Matt the Editor! Ok, one feedback sandwich, coming up! Compliment top bun: really love that yellow graphic that draws a line along the road when Mike hits Richmond - super engaging! Suggestion meaty middle: I’d love a map for when Mike goes on these cross-town/cross-country videos! Compliment bottom bun: loving the little inset boxes - they’re are so consistent and classy. Keep ‘em up! Fun video, Matt! Love how it flows, you can really feel the momentum! Keep it up!
Do NOT change the music....absolutely on point! Loved the visuals and animated maps. I personally love the video being clipped into different sections. The more I watched the more I realized I wouldnt change anything....
As someone who grew up in Vancouver and now lives in Australia, and loves to learn interesting things about the technical and infrastructure history of places I know, I love your videos. Also want to acknowledge that I know how much effort and skill is required to make interesting videos about subjects like this. You do a brilliant job of taking your viewers on a journey, with an authentic and friendly personality. I know it all would take a lot of effort, but you pull it off so we’ll that if feels so easy and engaging. Well done!
I've had an interest in transportation, of all kinds for quite sometime. I've had truck driving jobs, motorcoach driving jobs, both scheduled line service and charter and tour service, and airport shuttle van jobs. As such, I must say, this is one of the best DownieLive videos ever. The more Vancouver area videos I've seen, the more I realize Vancouver is a really great city.
The end of the Arbutus Greenway is genuinely one of the funniest things to experience as a cyclist in Vancouver, mainly because it's so weirdly confusing how you've suddenly now got no idea on where to go. But apparently you're supposed to continue along Marine Drive under the Arthur Laing to Oak Street then down to Kent Street then follow the Kent Avenue cyclist route until you hit the start of the Eastern Half Of The Fraser Foreshore Trail near Argyle Avenue & Kent Street. Also this would make sense since the cyclist/pedestrian route into Richmond from Vancouver starts at the very end of the Heather Street cyclist route at Kent Street which then follows Kent to the Canada Line Bridge
Definitely a significant gap in the cycling network. The City of Vancouver is working on a proper connection from the Greenway to the Canada Line Bridge, but I'm not sure when it's scheduled to open.
At that point, I always go over the Arthur Laing Bridge. It's a little sketchy, because there isn't a cycle path, just the world's tiniest shoulder, but it's doable. Then you get to the maze of airport (Sea Island) bike paths!
I really like these hidden history episodes that show bits and pieces of times of old still in existence. They also are somewhat connected to the old train trips. I was surprised that the second Granville St. Bridge wa still made with cobblestones.
I grew up in LA and there were still a few Red Car lines still running to San Pedro and Long Beach. So comfortable and fast. What an inferior trip when they were replaced by cramped, slower busses. Trip took 15-20 minutes longer and cost more. Slap in the face to riders! Keep up the great work...
From the "did you know" department, Did you know that when you were shooting that last bit in Steveston, you were steps away from the hidden ramp for the Steveston to Sidney ferry? In the lane between Moncton and Chatham just west of 7th Ave. is a chunk of the ramp for the ferry dock at the foot of 6th Ave.
Hey, my Grandmother used to walk to downtown over the trestle, and I would have to stop at 12th and Arbutus on my way to school for the train to pass. You went right by the Seaforth Armoury which has a lot of history. On the west coast people have little knowledge of their local military history. From the Seathorth Armoury, Beatty Street Armoury, HMCS Discovery (not a ship), and the Jericho area which included a barracks (one still remains as the hostel), a shooting range, and a "flying boat" base but the dock was torn down years ago. Also the coastal defence at UBC
If your interested in looking into it a good start would be to talk to James Calhoun, the Seaforth museum curator at seaforthhighlandersmuseum@gmail.com
It's crazy seeing how much stuff still remains in a lot of cities like this. All the tiny bits of history that lie hidden but still make subtle influences on how the current city looks.
most large cities' development patterns were along streetcar and interurban lines. So tragic they weren't saved and upgraded to light rail standards. Would have been a lot cheaper than building new ones from scratch. But auto and petroleum interests ruled.
The video was awesome thank you. I live in Ontario but have been to BC and specifically Stevenson. It is so nice to get to see parts of our country we didn’t know about and the history behind it.
I for one really appreciate what you go through to make these videos. It’s great that you take us with you to these interesting places, but it’s easy to forget that you have to make your way back. (The vloggers in Toronto will often ride their bicycles to a destination and film as they go, but they often take the TTC back home). The good thing of course is that it keeps you healthy, so as long as you take care of yourself and don’t overdo it, everyone wins. Thanks again, Michael!
When I was young in the 1960s the tracks ran all the way from the brewery at north end across a railway bridge and down by No. 3 in Richmond to Steveston. There were still the occasional freight trains.
Not gonna lie, as a transit enthusiast, it's bittersweet to watch videos like this. I mean hey, I'm getting to see history that's right under peoples' noses, but I'm also getting to see history that would've taken many a car off the roads had it been left in service.
