Port Moody-Coquitlam Railway

The Port Moody-Coquitlam Railway also known as the Thurston-Flavelle Railway was a short railway line operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway. The line ran from the east end of Burrard Inlet to Coquitlam Lake, British Columbia, Canada.

Ruins of railway tracks on Coquitlam's Crystal Falls trail

History[]

The railway connected the Port Moody-Ioco spur of the Canadian Pacific Railway to the Coquitlam Dam and was built during the mid 1910s in-order to haul supplies and materials to the dam . It was built in partnership with Robert McNair of the Robert McNair Shingle Company. McNair used it to bring timber from the lake down to his mill in Port Moody. The railway was later leased to Sig Hage Co. as a logging railway. During the 1920s there was also a spur for hauling logs from Dollar Mountain (what is now Burke Mountain) ^[1] That spur line experienced a fatal train crash during its operation according to a resident of the area.

Route[]

The eastern terminus of the railway was a pier next to the delta of Noons Creek at the end Burrard Inlet in Port Moody. It then continued along an alignment roughly parallel or on top of today's Avalon Drive. From here it approximately followed what is now Ungless Street (albeit on a less steep grade than the present road) in Port M. It them followed Guildford Way in Coquitlam for about two kilometres before it met another spur which ran along Pinetree Way from the Canadian Pacific Mainline. At what is now southern end of Lafarge Lake. From there it turned northwards and ran somewhat parallelly next to Pipeline Road until it crossed the Coquitlam River at what is now Galette Park. The railway continued north along what is now the Crystal Falls Trail until it crossed the Coquitlam River a few hundred metres south of B.C. Hydro's 500 kV right of way. It then continued along Pipeline Road until reaching its Northern Terminus. ^[2]

Spurs[]

The railway connected with a spur line at what is now Lafarge Lake. The spur served as an additional connection to the C.P.R. mainline. Its junction with the C.P.R. was at the end of Pheasant Street. It then followed Pinetree Way up until about the where it turned in a north-north-east direction through to the intersection of Glen Drive and Westwood Street. It then continued northwards along West until it reached the Thurston-Flavelle. The line remained in operation perhaps until at least 1942 (likely serving the Lafarge Quarry which became Lafarge Lake). ^[3]

Remenants[]

Much of the Coquitlam River portion of the line is now part of the Crystal Falls trail. A connecting trail which runs to Lancaster Court was a part of the Dollar Mountain Railway.

Notes[]

Bibliography[]

Ewert, Henry. "The Story of the B.C. Electric Railway Company" (1986). Whitecap Books.