St. - Kingsway - Main St. - Cordova St. -] Hastings & Richards - Richards St. - Robson St. - Granville St. - 41st Ave. - Kerrisdale (East Boulevard) |
| 7 | Fraser - Kerrisdale | Marine Drive & Fraser - Fraser St. - Kingsway - Main St. - Cordova St. - Granville St. - 41st Ave. - 41st & Dunbar |
| 9 | Post Office / 54th & Victoria | [Joyce Rd. & Kingsway] / [54th & Victoria - Victoria Dr.] - Kingsway - Main St. - Powell St. - Cordova St. - Post Office [back to 44th & Victoria only] |
| 10 | Stanley Park / 54th & Victoria | 54th & Victoria - Victoria Dr. - Kingsway - Main St. - Powell St. - Cordova St. - Granville St. - Pender St. - Georgia St. - Stanley Park |
| 11 | Stanley Park / Joyce | Joyce Rd. & Kingsway - Kingsway - Main St. - Powell St. - Cordova St. - Granville St. - Pender St. - Georgia St. - Stanley Park |
| 12 | Kitsilano | Hastings & Richards - Hastings St. - Granville St. - BCER Bridge - Kitsilano Loop |
| 13 | Hastings & Renfrew / Alma | [Point Grey (Drummond Dr. & 4th Av.) - 4th Av. - Sasamat St. - 10th Ave.] / [41st & Dunbar - Dunbar St.] - Broadway - Granville St. - Pacific St. - Richards St. - Hastings St. - Hastings & Renfrew [On return, to Alma & Broadway only] |
| 14 | Hastings East / Dunbar | [Point Grey (Drummond Dr. & 4th Av.) - 4th Av. - Sasamat St. - 10th Ave.] / [41st & Dunbar - Dunbar St.] - Broadway - Granville St. - Pacific St. - Richards St. - Hastings St. - Hastings & Boundary] [On return, to Dunbar - 41st & Dunbar only] |
| 15 | Point Grey | Boundary & Hastings - Hastings St. - Richards St. - Pacific St. - Granville St. - Broadway - Alma St. - 10th Ave. - Sasamat & 10th Av. [this direction only] |
| 16 | Tenth | Boundary & Hastings - Hastings St. - Richards St. - Pacific St. - Granville St. - Broadway - Alma St. - 10th Ave. - Sasamat St. - 4th Ave. - Point Grey (Drummond Dr. & 4th Av.) [this direction only] |
| 17 | Oak - Marpole | Cambie & Hastings - Cambie St. - Broadway - Oak St. - Marpole |
| 19 | Sixteenth | Broadway & Oak - Oak St. - 16th Ave. - 16th & Main |
| 20 | Hastings Park / Post Office | Post Office - Cordova St. (back: Hastings St.) - Cordova St. - Powell St. - Dundas St.- Eton St. (back: Mc Gill St.) - Eton St. - Renfrew St. - Hastings Park |
| H | Hastings Extension | Hastings & Boundary - Hastings St. - Hastings & Ellesmere (in Burnaby) |
| M | Main Street South | 33rd Ave. & Main - Main St. - Main & River Road |
| N | Nanaimo | Nanaimo & Hastings - Nanaimo St. - Broadway - Broadway & Commercial |
NB: The last three routes had only route name identifiers. The route names H, M and N are used for convenience only.
URBAN STREETCAR ROUTES (NORTH VANCOUVER)
| 1 | North Vancouver Ferry Terminal - Lonsdale Av. - Windsor Rd. & Lonsdale |
| 2 | North Vancouver Ferry Terminal - 1st Str. E.- St. Davids Av. - 4th St. - Queensbury Av. - Grand Blvd. - Lynn Valley Rd. - Dempsey Rd. |
| 3 | North Vancouver Ferry Terminal - 1st Str. W - Mahon Av. - Keith Rd. - Marine Dr. - Fell Av. - 20th Str. - High Trestle Bridge - 22nd Str. - Capilano River (Bowser Av |
URBAN STREETCAR ROUTES (NEW WESTMINSTER)
| 1 | Sapperton (Braid St.) - Columbia St. - 12th St. - Edmonds St. |
| 2 | Carnarvon depot - [Columbia St . - Royal Av. - Park Row - 1st St. - 3rd Av. - Pine St. - 4th Av.] / [back: 6th St. - Carnarvon St. - 8th St.] - 6th St. - Edmonds St. - Highland Park |
Note: It is not clear how streetcars on route 2 ran the loop going by Queen's Park. The routing shown above is one possibility.