Thanks Mike for taking us around Vancouver....and I'm glad that you were looking for a reason to get out of the house! Love the SkyTrain, streetcar and rail videos from everywhere....thanks for taking all of us outside....
Of the four subway lines that go to Coney Island in Brooklyn, two started out as street level railroads, then electric street cars, and finally elevated subways. When the potholes get bad enough under those subway lines the old rails can still be seen (McDonald Ave/Shell Road and New Utrecht Ave/86th Street/Stillwell Avenue (which is oddly paved with cement.) Shell Road is confusing though because there’s a major subway repair shop that has tracks that go out into the street to move subway cars in and out of the system via large load special trailers.
Great job, dude! I recall using the street cars and interurbans as a child. The line ran by a block away from our home at 5yth and Arbutus. Good times and good memories. Many thanks for doing this!
Your last few videos on the streetcars have been neat for the historical aspects of Vancouver. You should do a series, maybe include local Greater Vancouver cities? Like, New Westminster and its prison was touched on in a recent vid, you could show the old cemetery and old Front Street back when it used to be the provincial Capital instead of Victoria.
Your videos are just so fantastic. You make me want to move to Vancouver!!! The city reminds me a bit of Minneapolis, MN. So many parks, paths, experiences to explore. It really gives the feeling that the City is thinking of quality of life for it's citizens. Great work, and kudos to your editor as well!!!
You cycled right past our front door! Great video! We cycle the Greenway almost every day with the kids. Thankfully, we live in the southern end, so we start going up hill and end coming down hill all the way! My kids appreciate it.
i live just beside railway so it was really cool watching you bike there in this video ha, enjoyed it very much and learned new things about the city, thank you.
Love this video! Loved the bunnies. Enjoy seeing our city from a really positive perspective. Never once have seen the Steveston stop that you showed… I will definitely bike that trail because of you. Thanks!
It is so nice that you give credit to the video editor in the description. As a freelance editor myself, I can tell you that very rarely happens. It's not a requirement but it's nice. So refreshing to see genuine people.
Wow. I lived a bock away from Railway Ave. in the late 80’s early 90’s then move out of my parents home to Steveston. Me and my friends used to walk those tracks (they’re long gone) to the Steveston Community Centre. Love progress but Steveston used to be an amazing beautiful village in a big city, a breath of fresh air. Love the video!
Another great video Michael, thank you for sharing! I am loving these tours and history you have been doing of Vancouver, super cool stuff!!! Cheers, Rick
At least here in Manitoba, you'll find that in many small towns the street running adjacent (parallel) to the rail line is often called Railway Avenue. Perhaps the same thing is the case there.
Not knowing anything about Vancouver, I really enjoyed this video. Really enjoyed the accompanying music. Very interesting - even for a non-Vancouver person.
As a kid I would always go to see BCER 1220 at the park, I also remember passing the Arbutus corridor back when it was a train line, but never saw a train.
Great video (still catching up on all the great content). Where I live (Sarasota, FL), they've recently done something similar with the old freight train tracks that are no longer in use; they called it the Legacy Trail, and it's a lovely bike/jogging path that runs through most of the county. It's a lovely path.
Mike, dude. I've lived here for years, but I've learned so much from your channel. I'm more in love with our city because of your videos. So thank you for making this city even more special!
Good Video . It amazing how you can still see the Abandoned Railroad Crossing Signals . Here in Los Angeles you can catch a lot of Abandoned Train Tracks From Pacific Electric Railway.
Fun fact: In and around that #3rd and River Parkway area. There are still remains of old tracks left in what are now parking lots, back alleys. A little more down #3rd by what is now the "car wash district" you can still see tracks leading to and from random walls and old loading docks. And they old too kuz it's the old small gauge steel rail
This is so cool! I did not know that there was an old railway line from Downtown, Vancouver to Steveston! It would be nice if they extended the new Canada line just like the old times!
I live in the valley and work downtown Vancouver you've given me lots of excellent places to check out with my longboard keep it up I really enjoy your videos
That first bit of flute (or whatever instrument it is...im not to versed in instruments, if its something traditional I apologize) just sent chills down my spine. You know its going to be an amazing video when you hear that.
My mother, in her late teens, mid 1940s , would catch the train in the Abbotsford area and travel to Richmond to work in the canneries. As a bit of trivia, she was a potter, had various kilns, and the bronze art installation featuring the cannery workers and fishermen, was fired in pieces before bronzing; the heads were fired in her kilns in Bradner. Once again Michael, you have helped us learn more about our local history. Thanks!!!
Great video! Very interesting. I remember as a kid seeing the old trolley tracks that went through Public Square in Watertown, NY as well as down some side streets. Do not remember any trolley barn though. Thank you for posting!
Nice call out to the sidewalk street name markings. Oddly a few weeks ago I started tracking some down on my walks.Thanks for sharing the Cedar secret! I used to work on 'Cedar' next to the tracks and I remember there would be a once a day train (engine with one freight car) that would pass in one direction, then it would do the opposite direction the following day. I suspect this was the railway's way of maintaining right of way while the city was trying to expropriate it.
