Langley Centennial Museum
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Object Description
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Object ID
1966.004.002
Artist
Hickman, Reginald (photographer)
Title
Last steam train in Langley, 1962.
Date
1962.
Description
1 Photograph : b&w ; 20.5 x 25 cm. Photograph of the last steam engine train coming to Langley. The train has a metal plaque on the front of it that reads, "4012 / P C I Co." To the right of the train is a small crowd of people standing outside of a storefront looking towards the train. A sign above the storefront reads, "Jeffery / & Swain / FINANCIAL AGENCIES LTD. / -REAL ESTATE-." A sign just to the right of the train has a map on it and reads, "LANGLEY" above it.
The reverse of the picture frame has text handwritten in blue ink that reads, "LAST STEAM / LOCO IN LANGLEY / SPIECAL[sic] 1962".
People/Subject
British Columbia Electric Railway Company Ltd. (BCER)
The British Columbia Electric Railway's interurban passenger service for the Fraser Valley, B.C., area came through Langley in 1910. The company was building rail lines into Langley as early as 1906, when they signed an agreement with Langley government. The company itself began as a merger of the National Electric Tramway and Lighting Company (Victoria), Vancouver Electric Railway and Light Company Ltd., and Vancouver & Westminster Tramway Company, and was responsible for hydroelectric power generation, power transmission, and electric rail lines on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. All three companies had gone into receivership in 1895, and the BCER was met with receivership in 1896, following the Point Ellice Bridge Disaster in Victoria. The company was only able to survive through assistance from London financers, and began operations in 1897 as an English-owned company. A station built at 240 St. in the general area formerly known as Harmsworth in Langley was named after Rochfort Henry Sperling, general manager of the B.C. Electric Company, and the area subsequently came to be known as Sperling community. In 1910, a substation was built at Coghlan, and still stands (2021). The substation stepped the voltage from the power transmission lines down for use by the trains passing through. It did not provide power to the surrounding community. Interurban passenger services on the B.C.E.R's Fraser Valley Line ceased in 1950. The company ended all service in 1958, and broke up into the branches it is modernly: BC Hydro, Translink, and BC Transit.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia_Electric_Railway
Langley City
The City of Langley, B.C., covering the Langley Prairie region, was incorporated in 1955.
Langley Prairie
Langley Prairie became Langley City in 1955.
railroads
Railway Track
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Argus v4.4.0.36 - Langley Centennial Museum