Williams Lake Stampede!

Pacific Great Eastern 585, Mile Post 314, Williams Lake, June 1958. It’s Rodeo Time in Williams Lake, and I’m listening to one of the longest horn blasts I’ve ever heard – about a 10 second blast, as the rodeo crowd is parted.

Williams Lake, like so many Interior outposts, traces its beginnings to the early fur trade and British Columbia’s gold rush. Later came ranching, and with the building of the Pacific Great Eastern, Williams Lake became an important hub and railroad division point.

Here we see southbound Third Class freighter #25, blasting her way through the crowd at the Williams Lake Stampede, an annual event celebrating the heritage of the Cariboo Country.

Williams Lake was the division point between the Prince George Subdivision to the north, and Lillooet Subdivision to the south. PGE owned eight of these RS-10’s, which were the Canadian version (MLW) of the ALCo DL-700.

Pacific Great Eastern sister locomotive number 586 is on display at the Prince George Railway & Forestry Museum in Prince George.

Railroad Stuff: PGE 585, Montreal Locomotive Works, RS-10 (ALCo DL-700) 1,600 hp. Became BC Rail 585 in 1972, retired in 1972. Prime mover 4 cycle Model 244G V-12.

Montreal Locomotive Works built a total of 128 RS-10’s for PGE and other Canadian Railroads, from December 1954 and February 1957.

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