|
Post by Hardy on Dec 29, 2007 6:02:23 GMT -8
I believe that for a short time, there might also have been balanced-symmetrical service on this route provided by the Queen of Richmond. There are, of course, no schedules, pictures, news bulletins of this event occurring. I also believe that all tickets that were issued at the time bore either no name at all for the vessel to further dissuade us from linking the QoR to any actual in-service operation.
|
|
|
Post by kylefossett on Dec 29, 2007 23:12:55 GMT -8
in the late eighties early ninties i can remember riding on both the un lifted queen of new westminister and the queen of burnaby. both of these vessels i can remember leaving at odd time, bottom of the hour? and also loading on at berth 2 at tsawwassen. i don not remember riding on a c class on route 1. i started riding the ferries 6 weeks after birth in 1977. i am sure in the early eights i did ride on one just can't remember. i do remember riding an unlifted queen of alberni
|
|
Quatchi
Voyager
Engineering Officer - CCG
Posts: 930
|
Post by Quatchi on Dec 30, 2007 0:10:11 GMT -8
ship-rider we seem to be getting contradicting opinions here. So I will back up my theory a little more. I still believe the Burnaby was the 5th vessel. -The article states the Tsawwassen was running the Swarts Bay-SGI route for a wile and then my baby the ;D Chilliwack ;D was to take over once she was ready for service. -Then it states that there will be a 2 ship operation on the Mid-Island Express until the New West is ready for service where it will become a 3 ship operation for august. -I doubt that the Burnaby would be used on the Mid-Island Express over a 'C' due to the obvious difference in power and speed for managing its way up the straight. This leaves us at my conclusion: TSA-SW: -Victoria -Vancouver -Saanich -Esquimalt -Burnaby HSB-DB: -Oak Bay -Cowichan HSB-Langdale -Surrey TSA-DP -Coquitlam -Alberni -New West(after refit completion) TSA-SGI-SB -Tsawwassen SB-SGI -Tsawwassen/Chilliwack(once ready for service) TSA-SGI -Naniamo I think I got it all. This is fun, I like doing this logistics like stuff, makes me feel like I'm running the service. ;D Cheers, P.S. I don't like the built in spell check it doesn't recognize Chilliwack. ;D
|
|
D'Elete BC in NJ
Voyager
Dispensing gallons of useless information daily...
Posts: 1,671
|
Post by D'Elete BC in NJ on Dec 30, 2007 7:58:16 GMT -8
Well, aren't you building the mysterious new northern vessel which will replace the Chilliwack? ;D In that case, they will need you to produce workable schedules for them.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 30, 2007 12:08:14 GMT -8
in the late eighties early ninties i can remember riding on both the un lifted queen of new westminister and the queen of burnaby. both of these vessels i can remember leaving at odd time, bottom of the hour? and also loading on at berth 2 at tsawwassen. i don not remember riding on a c class on route 1. i started riding the ferries 6 weeks after birth in 1977. i am sure in the early eights i did ride on one just can't remember. i do remember riding an unlifted queen of alberni I remember riding on the Queen of Cowichan from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay in the summer of 1980. I was all of 8 years old, and it was the first BC Ferry I had ever been on. I was so excited because I loved ferries, and I had never before seen a ferry as big as the Cowichan, and until that day, I never knew a ferry could have 3 car decks! Living on Orcas, as we did back then, our biggest ferry was the Kaleetan. I was used to riding that one, as well as the venerable Klickitat and Nisqually (pre-refit), and of course, the Evergreen State - all regulars in the San Juans back in the day. So, getting a chance to travel on the mighty Cowichan is an experience I will never forget! As I remember, we went to Victoria for the day to see the Royal BC Museum (another memorable event), and then we took the evening ferry from Sidney back to Orcas. It was probably the Evergreen, but I don't remember that portion of the trip.
|
|
Mirrlees
Voyager
Bathtub!
