BC Rail Collection

SKU: DVD-PNX-BCRAIL
(7 customer reviews)

$29.95

The British Columbia Railway was as spectacular an operation to watch as the scenery through which it ran. Sold to the Canadian National Railway in 2004, it’s now a beloved fallen flag.

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Producer

Pentrex

Run Time

3 hours 24 minutes

Narration

Yes

Shrink Wrap

Yes, Brand New

Technical Details

No Region Code, NTSC

The British Columbia Railway was as spectacular an operation to watch as the scenery through which it ran. Sold to the Canadian National Railway in 2004, it’s now a beloved fallen flag of the past, but you can still experience the thrill of BC Rail as it existed in 1986 when this show was originally filmed. Pentrex takes you for a ride along Howe Sound behind Royal Hudson 2860, one of the world’s most beautiful steam locomotives. You’ll also enjoy a trip aboard the Budd passenger cars from North Vancouver to Prince George, a 13-hour journey that takes you into the cab for first-hand views of meets with other trains.

Traveling the various subdivisions, you’ll get close-up views of freight operations and will pay a visit the Tumbler Ridge line to see its electric locomotives and their coal loading operations. BC Rail’s color scheme was shifting from green to its new red, white, and blue paint at this time; you’ll see both color schemes traveling through mountains, past lakes, and across bridges. Step back in time with Pentrex to savor BC Rail at its finest! Here is what you see on this DVD:

Uncommon Carrier
View the steam, diesel, and electric locomotives used by BC Rail to serve its shipping, passenger, and tourist operations and get special insight into BC Rail’s contribution to the economy of its province. This production includes footage from Pentrex and the BC Rail film library.

995 Days
Experience the Tumbler Ridge Line, the only 50-kilowatt electric railroad in North America. Construction began in 1980 and was completed in 1983, after just 995 days! You’ll see tunnels drilled, track laid, catenary strung, insulators fired, and the unique locomotives designed by GMD of Canada for this remote and fascinating line.

Mile 63.5
On a cold November day in 1985, a northbound BC Rail train hit a rockslide at Mile 63.5 and derailed. Experience the efforts of the men and equipment pulling three locomotives up an embankment back to the main line in the middle of a British Columbia winter!

Dayliner One and Snow train
Enjoy two beautiful travelogs of the BC Rail system. Climb aboard the stainless steel Budd cars, view the beautiful scenery, and visit the towns the railroad serves. Includes great aerial shots of the Budd cars traveling the rails!

This is a Pentrex Best Seller.

7 reviews for BC Rail Collection

  1. Matt

    Excellent look back at BC Rail before red/white/blue paint took over. Riding up front in the RDC’s is pretty neat. Seeing Alco/MLW powered trains picking up orders on the front, middle units and caboose is a treat. A very good early Pentrex production.

  2. Brian La Rosa

    The three-and-a-half-hour BC Rail Collection is one of the longest train videos I have ever played! It shows almost everything about this special Canadian railroad, although this took place during the 1980’s when it used many ALCO-powered diesel locomotives built by the Montreal Works and painted in the old two-tone green scheme. I have also enjoyed seeing the electrified Tumbler Ridge Line being constructed as well as the locomotives designed for this region.

    We all know how terrible derailments can be, but the BC Rail Collection includes a program about an extremely difficult but not impossible effort to rescue three locomotives from a disastrous wreck caused by a rockslide at Mile 63.5. This would make me appreciate the bravery of the track gang who never gave up the recovery. While some people may think travelogs are boring and somewhat irrelevant to trains, I personally am not ashamed to learn about some tourism in places like British Columbia. For example, skiing is one of the most popular activities in the same region.

    Nonetheless, transportation was provided by the fan-favorite RDC Budd coaches, which were the only fleet known to be geared for passenger duty on BC Rail. Overall, the entire video collection has a very explanatory illustration of the fact that the railroad provided both freight and passenger services through spectacular scenery in the westernmost province of Canada.

  3. rickyfreni

    The main feature itself which ran for 82 minutes contains not only Trackside & onboard action with 2860 to Squamish & the RDC Budd Cars to Prince George via a crew change at Lillooet not to mention the commentary from onboard the Budd cars, but there are also diesel & electric powered freights in the old & new paint schemes. There are also 4 bonus films that were made by the railroad itself: An Uncommon carrier ran for 21 minutes, 995 days ran for 29 minutes, Mile 63.5 ran for 27 minutes which features a risky clean up effort during one of BC Rail’s fatal wrecks, & Dayliner 1 & Snowtrain ran for 37 minutes which is the longest show that the railroad has made.

  4. Lloyd

    Pentrex takes us on an exciting trip to Canada’s mountain province and gives an indepth look at the now fallen flag – BC Rail, before the giant – CNR took over.
    There are Bud cars in mainline service travelling through the interior of BC to Prince George, Alco’s pulling heavy freights through some rugget and fantastic scenery. A steam ride along Howe Sound pulled by the Royal Hudson # 2860. This is some of the most beautiful scenery in all of North America. There is an exciting venture in Northeastern BC at Tumbler Ridge, where London Ontario build Electrics pull heavy coal trains. It’s mountains, and see the building of the electric line to serve a remote region of the Nation.
    5 movies on one disc. The railfan will truely enjoy this exciting journey. The Tourist will also enjoy the look at the fine scenery and attractions. A bonous is the rescue of some engines that derailed and went down an enbankment. It was hard work, but the engines were pulled up and removed under adverse weather conditions.
    3 & 1/2 hours of excitement in a region few of us will ever see. A must for the rail video collector.

  5. iliketrains

    I would agree with the previous comment about being disappointed. BC Rail had some great operations through incredible scenery but this series left me wanting more. The travel videos are pretty useless.

  6. Carl M Guzowsky

    I was somewhat disappointed in this DVD. There are 5 shows but 2 are just travel videos and one has very little train activity. The other has great scenery but little about trains.

  7. david holland

    bc rail collection from pentrex is a great dvd to own. in this video you will see the royal hudson, budd rdc railcars, excursions, tons of freight trains, special trains, beautiful scenery, and so much more. 3 hours and 24 mins is great for the money. glad i ordered it.

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