British Columbia Railway

In June 2000, BCR received 3 low-level "glass top" domes, BCOL 1703, 1704, & 1705.

One was destined for the "Royal Hudson" service, and the other two for the "North Winds", a new North Vancouver to Prince George service to begin operation in the spring of 2001. Service will operate North Vancouver to Whistler on day 1, Whistler to 100 Mile house on day 2, then on to Prince George on day 3. Return trip is scheduled for one day to 100 Mile house, 2nd day to Whistler. Train will then deadhead back to Vancouver, with pax flying back or using the Cariboux Prospector. Overnight in hotels, with meals served on the train. It will not be likely that the train will meet with the VIA Skeena in Prince George; it is expected that there will be a day's delay.

The cars are the same construction plan as the cars that were built for the "Florida Fun Train" that have now been moved to the Alaska Railroad. The cars are two-tone brown with an orange stripe and orange on the roof at the ends.

Some observations: car BCOL 1705 seems to have a lighter almost non-existant tint on the windows compared to the darker tint on the other 2 cars. It also appears to have a 2nd air conditioning unit.

All cars are 2 seats either side - 19 rows of seats per car, followed by a kitchen area and washrooms behind with no windows in the 2nd section. Regular style vestibules with top opening windows. Each dome of 1704 and 1705 has 9 1/2 panes of curved glass, 1703 has a larger rear area and only 9 panes of glass.

All 3 cars were fabricated by Colorado Railcar LLC (ex Rader Railcar) from ex CN (VIA) baggage cars constructed by Canadian Steel Foundry circa 1954.

BCOL numbers 1703-04-05 were changed to 1720-21-22 for the 2001 season, with all 3 cars assigned to the North Winds.

In 2002, BCR "pulled the plug" on passenger operations and put all passenger equipment up for sale. The Colorado Rail "domes" went to VIA Rail for "Skeena" service, retaining the 17xx series numbers and named 'Coast', 'Cariboo', and "Chilcotin' respectively. Details of the cars can be found at Ultradomes.

BC Rail also operated several "traditional" dome cars in special service. See the car ID's and photos at