The last day of operation of street cars in New Westminster was: 5 Dec. 1938
INTERURBAN ROUTES
| A1 | Central Park Line | Hastings & Carrall - Central Park (Burnaby) - New Westminster |
| A2 | Burnaby Lake Line | Hastings & Carrall - 1st Av. - Burnaby Lake - Sapperton - New Westminster |
| A3 | Marpole Line | Vancouver (Pacific & Richards) - BCER Bridge - 6th Av. - Arbutus St. - Marpole |
| A4 | Lulu Island Line (to Steveston) | Vancouver (Pacific & Richards) - BCER Bridge - 6th Av. - Arbutus St. - Marpole - Richmond - Steveston |
| A5 | Lulu Island Line (to New Westminster) | Vancouver (Pacific & Richards) - BCER Bridge - 6th Av. - Arbutus St. - Marpole - New Westminster |
| A6 | Chillwack Line (Fraser Valley Branch) | New Westminster - New Westminster Rail Bridge - Surrey - Cloverdale - Langley - Abbotsford - Huntingdon (US Border) - Chilliwack |
| A7 | Queensborough Line | New Westminster - Queensborough (Ewen Av. - Jardine St.) |
| A8 | Fraser Mills Line | New Westminster - Fraser Mills |
The following routes ceased operation between 1930 and 1940:
- A7/A8: 1937.
NB: The interurban route numbers given above are those used in a later source. It is possible that in 1930 the interurban routes had only names, not numbers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM
NETWORK LENGTH
- Vancouver streetcar lines: 116 km.
- North Vancouver streetcar lines: 16.4 km.
- New Westminster streetcar lines: ? km.
- Interurban lines: 187 km.
HISTORY
- Vancouver streetcars: (electric) 28 June 1890 - 21 Apr. 1955.
- North Vancouver streetcars: (electric) 1 Sept. 1906 - 23 Apr. 1947.
- New Westminster streetcars: (electric): 8 Oct. 1891 - 4 Dec. 1938.
- Interurban trams: (electric) 3 June 1891 - 28 Feb. 1958.
- SkyTrain (automated LRT): 11 Dec. 1985 - today.
- Canada Line (Metro): 17 Aug. 2009 - today.
GAUGE
- All streetcars and interurbans: 1435 mm.
- SkyTrain / Canada Line: 1435 mm.
SOURCES
- Cockle, D. "Tram-train community rail for Fraser Valley", Tramways & Urban Transit, Dec. 2010 (73:876), p.465-466.
- Conn, H. & Ewert, H. Vancouver's glory years: Public transit 1890-1915. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 2003.
- "End of city trams in Vancouver" (news item), The Modern Tramway, July 1955 (18:211), p.142.
- Ewert, H. "British Columbia Electric Railway Company Limited", Canadian Rail, Jan.-Feb. 2010 (No.534), p.3-9.
- Ewert, H. The perfect little street car system. North Vancouver: North Vancouver Museum and Archives Commission, 2000.
- Ewert, H. The story of the B.C. Electric Railway Company. North Vancouver: Whitecap Books, 1986.
- Guide to Vancouver. Vancouver: British Columbia Electric Railway Company (BCER), 1930.
- Hyde, R. The Sockeye Special: The story of the Steveston tram and early Lulu Island. Richmond (B.C.): Author, 2011.
- Kelly, B. & Francis, D. Transit in British Columbia: The first hundred years. Madeira Park (B.C.): Harbour Publishing, 1990.
- Simons, V. "Vancouver prepares for the Winter Olympics", Tramways & Urban Transit, Jan. 2010 (73:865), p.11-13.
- Till, H. Diary of significant events in the history of B.C. Electric's transportation system, 1889-1946. Vancouver: B.C. Electric Co., 1947 [?].
- Transit System Map of Vancouver, B.C. [Vancouver]: Challengers Cartographers, 1949, 1952 and 1954.
- Twenty nine years of public service. Vancouver: British Columbia Electric Railway Company Limited, 1926 (?).
WIKIS
- British Columbia Electric Railway (BCER)
- Canada Line
- Evergreen Line
- SkyTrain (Vancouver)
- TransLink (Vancouver)
- Transportation in Vancouver
- Vancouver Downtown Historic Railway
WEB SITES
- Canadian Street Railways
- History of the B.C. Electric Railway Company
- A short history of interurbans in the Lower Mainland (from the Trans Link Buzzer, 24 March 2009)
- Steveston tram
- TransLink
- Vancouver Once Had Streetcars & Interurbans (on Rail for the Valley)
Copyright Gabor Sandi 1998-2025
Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.
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