Deck Engineer- Queen of Richmond
Posts: 1,013
|
Post by Mirrlees on Dec 30, 2007 20:59:48 GMT -8
in the late eighties early ninties i can remember riding on both the un lifted queen of new westminister and the queen of burnaby. both of these vessels i can remember leaving at odd time, bottom of the hour? and also loading on at berth 2 at tsawwassen. i don not remember riding on a c class on route 1. i started riding the ferries 6 weeks after birth in 1977. i am sure in the early eights i did ride on one just can't remember. i do remember riding an unlifted queen of alberni I remember riding on the Queen of Cowichan from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay in the summer of 1980. I think you mean the Oak Bay. The Cowichan only served on Route 1 for a short time in 1976.
|
|
|
Post by Kahloke on Dec 30, 2007 22:03:20 GMT -8
[quote author=mirrlees60 board=photos thread=1187153508 I think you mean the Oak Bay. The Cowichan only served on Route 1 for a short time in 1976.[/quote] For some reason, I had it in the brain that we rode Cowichan, but you're probably right. It was a long time ago, and I was only 8. If that's the case, Oak Bay would have been a brand new boat when I rode it. Cool!
|
|
|
Post by kylefossett on Dec 31, 2007 15:10:07 GMT -8
just to clear up any possible confusion. i am not disputing that a c-class was on route 1, just that it was on route 1 in the late 80's early 90's
|
|
|
Post by Dane on Apr 21, 2008 21:08:22 GMT -8
I remember riding on the Queen of Cowichan from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay in the summer of 1980. I think you mean the Oak Bay. The Cowichan only served on Route 1 for a short time in 1976. Both the Coquitlam and Cowichan ran on Rte 1 in the 80s at some point with Expo paint; can't recall the year right now but it's an inset cover photo on an Annual Report. Actually it might even be into the early 1990s?
|
|
Mirrlees
Voyager
Bathtub!
Deck Engineer- Queen of Richmond
Posts: 1,013
|
Post by Mirrlees on Apr 22, 2008 0:51:25 GMT -8
I think you mean the Oak Bay. The Cowichan only served on Route 1 for a short time in 1976. Both the Coquitlam and Cowichan ran on Rte 1 in the 80s at some point with Expo paint; can't recall the year right now but it's an inset cover photo on an Annual Report. Actually it might even be into the early 1990s? It was the Coquitlam that was doing extra summer sailings on Route 1 from `86-`90. Queen of Burnaby was used in the early to mid `90's. The Oak Bay served on Route 1 from 1981- 1983 when she was moved up to Horseshoe Bay. The Cow, as stated above only ran for a few months after building and except for a 6 year stint on route 3 `90-`96 has been in Departure Bay until being given the "boot" by the CR.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,172
|
Post by Neil on Jul 25, 2008 21:58:51 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by Canucks on Jul 25, 2008 22:22:02 GMT -8
Thanks for that schedule Neil. It is neat to see how things were run 40 years ago. I can't find what ships were on route 1 and 2 is it listed on the schedule? Hourly sailings surprised me at first but thinking about it the ships only carried about half the cars so I guess BCF has kept up service relatively well.
Something I find strange is how the sailing time on route 1 went from 1hr 40 mins. to 1hr 35mins today, while route 2 has gone from 1 hr. 50 mins to 1 hr 35mins. Does anyone have any ideas?
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,172
|
Post by Neil on Jul 25, 2008 22:53:45 GMT -8
Route 1- Esquimalt, Saanich, Vancouver, Victoria, Sidney Route 2- Burnaby, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Tsawwassen.
Those ships all had service speeds of 18 knots; crossing times dropped 15 minutes on route 2 with the Cs, and by five minutes on route 1 with the Spirits.
Another question: the schedules of those years showed the Mayne Queen starting and finishing at Saturna. Does anyone know if she actually was based there? Can't imagine how they would have accommodated the crew. A 6am departure from Lyall Harbour would have meant a deadhead run leaving Swartz Bay at 4:45 or earlier, and there's no run back to Swartz at day's end, on the schedule at least.
|
|
|
Post by chinook2 on Jul 26, 2008 2:51:46 GMT -8
The newly lifted and repowered V's were the first boats to trim the sailing time to 1 hr 35. The spirits can make it 1 hr 30 on a good day.
