Day 22 - Day trip to Squamish.

Today I took the guys up to Squamish to visit the West Coast Railway Heritage Park. When they were at Revelstoke, they took 1.5 hrs to look around - this time they took 2.5 hrs to look around - this place is pretty big and they have lots of stuff. The highlight for me was being able to climb inside an operational (but not operating at the time) FP7 locomotive, walk right through the car body past the prime mover and into the cab and sit in the seat to see what the view was like. We weren't allowed to touch any of the controls for obvious reasons. Operating one of these old clunkers is not a glamorous job. Amazing to see that the nice round curve of the front end has nothing in it and that the toilet is down the back.

FP7 loco. The FP7 is 4 feet longer than the F7 to house the water tank needed for the steam heater required for passenger trains.

Drivers eye view of the FP7

Drivers controls

Anyway, the one hour drive took over 2 hrs owing to a wee mishap on a bridge that closed a lane that affected traffic for miles. If Canucks just slowed down a bit and employed the 2 second rule they'd be better drivers. The view across the inlet was consistently blocked by trees and the windy road made me feel a bit ill - unsure how the others fared but on the return trip I slowed it down a bit to make it more comfortable.

Upon our return we had time to check out a few places that we were going to visit tomorrow - all fizzers (including a hobby shop which had lots on things I didn't want).
A new Skytrain line is being installed and some of the Metro stations are closed with construction work - it didn't help that we'd struck peak hour traffic again. A bit gutted that we could not sit quietly on a platform and watch trains go by. A disappointing afternoon really.

Dinner at an Asian Restaurant that offered shark fin on the menu - a bit of an ethical dilemma, but I was starving so had chicken & cashew nuts. It was good.

All the guys have asked to go shopping as they want to spend a fortune on their wives.....and if you believe that...

2 sleeps and a ride in an aeroplane to go.