Something Borrowed
The year is 2007 and the location is Victoria, BC. Via Rail is running a daily Budd RDC set as the Malahat service on Vancouver Island. It departs in the mornings from Victoria and heads up the island along the E&N (Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway) to Courtnay, a distance of about 140 miles. To see Budd cars in operation as part of a daily passenger service is rare anytime in the 21st century. By the time these two were captured, BC Rail's Budd cars had been gone for 5 years. Captured here in 2007, the Malahat would cease operating as track deteriorated in the years that followed. There has been talk of restoring the service, however, it seems that little progress has been made and these were on borrowed time. The combined rail / path bridge that rolled the passenger train the last few hundred yards to the depot has also been redone, without the rails. In 2011, the service was ended - reminding me of the axiom that once it's gone, it's hard to get back. Bu