It’s Friday and I finally tuned into your post! I like I like I like it! To bad no beer at the end, but there is always next time and I will be there with you when you do! I hope your week has been great! 😊
hi from Australia, keep doing what you are doing because it is awesome plus you use catchy music which is great to have in the background, 10 thumbs up...
If you want to ride one of the interurban electric trams, the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society runs on the weekends from Cloverdale (across from the Surrey Museum) to Sullivan Station and back. They have an amazing restoration barn too.
Your videos are getting beter and better ! What a trip, I love those historic videos and the choice of musics are really cool : good taste ! And luckily it was sunny. Somehow, I'm jealous. Hhere in France, it's raining, and railways use to be dirty :-( Doing such a documentary would never be so attractive, unless you film something in the mountains or campaign landscape. In other words, very pleasant to see Vancouver again thru your camera.
I live in Connecticut in the US and have recently been researching and going to spots for some of our old streetcar systems. I got into it because I grew up with the old streetcar route right in my backyard but had no idea. It was called the Cheshire Street Railway and then it linked up to some other railways in Waterbury, Connecticut. There are some truly awesome remnants I found. Glad to see I am not the only one doing this kind of thing. Now I want to visit Vancouver to check out all the stuff you showed me. Amazing video, thank you!
I absolutely love your videos, Mike! These local history videos are gems, I've been sharing your content and fun facts with my family and friends and they're enjoying it! It's truly eye opening to walk around Vancouver or Richmond or any place in the Lower Mainland and seeing it through a historical perspective - it reminds me that I'm part of an ever-changing and evolving historical narrative of Vancity. Looking forward to more of your videos! :)
You have done a really good job of making the most of accesable things to make great videos out of whilst travel isn't possible, so well done! I am really looking forward to seeing some of your more typical travel videos again soon!
I just moved to a new apartment today. It's frakin' hot here in Toronto! First thing I did when I sat down to relax was watch your video Mike 😎 well...after I opened up a nice cold cider 😁
My whole family rode the Intererbun regularly. Yes including myself. I am an Antique. BUT still unique!?? We preferred the street car to the bus because it was usually on time. I was very young and thought anything with track and a conductor was a great adventure. We caught it in Burnaby just past the old Kelly Douglas building. It was a good home from my grandparents' house. Unfortunately they retired the trams when I started school. I'd always hoped to experience that adventure on my own. That was the way most of my four generations of family travelled every day for many years. Thank you so much for keeping some of Vancouver's unique history alive!! You do it extremely well with your enthusiasm and unique style. I a really appreciate your interest in my birth city! I am one of your most enthusiastic subscribers!! I hope you are able to travel soon. We need that freedom back. Safe travels and thanks again!!!
You can ride one, the sister car to the one in the vid, BCER 1225. Goes from Cloverdale to Sullivan in Surrey, Summer months. Good vid. Have biked most of the Arbutus ROW and Railway ROW in Richmond. I, also, liked the station stops painted on ground level.
Love to see this transit content, love to see this bicycle content, love to see the urbanism content. Beautifully done, beautifully researched, great graphics!
The Kits trestle was used for BCE freight movements and, I believe, interurban cars like the one to Steveston. Streetcars crossed False Creek on a trestle running just off parallel with the east side of Granville Bridge, over Granville Island. The footprint of this structure has been long erased by new buildings, although I have a map which still shows the RoW cutting through the old industrials. The interurbans were bigger, higher cars that ran long routes beyond the limits of the streetcar system.
As long as your still doing Vancouver videos, have you thought of doing something about history of Grouse Mountain and the old roads the went up there or maybe Stanley Park and the old Denman Arena? As always, great video and keep up the great content!
Great video! You can actually take your bike on the skytrain during non-peak hours if you don't want to bike all the way back home during the evening, especially if most of your trip is uphill.
Hi Mike: As a native-born Vancouverite nearly twice your age I wanted to say that your videos about our hometown are great. I took a ride on one of the very last Steveston streetcars when I was very young ans still remember it. (BTW- there were no pubs then either) Thanks for bringing back memories of places I either haven't visited or haven\t been to in years.
I'm one of about a dozen interurban drivers (they were known as motormen), and I was originally taught by three of the original operators. If you've listened to the narrators of the BC Electric video, you have heard two of my mentors. Nearly everybody had a nickname on the BCER. Some of these can't be printed here, but one of my mentors (the one you haven't heard) was known as "Highball." No, not the drink--that would be violating Rule G. Highball as in "get moving." And move he did. The story goes that "Highball" was clocked by police on what is now Garden City Way doing something like 70 mph in an interurban. That might have been an exaggeration, but the interurbans were capable of 50-60 mph. Excellent video. I don't think you made an significant errors there, and you introduced the subject well. Well done! In fact, I liked it well enough that I think I'll click on that "Join" button.
Peter! Welcome! Glad to hear I did a good enough job on this video. I'm no historian, but enjoy the stories of our city. Thanks for joining, and I look forward to bringing you many more adventures this summer.
