Most people in Surrey, White Rock or Delta ignore trains they see go by. It’s safe to say that many curse the delays experienced when they are caught waiting for a train at a crossing.

What few know is the important role played by railways in each community – particularly in determining where cities would sprout up, where development would go and transportation and traffic patterns for the future.

A recently-published book by Barrie Sanford, Railway By the Bay, takes an extensive look at the rail line that runs through White Rock, Crescent Beach, Colebrook and then into North Delta and North Surrey. Originally the Great Northern Railway, it is now part of a successor company, Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

That rail line is 100 years old this year, and the book is most appropriate. Sanford is the logical author for such a book. He is the foremost railway historian in B.C., with several well-regarded books to his credit, most notably on the Kettle Valley Railway. He grew up in White Rock, son of well-known residents Murray and Mary Sanford. And throughout his early years, he spent a great deal of time with his camera, recording scenes along the rail line.

The Great Northern’s (GN) presence in Surrey actually dates back to 1891, when its first line, known as the New Westminster Southern, was completed. It was Surrey’s first railway. That rail line ran through Hazelmere, Cloverdale, Port Kells and Port Mann and led to Cloverdale becoming Surrey’s first town.

That line was circuitous and steep. It climbed the hill out of the Hazelmere valley by means of a long line running eastward, before running along low land most of the rest of its length.

For a number of reasons, some of which had to do with GN expansion plans, the company decided to build a new line along the ocean. When it opened, there was an immediate real estate boom in White Rock and Crescent Beach, as they were now a short rail journey from New Westminster and Vancouver.

The book includes many details about this era, including the railway’s “Daddy train” which took people to work in Vancouver and New Westminster while their families stayed at the beach in the summer months. At the end of the work day, it brought them back to the beach.

The book includes details about how Ocean Park became a stop – primarily for mail, and how important rail service was to the entire area. Details about logging railways in the South Surrey area. and early sawmills, including Campbell River Lumber Company at White Rock, are also included.

Sanford also covers in some detail the longstanding push to remove the tracks from the waterfront, which nearly came to fruition in the early 1970s. He also includes details about the railway to Roberts Bank, much of it paralleling another early GN route, and how construction of that line in the late 1960s and the relocation plans were linked. That chapter of Surrey history, which involved intense confrontation with the provincial government, has rarely been told.

For those interested in the growth and development of this area, it is a worthy addition to the bookshelf.

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