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	BC Rail is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on October 4, 2005.
Article milestones Date Process Result June 3, 2005 Peer review Reviewed June 10, 2005 Featured article candidate Promoted Current Status: Featured article

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Contents 1 Notice 1.1 General Talk 1.2 1912-1949 1.3 map 1.4 Citations 1.5 separate article for pre-Crowncorp PGE? 1.6 NPOV concern

[edit] Notice

Recently I found two unsigned comments with no lead as to who it came from. I ask that all users sign their name with four tides (~). Thank you. Allan kuan1992 (talk) 06:51, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] General Talk

Actually the old peer review request was under another name; it can be found at Wikipedia:Peer review/British Columbia Railway. JYolkowski // talk 01:10, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

PGE = Pigs Going East; Prince George, Eventually. The subject of a lot of Len Norris cartoons in the Vancouver Sun during the controversial times when the old railway right of way was reclaimed through North Vancouver. Many people had encroached on it, and Norris cartoons usually showed a living room with holes in opposite walls and railway tracks running through the middle. The PGE ran up the Cheakamus River valley past Brackendale and Cheekeye (the end of the auto road in the late 1950's, where I spent some summers). Now there is a highway from Horseshoe Bay past there to what is now the Whistler ski resort, which you had to hike into in those days, if you were crazy enough. There was no skiing there then. There was a gold rush trail (the Pemberton Trail) that ran past Cheekeye along the rock talus slopes. Some of the trail is still there. It was dangerous to use it in the 50's because the bears also used it for a highway; you could smell them.

[edit] 1912-1949

Shouldn't there be a history section to cover the period from 1912 to 1949? If the railroad ran from "nowhere to nowhere" at that time, where exactly was that? --Metropolitan90 14:12, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

The article was vandalised a fair bit earlier in the day, and the removal of that section may have slipped through the cracks. I've since put it back. JYolkowski // talk 21:09, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Nary a mention of the Council of Trade Unions in the entire entry? That's a bit shameful. If I wasn't too busy I'd make the addition myself. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.180.184.128 (talk • contribs).

Can't help with the union history of the railway, but as far as the 1912-1949 period goes that, to me, is glaringly absent. I can add to some of the text but as if's a featured article I'm hesitant to plunge in; I'll start a section here with suggested improvements/information. One reason for a separate section - and I'd venture a separate article for the pre-nationalization PGE - is that I've got all kinds of pictures of the Gas Car, Budd Car etc. and may be able to get historical photos of its early years and also some of the special cars - the dining, baggage etc. cars as well as the club car, named Bridge River, which was on permanent lease to one of the promoters of the Pioneer Mine to host VIPs visiting the mines. Pictures of the railhead-port at Shalalth, which was the only entry to the mining district, are already on Shalalth, British Columbia, and I have some of the railway hotel that was at what is now the South Shalalth station (then known as Bridge River).Skookum1 08:55, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] map

Can I suggest moving the map up the page? My first question was "wonder where this railway went?" and I think that question should be answered visually pretty much right away! :-) Othereise, great work!

Paulc1001 21:36, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

I left a note here. Sandy 17:33, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] separate article for pre-Crowncorp PGE?

Just wondering if the pre-WAC/pre-nationalization PGE shouldn't be its own article; that's a whole era and different history; or is it standard in Wiki that things get absorbed by successor companies of the same name? Because this is CNR now, so technically this should be on the CNR page; so I'm suggesting that the "old PGE" be its own article - Skookum1 01:00, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Disagree. I think that it should stay, because it makes up good chunk of the history section. Besides, if it was split up, we may end up with two smaller pages, and with the limited public info of each, we will have a hard time trying to fill up both articles with additional details. Allan kuan1992 (talk) 06:42, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV concern

Does this section raise NPOV concerns with anyone else?

"The success story that continues to get lost however, is that BC Rail centralized its operating department during 2000/2001. This did lead to some growing pains during early implementation which may have helped build the case for the sale to CN, but by March 2002, BC Rail was on the verge of a significant recovery. The synergies related to the entire operation being run on one floor lead to huge gains in productivity. For example, empty online cycle times for lumber equipment improved over 40 percent between 2001 and 2003 and continued to improve in 2004 prior to the sale. Profitability at BC Rail made huge gains even with the loss of coal traffic and the business sense of the sale was debated furiously. It has been speculated that what should have been THE success story in North American railroading for 2003 and 2004 had to be hidden from the press in order to complete the sale. Some have said that BC Rail's centralized yard operations strategy could have been a model for North American railroads plagued with inefficiencies and congested yards. Others have speculated that BC Rail needed to be sold before they proved again that a government owned business could in fact turn a significant profit."

That part is entirely unsourced, and has been for some time. Unless someone is willing to provide sources confirming that BC Rail made profits, it should be removed, as it for sure will not meet FAR criteria. That is not to say that I supported the BC Rail move either; however, I'm too young to change the laws at the moment (being only 15). Allan kuan1992 (talk) 06:24, 11 June 2008 (UTC)