I love this! We have many old railway lines replaced by recreational foot / bike paths in The Netherlands (and in Belgium and Germany as well) Just normally we DO remove most of the railway heritage (which I regret!) BTW, we know you're Mike, no need to emphasize that every time :) Heck, I'll join!
What a coincidence, I biked along Central Valley close to the time you posted your video about it, and I biked along Railway and Arbutus close to the time you posted this video!
Great video Mike, thanks! I really love the history you dig up for these videos, it's super fascinating. I definitely learned a few things I didn't know!
Another great video. I cycle the Arbutus greenway to work. The king Edward sub station is actually to the east, behind the trees. Still used to power the trolleybuses. Marpole Loop still has a wooden bus shelter dating back to the Interurban. Looking forward to your next video. How about a bike ale trail???
We the people need to buy Mike a beer 🍺 Always love and appreciate the videos. I’m really enjoying these Vancouver ones. Have you checked out the 80 plus chainsaw carvings displayed around the town centre in Hope?
In St. Louis they wouldn't have changed Cedar St. to Burrard St. We have so many roads that change names multiple times, or that disappear for a while and then reappear. The end of the street car seems to be a common topic today - there was an interview in the local paper with one of the last living street car operators in St. Louis. The last street car here ran in 1966.
It's surprising that many remnants of the Inter-urban lines have survived. While trolley buses have remained active along many of the old streetcar lines in Vancouver, the push to de-electrify transit and move to diesel buses was seen as progress all over mid-century North America Politicians of the day saw no value in preserving anything... which is why the vast majority of the streetcar and inter-urban rolling stock was burned. There are only a handful of BCER inter-urban cars remaining...notably 1220 in Steveston, along with 1207, 1225 & 1304 located at the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society in Cloverdale. Additionally, BCER powerhouses at Earles Street, Vancouver and Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford have been repurposed as residential housing.
Mike; i don't know HOW you can cycle AND vlog AND hold the camera and FILM at the same time! I got myself a 360 phone mount for my bike so it can film in portrait mode and thankfully, my new phone can alternate from regular to selfie cam without stopping the video which the old one didn't!
How the hell do you ride your bike and film...and not fall off, hit a walker, or just ride into a building? Please, more history, more digressions, more side trips...yes, and maybe some outtakes. Again, thank you for these great videos. Really love them.
Matt-Great editing. The video moved very smoothly through the storytelling. Thank you Mike, you have maintained a high level interest during the pandemic while staying close to home in B.C. Disappointed you didn't get your cold brew at the end.
Hey everyone! Matt the Editor here. I’d love to hear any feedback you have on this video!
Anything you like? Any ideas on ways to improve? Thanks 😊
Matt the Editor! Ok, one feedback sandwich, coming up!
Compliment top bun: really love that yellow graphic that draws a line along the road when Mike hits Richmond - super engaging!
Suggestion meaty middle: I’d love a map for when Mike goes on these cross-town/cross-country videos!
Compliment bottom bun: loving the little inset boxes - they’re are so consistent and classy. Keep ‘em up!
Fun video, Matt! Love how it flows, you can really feel the momentum! Keep it up!
Omg the editing is amazing. Out takes are fun. Downie can’t be that perfect... sneak some in?
Improve?? Not necessary in any way! Editing spot on. Maybe some outtakes or bloopers?? History of Lulu island might be topic?
Do NOT change the music....absolutely on point! Loved the visuals and animated maps. I personally love the video being clipped into different sections. The more I watched the more I realized I wouldnt change anything....
pack a few beers in your rucksack!
I appreciate the random "did you know" moments from your vids 👌🏼
They're just for you, Joe. 😄
Vancouver has changed so much, but when we look carefully there are sill these remnants of what used to be. Great job on this Mike.
Burning streetcars to get rid of them seems so wasteful. Very interesting video!!
It was done in London- burn all the wood which was most of the body and pick up the metal afterwards. ruclips.net/video/aTMhlwUtLZg/видео.html
As someone who grew up in Vancouver and now lives in Australia, and loves to learn interesting things about the technical and infrastructure history of places I know, I love your videos.
Also want to acknowledge that I know how much effort and skill is required to make interesting videos about subjects like this. You do a brilliant job of taking your viewers on a journey, with an authentic and friendly personality. I know it all would take a lot of effort, but you pull it off so we’ll that if feels so easy and engaging. Well done!
I've had an interest in transportation, of all kinds for quite sometime. I've had truck driving jobs, motorcoach driving jobs, both scheduled line service and charter and tour service, and airport shuttle van jobs. As such, I must say, this is one of the best DownieLive videos ever. The more Vancouver area videos I've seen, the more I realize Vancouver is a really great city.
Thanks Jim.
