The Tsal'alh Seton Train is a

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abo ...

– Seton Portage passenger bus and rail service along the northern shore of Seton Lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. By BC Highway 99, the eastern terminus is about northeast of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Earlier railway shuttles

In 1934, a Lillooet–Shalalth shuttle was established, and a diameter

turntable A phonograph, later called a gramophone, and since the 1940s a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogue reproduction of sound. The sound vibration waveforms are recorded as corresponding phys ...

was installed east of Seton Portage, because the initial gasoline-powered cars could only be operated from one end. This was not the case for gas car no. 107, bought in 1949, but built in 1926. In 1958, the western terminus moved to Seton Portage. The

railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar with an automotive engine. It shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels (2 axles) on a fixed base instead of on bogies. O ...

hauled one or two trailers loaded with automobiles and trucks on a twice daily return service. The completion of access roads and the introduction of new

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC), also known as the Budd car or Buddliner, is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars ...

s on the

BC Rail The British Columbia Railway Company , commonly known as BC Rail, is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial ...

daily intercity service in the late 1950s prompted the end of this shuttle in 1961. In 1979, a Seton Portage–Lillooet morning school shuttle commenced. The cost was shared equally between the Lillooet School District,

Seton Lake First Nation The Seton Lake First Nation, a.k.a. the Seton Lake Indian Band, is a First Nations government located in the Central Interior-Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Lillooet Tribal Council The L ...

, and

BC Hydro The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, trade name, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, wi ...

(which operates the Shalalth powerhouses). The high school pupils named the single passenger car behind the locomotive as the "Budd Wiser". Students returned home on the southbound intercity passenger train. In November 2002, BC Rail ended all passenger service between North Vancouver and Prince George. It was replaced by the service of a train known as the "Kaoham Shuttle". In 2001, the railway purchased a pair of gasoline-powered railbus units from Jim Busby Services in California, who had rebuilt the Fairmont A8 speeders. West Coach International of California carried out further modifications, with the work completed by BC Rail upon arrival in Lillooet. After the inaugural run on October 31, 2002, regular operation started the next day. "Budd-Lites" was soon their nickname. These units were initially numbered TU-108 and TU-109 by BC Rail to maintain the gas car numbering sequence but later renumbered to 10800 and 10900 by

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

(CN) after acquiring BC Rail. The Kaoham Shuttle operated between 2001 and 2021. It was replaced with a rail-road bus and renamed the Tsal'alh Seton Train in 2022.

Historic Operation

This enterprise on the CN Squamish Subdivision is a partnership between CN and the Seton Lake First Nation. The former provided the driver and train. The latter handled bookings and ticketing. The service primarily exists for the isolated residents (mainly

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

) of Seton Portage and Shalalth to reach Lillooet for school, shopping, or medical needs. Consequently, most days, the train departed Seton Portage in the morning and returned in the afternoon. On Fridays, two round trips occurred. When the train arrived, the crew briefly opened the Lillooet station waiting area. With an intermediate stop at Shalalth, the trip lasted just over an hour each way. The

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described the picturesque journey beside the lake and through the tunnel as "Canada's greatest hidden rail trip". Service farther west to D'Arcy is advertised as available by advance appointment. However, as of 2024, service to D'Arcy is no longer available.

Shalalth Tunnel

The tunnel lies immediately west of Shalalth. The initial tunnel was timber lined and opened in 1915. The second tunnel, built in 1957, resulted from a line relocation to accommodate the hydro building construction. The third tunnel was opened in 1989.

Operation

The vehicle is a modified International 3300, using the pre-existing railway between Lillooet and Seton Portage. Service runs 7 days a week, with a modified school schedule. The journey takes approximately an hour and 40 minutes to complete one way.

References

External links

* {{Canadianmetros Rail transport in British Columbia Passenger railways in British Columbia Lillooet Country Railway services introduced in 2002 Road–rail vehicles