Train ride and Point Ellice Bridge

The snow has all gone. It took three days but apart from a few slushy sections in the wooded areas there is no sign of the blanket of snow Victoria had a week ago. 

Sunday was a trainride up to Fanny Bay for a family visit.  The train consists of two railcars and runs once a day from Victoria to Courtney and return.  In the summertime visitors will take the train to Chemanious or Naniamo, do whatever they have planned and then catch the train back to Victoria.  The train station in Victoria is very small and sits on the Victoria side of the "blue bridge".  In a couple of years the "blue bridge" as it is called will be replaced by a new bridge that will be seismically sound and guaranteed to last for 100 years.  There was a great deal of debate about refurbishing or replacing the current historical bridge but replacement won out.  The train station will no longer exist and we will probably have to get the train on the Esquimalt side of the bridge. 

Victoria Via train station with "blue bridge" in background

It generally takes about 2 ½ to 3 hours to drive up to and 4 ½ hours on the train.  It took an hour longer because a cable activates the lights at road crossings was broke (I think that is the mechanics of it all) and we were delayed in Nanaimo for an hour.    All was cool – I had a book, water, munchies and NO responsibilities!!  I actually got off the train at Buckley Bay.  There is no train station at Buckley Bay. It is just a whistle stop in the middle of nowhere and reminded me of Petticoat Junction; however, the train conductor (is that what they are called these days?) asked me if I was taking the ferry to Denman Island.   The Denman Island ferry dock is just across the road from the BB whistle stop and residents and visitors use the scheduled stop to get over to the island. 

Tuesday was a Y walking day.  During the walk we sighted hummingbirds.  What amazed me was that the hummingbirds didn’t fly away when we gathered below to look at them.  No camera!!!   My new bird book tells me that the species is Anna's Hummingbird.  It is a "residential" bird and spends year round in southwestern British Colombia.  Apparently, during short bouts of severe cold weather, it converts more sugar to fat or lowers its body temperature to enter "torpor idormacy".  This explains the more than four sightings I have had of hummingbirds over the past months and why people hand out hummingbird feeders (a foodsource).  Anyday now we will have the return of the Rufous Hummingbird.(1)

Our elevenses rest was within sight of the Point Ellice Bridge.  According the the information tablet and Wikipedia the bridge has a sad history.  The existing bridge is the third to span the gorge.  The second bridge collapsed May 26, 1896 when an overcrowded streetcar crashed throught the Point Ellice Bridge into the Gorge Waterway.   The streetcar was carrying  well over the passenger capacity: a total of 143 holidaymakers who were on their way to attend celebrations of Queen Victoria's birthday.  There were only a few survivors with 55 men, women and children killed in the accident and many severely injured making it one of the worst disasters in British colombia history and the worst accident in Canadian transit. 

(1) Cannings, R; Aversa, T; Opperman, H: Birds of Southwestern British Columbia (2009)