The end of the Arbutus Greenway is genuinely one of the funniest things to experience as a cyclist in Vancouver, mainly because it's so weirdly confusing how you've suddenly now got no idea on where to go. But apparently you're supposed to continue along Marine Drive under the Arthur Laing to Oak Street then down to Kent Street then follow the Kent Avenue cyclist route until you hit the start of the Eastern Half Of The Fraser Foreshore Trail near Argyle Avenue & Kent Street. Also this would make sense since the cyclist/pedestrian route into Richmond from Vancouver starts at the very end of the Heather Street cyclist route at Kent Street which then follows Kent to the Canada Line Bridge
Definitely a significant gap in the cycling network. The City of Vancouver is working on a proper connection from the Greenway to the Canada Line Bridge, but I'm not sure when it's scheduled to open.
At that point, I always go over the Arthur Laing Bridge. It's a little sketchy, because there isn't a cycle path, just the world's tiniest shoulder, but it's doable. Then you get to the maze of airport (Sea Island) bike paths!
I really like these hidden history episodes that show bits and pieces of times of old still in existence. They also are somewhat connected to the old train trips. I was surprised that the second Granville St. Bridge wa still made with cobblestones.
Am thinking Vancouver should have you on the board of tourism...great info...story telling all around another great video 👍😁
I grew up in LA and there were still a few Red Car lines still running to San Pedro and Long Beach. So comfortable and fast. What an inferior trip when they were replaced by cramped, slower busses. Trip took 15-20 minutes longer and cost more. Slap in the face to riders! Keep up the great work...
From the "did you know" department, Did you know that when you were shooting that last bit in Steveston, you were steps away from the hidden ramp for the Steveston to Sidney ferry? In the lane between Moncton and Chatham just west of 7th Ave. is a chunk of the ramp for the ferry dock at the foot of 6th Ave.
Hey, my Grandmother used to walk to downtown over the trestle, and I would have to stop at 12th and Arbutus on my way to school for the train to pass. You went right by the Seaforth Armoury which has a lot of history. On the west coast people have little knowledge of their local military history. From the Seathorth Armoury, Beatty Street Armoury, HMCS Discovery (not a ship), and the Jericho area which included a barracks (one still remains as the hostel), a shooting range, and a "flying boat" base but the dock was torn down years ago. Also the coastal defence at UBC
If your interested in looking into it a good start would be to talk to James Calhoun, the Seaforth museum curator at seaforthhighlandersmuseum@gmail.com
Mike, thanks for sharing all the hidden gems with transportation with light rail.
It's crazy seeing how much stuff still remains in a lot of cities like this. All the tiny bits of history that lie hidden but still make subtle influences on how the current city looks.
most large cities' development patterns were along streetcar and interurban lines. So tragic they weren't saved and upgraded to light rail standards. Would have been a lot cheaper than building new ones from scratch. But auto and petroleum interests ruled.
The video was awesome thank you. I live in Ontario but have been to BC and specifically Stevenson. It is so nice to get to see parts of our country we didn’t know about and the history behind it.
I for one really appreciate what you go through to make these videos. It’s great that you take us with you to these interesting places, but it’s easy to forget that you have to make your way back.
(The vloggers in Toronto will often ride their bicycles to a destination and film as they go, but they often take the TTC back home).
The good thing of course is that it keeps you healthy, so as long as you take care of yourself and don’t overdo it, everyone wins.
Thanks again, Michael!
Very true. Great perspective, Vera.
When I was young in the 1960s the tracks ran all the way from the brewery at north end across a railway bridge and down by No. 3 in Richmond to Steveston. There were still the occasional freight trains.
Love your videos...... Vancouver area has to be thankful for Your work~! cool history...my kind of traveling~!
Not gonna lie, as a transit enthusiast, it's bittersweet to watch videos like this. I mean hey, I'm getting to see history that's right under peoples' noses, but I'm also getting to see history that would've taken many a car off the roads had it been left in service.
Loved this! I grew up in Richmond, live in Vancouver, and cycle the Greenway every few weeks or so. Felt like I was on a ride with you in this video
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks Mike for taking us around Vancouver....and I'm glad that you were looking for a reason to get out of the house! Love the SkyTrain, streetcar and rail videos from everywhere....thanks for taking all of us outside....
Of the four subway lines that go to Coney Island in Brooklyn, two started out as street level railroads, then electric street cars, and finally elevated subways. When the potholes get bad enough under those subway lines the old rails can still be seen (McDonald Ave/Shell Road and New Utrecht Ave/86th Street/Stillwell Avenue (which is oddly paved with cement.) Shell Road is confusing though because there’s a major subway repair shop that has tracks that go out into the street to move subway cars in and out of the system via large load special trailers.
Great job, dude! I recall using the street cars and interurbans as a child. The line ran by a block away from our home at 5yth and Arbutus. Good times and good memories. Many thanks for doing this!
Your last few videos on the streetcars have been neat for the historical aspects of Vancouver. You should do a series, maybe include local Greater Vancouver cities? Like, New Westminster and its prison was touched on in a recent vid, you could show the old cemetery and old Front Street back when it used to be the provincial Capital instead of Victoria.
Thanks for the history of the Vancouver streetcar route. It was very informative. I really enjoy learning this about Vancouver.
