Photo by Kevstan, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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About Alberni Pacific Railway
Steam excursions are back on Vancouver Island's Alberni Inlet: this heritage railway returned to operation along the Port Alberni waterfront in summer 2024, with the popular Santa Train following in the season. Locomotive No. 7, a 1929 Baldwin tank engine, departs the 1912 Canadian Pacific station hauling rebuilt transfer cabooses fitted out as passenger cars, and the railway's forty-minute excursions run to the McLean Mill National Historic Site.
History
The Alberni Pacific Railway is a heritage railway based in Port Alberni, British Columbia, with roots reaching deep into Vancouver Island logging steam. Its namesake locomotive, Alberni Pacific No. 2, is a Class B Shay completed by the Lima Locomotive Works on June 28, 1912 as Weist Logging Co. No. 1; sold in 1918 to the Alberni Pacific Lumber Company at Franklin River, it worked the Ash River Valley under the Alberni Pacific name until its 1950 retirement, was donated to the City of Alberni in 1952, and stood in a small park at Third Avenue and Redford Street until 1978. Robert Swanson took on the Shay's restoration starting in 1980; it returned to service in August 1984, appeared at SteamExpo 86 in Vancouver, and made its final run in 1994. After a pause in operations, the railway came back to life along the Port Alberni waterfront in the summer of 2024, and that November its Baldwin No. 7 returned to steam following a six-year repair.
The Trains
Motive power centers on No. 7, a 90-ton Baldwin 2-8-2ST built in 1929, which returned to service in November 2024 after a six-year repair and departs the 1912 CPR station hauling rebuilt Canadian National transfer cabooses used as passenger cars; the railway fields five running coaches, three open and two covered. No. 11, a 45-ton diesel built in 1942 that later worked as a MacMillan Bloedel switcher, serves as backup power when No. 7 is unavailable. The roster also holds No. 2, a 42-ton two-truck Lima Shay displayed on special occasions though no longer able to hold boiler pressure; No. 112, a 75-ton Baldwin 2-6-2ST in the first stages of rebuilding; and No. 8427, a 1,600-horsepower ALCO RS-3 built in 1954 for the Canadian Pacific and believed to be the last surviving CP RS-3, currently out of service awaiting wheel work.
Nearby
Port Alberni lies at the head of the Alberni Inlet — Vancouver Island's longest — amid the forestry country of the Alberni Valley. The city of about 18,000 is the hub for travellers bound for Tofino, Ucluelet, and Pacific Rim National Park, while Harbour Quay anchors the waterfront with shops, art galleries, food, and parks. The McLean Mill National Historic Site, where the historic sawmill runs demonstrations, and Sproat Lake sit just outside town.
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