Ex-girlfriend's grandmother used to work on the Mayne back in the 60s (snack bar) and she lived on Saturna, so it likely did home port there.
|
|
|
Post by Starsteward on Jul 26, 2008 3:30:06 GMT -8
Ah 1968, when the QPR had received a new bottom after we tore a wee bit of a hole in her on Haddington reef. I was crew at the time and for a few more years, loved every minute of it.
|
|
|
Post by Northern Exploration on Jul 26, 2008 7:28:45 GMT -8
And despite the frequency, a three sailing wait in the summer or for a long weekend wasn't out of the ordinary. If you were a ferry fan the wait wasn't bad at all cause you left your car and went to the beach, got an ice cream or trolls take out and watched the ferries come and go.
|
|
|
Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 26, 2008 8:02:00 GMT -8
Thanks for that old schedule Neil, from 1968, aka "The year of our Flugel"
===================
I noticed the Powell River - Comox route on that schedule. A couple of questions / comments:
- The route is listed on this schedule, but I thought it was a BC Highways route? Or was it BC Ferry Authority back in '68, and then changed to BC Highways later? (or maybe it always was BC Highways, but was listed on the schedule just because it's a semi-main route?)
- 4 sailings per day on that route, just like today. But I see that long weekends included an extra late night sailing of 11:00pm from Comox, and 1:00am from Powell River. I wonder if that extra sailing is mainly to ferry the overloads from earlier in the day from a busy long-weekend travel day.....or if it was to allow for some sort of late-night partying by Islanders who were visiting PR?
============
|
|
|
Post by Curtis on Jul 26, 2008 18:45:48 GMT -8
- The route is listed on this schedule, but I thought it was a BC Highways route? Or was it BC Ferry Authority back in '68, and then changed to BC Highways later? (or maybe it always was BC Highways, but was listed on the schedule just because it's a semi-main route?) Don't forget that BC Ferries Used to Loan the QotI to the Comox route at that time.
|
|
|
Post by WettCoast on Jul 26, 2008 19:19:03 GMT -8
I am pretty sure that the Comox - Powell River run was not under BCF at that time. The service was new (started either in 1968 or shortly before) and the vessel would have been the Comox Queen (aka the Tenaka). The schedule does show that the Q of the Islands was in use elsewhere - on the route that she was built for.
Thanks for posting this Neil. Generally it shows that sailings were more frequent 40 years ago, albeit with smaller vessels. It also clearly shows that the route 2 schedule called for only a ten minute terminal time in which to unload / load. I gather that on time performance on this run during the busy summer season was not so good.
|
|
|
Post by Northern Exploration on Jul 26, 2008 20:11:49 GMT -8
Yes remember none of the V's were lifted then. And the ferries seemed to be frequently behind if my recollection is correct especially during busy summer and holiday times.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,172
|
Post by Neil on Jul 26, 2008 23:36:26 GMT -8
I noticed the Powell River - Comox route on that schedule. A couple of questions / comments: - The route is listed on this schedule, but I thought it was a BC Highways route? Or was it BC Ferry Authority back in '68, and then changed to BC Highways later? (or maybe it always was BC Highways, but was listed on the schedule just because it's a semi-main route?) - 4 sailings per day on that route, just like today. But I see that long weekends included an extra late night sailing of 11:00pm from Comox, and 1:00am from Powell River. I wonder if that extra sailing is mainly to ferry the overloads from earlier in the day from a busy long-weekend travel day.....or if it was to allow for some sort of late-night partying by Islanders who were visiting PR? The Comox Queen was launched in '64, and I believe was on that run from that time. The route was definitely part of the Dept Of Highways system from it's inception. The '68 schedule was the first time BC Ferries included this route with theirs. The late night sailing was probably a result of volume; in '69, and for two or more summers following, Queen of The Islands joined Comox Queen on the route, offering seven round trips in summer. Speaking of frequency of service... This was probably the all time high water mark for route 2, in the summer of 1972. 20 sailings each way, every day from May 12 through Labour Day. The following summer, the Sechelt Queen was based at Swartz Bay, giving route 1 up to 20 a day, along with some stops in the Gulf Islands.