Your videos are just so fantastic. You make me want to move to Vancouver!!! The city reminds me a bit of Minneapolis, MN. So many parks, paths, experiences to explore. It really gives the feeling that the City is thinking of quality of life for it's citizens. Great work, and kudos to your editor as well!!!
I love street cars. And their history is so interesting.
I'm surprise you didn't say,
"I don't know where I'm going next. But, I hope they serve beer."
🤗
😂
Loved seeing you over here in Richmond! I think Richmond is soooo underrated, thanks for sharing a bit of my home 😊
You cycled right past our front door! Great video! We cycle the Greenway almost every day with the kids. Thankfully, we live in the southern end, so we start going up hill and end coming down hill all the way! My kids appreciate it.
That's the best way for it to be!
i live just beside railway so it was really cool watching you bike there in this video ha, enjoyed it very much and learned new things about the city, thank you.
Love this video! Loved the bunnies. Enjoy seeing our city from a really positive perspective. Never once have seen the Steveston stop that you showed… I will definitely bike that trail because of you. Thanks!
Awesome! Enjoy, David!
It is so nice that you give credit to the video editor in the description. As a freelance editor myself, I can tell you that very rarely happens. It's not a requirement but it's nice. So refreshing to see genuine people.
He deserves it!
Wow. I lived a bock away from Railway Ave. in the late 80’s early 90’s then move out of my parents home to Steveston. Me and my friends used to walk those tracks (they’re long gone) to the Steveston Community Centre. Love progress but Steveston used to be an amazing beautiful village in a big city, a breath of fresh air. Love the video!
Another great video Michael, thank you for sharing! I am loving these tours and history you have been doing of Vancouver, super cool stuff!!! Cheers, Rick
At least here in Manitoba, you'll find that in many small towns the street running adjacent (parallel) to the rail line is often called Railway Avenue. Perhaps the same thing is the case there.
Mission B.C. has a North and South Railway Avenue, and Vancouver has a Railway St somewhat close to the railway.
Amazing Video!! Just Loved.... to Zooooooom past the lovely streets lined up with so much greenery....👍👍👍
Not knowing anything about Vancouver, I really enjoyed this video. Really enjoyed the accompanying music. Very interesting - even for a non-Vancouver person.
That's so nice to hear, Tim. I try to keep the videos for those who live in Vancouver, and those who don't.
@@DownieLive By the way - What do you call a person from Vancouver?
@@timobrian6255 a Vancouverite…
thank you the last few vid's you made have given us a few things to do this week in vancouver during my kids checks at BCCH
As a kid I would always go to see BCER 1220 at the park, I also remember passing the Arbutus corridor back when it was a train line, but never saw a train.
Great video (still catching up on all the great content).
Where I live (Sarasota, FL), they've recently done something similar with the old freight train tracks that are no longer in use; they called it the Legacy Trail, and it's a lovely bike/jogging path that runs through most of the county. It's a lovely path.
Mike, dude. I've lived here for years, but I've learned so much from your channel. I'm more in love with our city because of your videos. So thank you for making this city even more special!
That is awesome! I really appreciate that, George!
Good Video . It amazing how you can still see the Abandoned Railroad Crossing Signals . Here in Los Angeles you can catch a lot of Abandoned Train Tracks From Pacific Electric Railway.
Another work of excellence Mike! You deserved that beer, actually two beers! We love the Vancouver videos, keep up the great work Mike!
Thanks a bunch!
Fun fact: In and around that #3rd and River Parkway area.
There are still remains of old tracks left in what are now parking lots, back alleys. A little more down #3rd by what is now the "car wash district" you can still see tracks leading to and from random walls and old loading docks.
And they old too kuz it's the old small gauge steel rail
As a newcomer in Vancouver. This man really helping me fall in love with the city... Kudos to you, Hope we will cross path sometime.
Awesome! Me too Artik!
@@DownieLive 🎉🎊
This is so cool! I did not know that there was an old railway line from Downtown, Vancouver to Steveston! It would be nice if they extended the new Canada line just like the old times!
I live in the valley and work downtown Vancouver you've given me lots of excellent places to check out with my longboard keep it up I really enjoy your videos
Thanks Mike...💜 this video! I can’t wait to go back to YVR 🙏 Beautiful BC is so clean.
I live in Richmond and I wasnt even aware of those.
thnx Downie , well made.
That first bit of flute (or whatever instrument it is...im not to versed in instruments, if its something traditional I apologize) just sent chills down my spine. You know its going to be an amazing video when you hear that.
My mother, in her late teens, mid 1940s , would catch the train in the Abbotsford area and travel to Richmond to work in the canneries. As a bit of trivia, she was a potter, had various kilns, and the bronze art installation featuring the cannery workers and fishermen, was fired in pieces before bronzing; the heads were fired in her kilns in Bradner.
Once again Michael, you have helped us learn more about our local history. Thanks!!!
Wow. Cool. Thanks for sharing, Kevin.
Great video! Very interesting. I remember as a kid seeing the old trolley tracks that went through Public Square in Watertown, NY as well as down some side streets. Do not remember any trolley barn though. Thank you for posting!
