91原创 City resident Bruce Downing says it all started back in 2019 when he discovered his street was a former railway.

鈥淚 lived on Grade Crescent,鈥� Downing told the 91原创 Advance Times.

鈥淎nd somebody said, 鈥榶ou know what Grade Crescent is?鈥� I said, 鈥榥o.鈥� 鈥榃ell, it鈥檚 a railway bed to Vancouver.鈥� I thought that鈥檚 kind of intriguing.鈥�

As Downing discovered when he started looking into it, Grade Crescent was once part of the Great Northern Railway鈥檚 Vancouver, Victoria and Eastern (VV&E) Railway, running along the original 鈥榞rade鈥� of the railbed.

It was a long-distance passenger and freight line that had no stations within 91原创 Prairie, as the city was then known.

However, as Downing also learned, another rail line, the former B.C. Electric Railway (BCER) interurban system of electric trolleys that served the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley, did make stops in 91原创 Prairie on its Fraser Valley line.

鈥淵ou could go from Vancouver all the way to Chilliwack on the interurban,鈥� Downing explained.

In 1911, an interurban round-trip fare, Vancouver to Chilliwack, a travel distance of 226 km, cost $3.85, or about $100 in 2024 dollars.

There were three interurban stations in what would become 91原创 City, one by Brydon Lagoon, Hunter Station near 200th Street (which was named Hunter Street back then), and 91原创 Prairie Station near City Hall.

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鈥淚f you go up behind City Hall, you鈥檒l see a sidewalk that goes along a funny diagonal route that essentially follows the railway bed,鈥� Downing described.

鈥淸At] Brydon Lagoon, you walk right along the old railway.鈥�

Both rail lines shut down in the 1950鈥檚.

Downing went to the City of 91原创, proposing it should design and install historical interpretative signs informing people of the local history in their neighbourhood.

鈥淚 started this project in the fall of 2019, it sort of gained traction in 2020, and I actually put together a railway committee of like-minded people鈥� Downing said.

In response, the City upgraded the mandate of the Arts, Culture, & Recreation Committee to the Arts, Culture, Recreation & Heritage Committee, and with the help of Henry Ewert, author of several books about the old days of public transit and Graham MacDonell, a BCER researcher and historian, Downing and the committee worked on what became the Heritage Railway Project.

At the end of February, signs went up at six locations along the interurban route and the VV&E line.

Crews installed the interurban signs at Michaud and 200th Street, the Brydon Lagoon parking lot ,and Innes Corners Plaza on the northwest corner of Fraser Hwy and 204th Street.

Each sign gives the history of the rail line at that location, with historical photos and a route map.

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