The Province's Great Enterprise

The end of operations for the Royal Hudson, shown below in "Pride of the CP," precedes and presages the fall of its operator, the British Columbia Railway.

In order to understand what happened, a bit of backstory is necessary. (See here for that.)

In 1974, the province decided to go into the tourism business, running an excursion train from Vancouver to Squamish. To pull the train, they found the 2860, a former Canadian Pacific steam engine that had avoided the scrapyard only to be hung up in museum limbo. The province purchased the locomotive and started up the excursions, and the 2860 became the only steam locomotive in regular daily service in North America.

The locomotive was a source of pride both to the railroaders and the community, as the operation was truly unique. As long as it was in service, the locomotive never looked anything less than gleaming, and the excursion service was very successful.

But it would not last. To be continued...

For further reading:

The PGE/BCR Special Interest Group
Wikipedia
The Exploration Place
Canadian National