Gilmore at platform-level

If you were to pull up information about the Millennium Line, you’d soon come across its opening date of January 7th, 2002. With that known, you’d then say that every station opened then as being the oldest.

This assumption is fairly safe as the line itself is a relatively new railway. Unlike the Expo Line, much of the initial alignment did not make use of a another railway’s existing or former right of way. This means that stations such as Sperling-Burnaby Lake or Lougheed Town Centre have no real historical reference.

However, this is not entirely true for all of the stations which opened in 2002.

A view towards a right of way crossing at Gilmore and Henning

The BC Electric Railway used to run a similar line to compliment the Central Park line named the Burnaby Lake line. It ran from New Westminster at the same spot the Central Park line did and merged with the street car line on Commercial Drive just its sibling.

At some point, I should write about the Burnaby Lake line, but the point here is that the Millennium Line does intersect with the remnants of this line.

Gilmore station as viewed from the same spot

Today’s Gilmore Station is located at the intersection of the street bearing its name and Dawson. It’s probably one of the weirder stations in my opinion not because of anything other than its ceilings resembling curved plywood. I guess one can just go across the street to the Home Depot to pick up replacement panels should any of them fail.

However, the station’s previous incarnation was fairly unassuming and significantly more rural.

Map showing GIlmore on the Burnaby Lake line (City of Vancouver Archives)

The original Gilmore Station from the Burnaby Lake line days was too at Gilmore and Dawson. It was to serve the swampy, agricultural area known as Still Creek. I could write extensively about the history of Still Creek, but really that was just it.

As part of the shutdown of the BCER in favour of trolley and diesel buses, it closed in 1956.

Interurban travelling along the Burnaby Lake line (City of Burnaby Archives)

The main difference between the BCER station and the one we have today is where the current station stands. However, the original station site does continue serving a public good.

View of the Gilmore Pump Station approximately where the original Gilmore station stood

On the site of the original BCER station is Gilmore Pump Station, which while does not serve rail traffic anymore, it does serve a function to make sure that if you were to come downstairs from the Millennium Line, you don’t encounter a giant puddle.

This originally appeared on cohost.org/VancouverTransit but has been moved here due to the site’s shutdown.