Another great video! One silver lining of restrictions remaining will be that we'll all get more Vancouver-specific content :)
Love the history in this one. You and your "trains". Wink.
Nice call out to the sidewalk street name markings. Oddly a few weeks ago I started tracking some down on my walks.Thanks for sharing the Cedar secret!
I used to work on 'Cedar' next to the tracks and I remember there would be a once a day train (engine with one freight car) that would pass in one direction, then it would do the opposite direction the following day. I suspect this was the railway's way of maintaining right of way while the city was trying to expropriate it.
Hey Mike, great job I love learning about and the history of old street cars and trains. Keep them coming !!
It’s Friday and I finally tuned into your post! I like I like I like it! To bad no beer at the end, but there is always next time and I will be there with you when you do! I hope your week has been great! 😊
hi from Australia, keep doing what you are doing because it is awesome plus you use catchy music which is great to have in the background, 10 thumbs up...
If you want to ride one of the interurban electric trams, the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society runs on the weekends from Cloverdale (across from the Surrey Museum) to Sullivan Station and back. They have an amazing restoration barn too.
Your videos are getting beter and better ! What a trip, I love those historic videos and the choice of musics are really cool : good taste ! And luckily it was sunny. Somehow, I'm jealous. Hhere in France, it's raining, and railways use to be dirty :-( Doing such a documentary would never be so attractive, unless you film something in the mountains or campaign landscape.
In other words, very pleasant to see Vancouver again thru your camera.
I live in Connecticut in the US and have recently been researching and going to spots for some of our old streetcar systems. I got into it because I grew up with the old streetcar route right in my backyard but had no idea. It was called the Cheshire Street Railway and then it linked up to some other railways in Waterbury, Connecticut. There are some truly awesome remnants I found. Glad to see I am not the only one doing this kind of thing. Now I want to visit Vancouver to check out all the stuff you showed me. Amazing video, thank you!
Awesome! Thanks Will.
I absolutely love your videos, Mike! These local history videos are gems, I've been sharing your content and fun facts with my family and friends and they're enjoying it! It's truly eye opening to walk around Vancouver or Richmond or any place in the Lower Mainland and seeing it through a historical perspective - it reminds me that I'm part of an ever-changing and evolving historical narrative of Vancity. Looking forward to more of your videos! :)
Wow, thanks. Yeah, I can't wait to look back on these videos in 20 years and see what has changed. Enjoy exploring!
Thanks for taking us all through the journey. Great job researching and pulling this together, another interesting video, Mike.
My pleasure, Eric!
You have done a really good job of making the most of accesable things to make great videos out of whilst travel isn't possible, so well done! I am really looking forward to seeing some of your more typical travel videos again soon!
I just moved to a new apartment today. It's frakin' hot here in Toronto! First thing I did when I sat down to relax was watch your video Mike 😎 well...after I opened up a nice cold cider 😁
My whole family rode the Intererbun regularly. Yes including myself. I am an Antique. BUT still unique!?? We preferred the street car to the bus because it was usually on time. I was very young and thought anything with track and a conductor was a great adventure. We caught it in Burnaby just past the old Kelly Douglas building. It was a good home from my grandparents' house. Unfortunately they retired the trams when I started school. I'd always hoped to experience that adventure on my own. That was the way most of my four generations of family travelled every day for many years. Thank you so much for keeping some of Vancouver's unique history alive!! You do it extremely well with your enthusiasm and unique style. I a really appreciate your interest in my birth city! I am one of your most enthusiastic subscribers!! I hope you are able to travel soon. We need that freedom back. Safe travels and thanks again!!!
Thanks Ali! Yes, I think we'll be able to travel soon enough!
Great content as usual. Always love to see Vancouver
You can ride one, the sister car to the one in the vid, BCER 1225. Goes from Cloverdale to Sullivan in Surrey, Summer months. Good vid. Have biked most of the Arbutus ROW and Railway ROW in Richmond. I, also, liked the station stops painted on ground level.
Nice seeing Railway history around the trail
Love to see this transit content, love to see this bicycle content, love to see the urbanism content. Beautifully done, beautifully researched, great graphics!
Pretty cool history of Vancouver. When we can go back to Canada we will have to look for this
The Kits trestle was used for BCE freight movements and, I believe, interurban cars like the one to Steveston. Streetcars crossed False Creek on a trestle running just off parallel with the east side of Granville Bridge, over Granville Island. The footprint of this structure has been long erased by new buildings, although I have a map which still shows the RoW cutting through the old industrials.
The interurbans were bigger, higher cars that ran long routes beyond the limits of the streetcar system.
As long as your still doing Vancouver videos, have you thought of doing something about history of Grouse Mountain and the old roads the went up there or maybe Stanley Park and the old Denman Arena?
As always, great video and keep up the great content!
Great video! You can actually take your bike on the skytrain during non-peak hours if you don't want to bike all the way back home during the evening, especially if most of your trip is uphill.
