Abandoned Cowichan Sub near Sooke, BC

The only railroad through my hometown, Canadian National's Cowichan Subdivision. The railroad era in the Sooke area was brief compared to communites on the E&N, 1924-1979. The last train through Sooke consisted of a CN G12, a single boxcar, and a caboose heading back to Deerholme from the DND(Department of National Defense)'s team track at Rocky Point at mile 17.

Traffic on this line disappeared literally overnight. Two bridges north of Victoria failed inpections, CN had started to replace the bridges, but at the last minute decided not to. Before the bridges were removed, there were two trains a day through Sooke, after the bridges were removed, traffic dropped to two trains a week, then to one train every 2 weeks, shortly before the end.