Note: As a director on the board of the Western Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Society, I was not a member of the negotiating team charged with acquiring Locomotive #113. Therefore any opinions stated in this blog should not be interpreted as speaking on behalf of the society.

Woss objections place locomotive in limbo  

I’m what’s known as a railroad aficionado, one of those folks who harbours within an insatiable love for trains. This life-long passion was born through trips to the Okanagan Valley in the 1940’s aboard a steam-hauled passenger train called the Kootenay Express to visit my grandparents who lived in Penticton. Another factoring component was listening nightly from my bedroom window to the logging trains of the Alberni Pacific Lumber Co. as they rumbled their way through the Port Alberni city limits within sight of our family home on South Crescent. 

Today, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Western Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Society and its division the Alberni Pacific Railway, I’ve been semi-involved in the pursuit to bring the steam Locomotive #113 to Port Alberni from its near graveyard status in Woss, a small logging hamlet with a population of 304 on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Some readers of this blog will already be well aware through various island media of the ongoing efforts by the Industrial Heritage Society to save Loci #113. However for those hearing the story for the first time, following is a little background. 

Last December the City of Port Alberni secured an agreement from Western Forest Products to take possession of their mothballed logging locomotive #113, which has been rotting for almost two decades on a side-track on the company’s north Vancouver Island property at Woss. The forest company had taken possession of the old steam engine when it bought out Canadian Forest Products earlier this decade. The City of Port Alberni and the Western Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Society (who operate the McLean Mill No.7 steam train and related heritage equipment for the city) applied for and had in place government funding to help move the locomotive to Port Alberni this fall.

However, all these well intentioned plans suddenly crashed and burned when Dave Rushton, chairperson representing Woss in Electoral Area D of the Mount Waddington Regional District, suddenly appeared like a mythical phoenix, claiming the people of the community of Woss were the rightful owners of Locomotive #113. Their proof rested on vague bits of ‘hearsay’ and unauthorized dissertations that Canadian Forest Products had gifted the locomotive to the Woss Residents’ Association before the company went belly-up.

As one can well imagine, the unsubstantiated claim resulted in a war-of-words between the two towns. The hard won funding commitments evaporated as government representatives walked away from the negotiations, unable to support a project which had two communities in dispute. 

Why does Port Alberni want to acquire Locomotive #113 and restore it to running order? Although the locomotive has been part of the history of the North Island, the engine has a significant connection to Port Alberni, running for many years during the early 1940’s hauling logs from tidewater on the Alberni Inlet to Camp 1, which was situated at the foot of the Beaufort Range near the end of Beaver Creek Road. When operating in the Alberni Valley the engine ran as Locomotive #6 (6-Spot). Most importantly having the locomotive would mean the Alberni Pacific would be the only railway on the west coast of North America with three native steam locomotives on their roster with a historical connection to the region they operated in. Also the opportunity to sell train excursions hauled by a large steam engine headquartered in Port Alberni would give the Industrial Heritage Society a major revenue generator and a world-class steam train tourist attraction for not only Port Alberni, but British Columbia itself. 

For 16 years Locomotive #113 has been parked and uncared for by the 300 odd souls of Woss. Now they suddenly claim they care. However with government funding withdrawn, Port Alberni has backed away giving the town of Woss some undeserved wiggle room. The small citizen’s group at Woss say they will make an effort to get the engine under cover before winter and will look at the option of getting the locomotive restored, a herculean undertaking which in my opinion, considering the community’s record to date, has little likelihood of success. 

Meanwhile I keep buying Lotto Max tickets in hopes of a multi-million dollar win. Last summer when the jackpot reached $50 million I fantasized about heading to Woss to retrieve #113.  I had it all worked out in my mind, right down to the catering needed to feed the crews preparing the locomotive for the move. I digress.

The fact is the Western Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Society with a membership roll of 126, many of whom possess the special skills needed to restore steam technology (a success rate already demonstrated in their operation of the summer steam train to McLean Mill), are the only island identity capable of bringing such an intricate restoration to a successful conclusion. Not only does the society have the skilled personnel, it has the physical plant and tools needed to house and repair the 1920’s era locomotive. The Industrial Heritage Society has stated publically that if Woss fails to get themselves significantly organized, Port Alberni plans to go back to Western Forest Products and reopen the agreement.

Some years back I began collecting information related to railway logging at Camp 1 with the intention of writing a book. Yesterday I dug out the file and found several photos of Locomotive #113 when she ran in the Alberni Valley as Loci #6. For the railroad aficionado’s aboard – enjoy.

PHOTO 1: APL Locomotive #6 (currently WFP #113) is headed eastward to Camp 1 with a train of empty skeleton log cars. The location is where Eric Dunn School now stands. (photo - Alberni Valley Museum)

PHOTO 2: An open siding switch at China Creek road crossing (near where Quality Foods now stands) resulted in APL Locomotive #6 being involved in a major derailment. 

(photo - Alberni Valley Museum)

PHOTO 3: APL Locomotive #6 (currently WFP #113) is seen here stopped on the Roger Creek Trestle. The train is headed westward to tidewater at Polly’s Point to dump its load of logs. 

(photo - Alberni Valley Museum)

PHOTO 4: A young trainee fireman Mark Mosher stands alongside the cab of the derailed Locomotive #6. Mark was one of the instigators behind having the 2-Spot locomotive restored from static display for the Industrial Heritage Society’s original tourist run along the Port Alberni waterfront.

 (photo - Alberni Valley Museum)