|
|
|
Post by Northern Exploration on Jul 27, 2008 8:13:15 GMT -8
This may belong in the transport thread but the schedule here brings it up. Mods move if you think it is better suited there. The bus pictured on the right of the schedule was the Pacific Stage Lines Silver Eagle. These coaches were the top of the bus market for quite a while and most known as the Continental Trailways bus. They were the bus of choice back then for bands that were touring like the Prevost is today. The buses were steel which made them built like tanks. Over the long term though the steel was prone to rust. They had a tag axel that was behind the dual real wheels in one model and then in front in another. The front axel position was a problem because it increased the turing radius of the bus. The coach had an amazing suspension but had a manual transmission only. At one stage when we lived in Vancouver my dad was going to sell motorhomes as a side business. He was with one of the major accounting firms and wanted to do something on the side. We had bought an Apollo motorhome and were using a Philips 66 gas station on Granville as a base. A fellow approached us and wanted to jointly sell Silver Eagles that bands had used and conversions of highway coaches into Motorhomes along side. So we got to tour some he had access to, and as a young kid who loved the ferries and noticed the Pacific Stage Coach Lines and other buses that loaded into the ferries, was in my glory. Dad got transfered east so both the Motorhome sales and a restaurant he was working on in BC got shelved. He was promoted, had larger more demanding clients, and the Managing Partner here wasn't keen on his Partners running any side businesses. We got a motorhome out of the deal and travelled all over eastern Canada and the US in it, but alas no buses, motorhomes etc. for me to have fun with . *spelling
|
|
|
Post by Dane on Sept 14, 2008 14:44:45 GMT -8
The schedule does show that the Q of the Islands was in use elsewhere - on the route that she was built for. Queen of the Islands was transferred from '69 - '75, until the Sechelt Queen was re-assigned to the Highways fleet. This was probably the all time high water mark for route 2, in the summer of 1972. 20 sailings each way, every day from May 12 through Labour Day. The following summer, the Sechelt Queen was based at Swartz Bay, giving route 1 up to 20 a day, along with some stops in the Gulf Islands. What I find interesting about this is that Horseshoe Bay must have needed to use all three berths for service to Nanaimo. 3 vessels, 3 berths. The crew for Bowen Island must have been water-taxing back as I know at this point the Bowen Island vessel was Horseshoe Bay based. -- Also, speaking about Comox-Powell River, when the Queens of Oak Bay and Surrey were coming into service the thought at the time was to put one of the V's up on that route. Not sure what ever happened to that idea. Obviously the demand does not exist there anymore.
|
|
Neil
Voyager
Posts: 7,172
|
Post by Neil on Sept 15, 2008 19:49:06 GMT -8
Also, speaking about Comox-Powell River, when the Queens of Oak Bay and Surrey were coming into service the thought at the time was to put one of the V's up on that route. Not sure what ever happened to that idea. Obviously the demand does not exist there anymore. It never did. I can't imagine that idea flew for very long. A bit of an anomaly; two boat service to Fulford Harbour, while the Bowen Queen was being stretched. 1979.
|
|
|
Post by WettCoast on Sept 15, 2008 20:46:51 GMT -8
Also, speaking about Comox-Powell River, when the Queens of Oak Bay and Surrey were coming into service the thought at the time was to put one of the V's up on that route. Not sure what ever happened to that idea. Obviously the demand does not exist there anymore. It never did. I can't imagine that idea flew for very long. The Oak Bay and Surrey joined the fleet in 1981, which is also just about the same time as the Vancouver and Victoria were lifted. BCFC must have put some thought into long term operation of route 1 with one or two two C's,and two lifted V's, leaving the Esquimalt and/or Saanich as surplus. They must have 'mused' about putting one of them on the Comox - Powell River run. It is interesting that the had they put an unlifted V on this route they would have had a vessel with a capacity equal to that provided by the Burnaby today. As it was, they operated this route with smaller vessels such as the Sidney right up until the year 2000. My understanding is that a vessel of about 130 AEQ is adequate for this run 95% of the time, even today.
|
|