Another awesome video from Mike and the DownieLiveChannel! - WOOHOO! :)
This is a great insight into our city! So many hidden gems!
At the beginning I was like, Harry! 9 and 3/4? LOL Editing is spot on. Love watching Relive App being used the way it should be! : ) Cool video man!
Yes! Thank you!
Hi Mike: As a native-born Vancouverite nearly twice your age I wanted to say that your videos about our hometown are great. I took a ride on one of the very last Steveston streetcars when I was very young ans still remember it. (BTW- there were no pubs then either) Thanks for bringing back memories of places I either haven't visited or haven\t been to in years.
Wow, thank you!
I'm one of about a dozen interurban drivers (they were known as motormen), and I was originally taught by three of the original operators. If you've listened to the narrators of the BC Electric video, you have heard two of my mentors.
Nearly everybody had a nickname on the BCER. Some of these can't be printed here, but one of my mentors (the one you haven't heard) was known as "Highball." No, not the drink--that would be violating Rule G. Highball as in "get moving." And move he did. The story goes that "Highball" was clocked by police on what is now Garden City Way doing something like 70 mph in an interurban. That might have been an exaggeration, but the interurbans were capable of 50-60 mph.
Excellent video. I don't think you made an significant errors there, and you introduced the subject well. Well done!
In fact, I liked it well enough that I think I'll click on that "Join" button.
Peter! Welcome!
Glad to hear I did a good enough job on this video. I'm no historian, but enjoy the stories of our city. Thanks for joining, and I look forward to bringing you many more adventures this summer.
I love this! We have many old railway lines replaced by recreational foot / bike paths in The Netherlands (and in Belgium and Germany as well) Just normally we DO remove most of the railway heritage (which I regret!) BTW, we know you're Mike, no need to emphasize that every time :) Heck, I'll join!
What a coincidence, I biked along Central Valley close to the time you posted your video about it, and I biked along Railway and Arbutus close to the time you posted this video!
Another fun one! I'm really liking your local vid series
I wish a lot of the little stations had been preserved along places like the Arbutus Line and the Burnaby Lake Line.
Great video Mike, thanks! I really love the history you dig up for these videos, it's super fascinating. I definitely learned a few things I didn't know!
Glad you like them! I enjoy making them.
Fantastic video! Thank you.
I live here and didnt even know any of this. Amazing video 😍
Another great video. I cycle the Arbutus greenway to work. The king Edward sub station is actually to the east, behind the trees. Still used to power the trolleybuses. Marpole Loop still has a wooden bus shelter dating back to the Interurban. Looking forward to your next video. How about a bike ale trail???
We the people need to buy Mike a beer 🍺 Always love and appreciate the videos. I’m really enjoying these Vancouver ones. Have you checked out the 80 plus chainsaw carvings displayed around the town centre in Hope?
In St. Louis they wouldn't have changed Cedar St. to Burrard St. We have so many roads that change names multiple times, or that disappear for a while and then reappear. The end of the street car seems to be a common topic today - there was an interview in the local paper with one of the last living street car operators in St. Louis. The last street car here ran in 1966.
It's surprising that many remnants of the Inter-urban lines have survived. While trolley buses have remained active along many of the old streetcar lines in Vancouver, the push to de-electrify transit and move to diesel buses was seen as progress all over mid-century North America Politicians of the day saw no value in preserving anything... which is why the vast majority of the streetcar and inter-urban rolling stock was burned. There are only a handful of BCER inter-urban cars remaining...notably 1220 in Steveston, along with 1207, 1225 & 1304 located at the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society in Cloverdale. Additionally, BCER powerhouses at Earles Street, Vancouver and Sumas Mountain in Abbotsford have been repurposed as residential housing.
Can’t believe that you can make a topic as mundane as street cars so interesting.
😂👍🏼
Rip the Marpole Trestle Bridge
Mike; i don't know HOW you can cycle AND vlog AND hold the camera and FILM at the same time! I got myself a 360 phone mount for my bike so it can film in portrait mode and thankfully, my new phone can alternate from regular to selfie cam without stopping the video which the old one didn't!
Your videos are a real highlight of the week for me. Totally engaging stuff every single time! Kind regards from London, mate!
Awesome, thank you!
How the hell do you ride your bike and film...and not fall off, hit a walker, or just ride into a building? Please, more history, more digressions, more side trips...yes, and maybe some outtakes. Again, thank you for these great videos. Really love them.
Yeah, I want to give you guys more and make the videos longer. I'll do my best!
@@DownieLive You're wonderful already, and we love everything you post. Thank you so much.
It is great to see how they have re-used the old properties. 😊
You missed a beer but were soooo close to Steveston Pizza. Worth the trip also!
I love how much I learn about my home.
Matt-Great editing. The video moved very smoothly through the storytelling. Thank you Mike, you have maintained a high level interest during the pandemic while staying close to home in B.C. Disappointed you didn't get your cold brew at the end.
Agreed, Steve. I was looking forward to the beer, but I'm celebrating the release of the video with a beer tonight. Cheers.