Yesterday, I found myself outside in the -8 C cold walking with a friend through John Hendry Park, home to a Vancouver-favourite, Trout Lake.

John Hendry was a British Columbian lumber magnate who set up a mill at Trout Lake. In 1926, the land was donated to the Vancouver Park Board by his daughter, stipulating that the new park be named after his father. Good or bad, very few locals refer to it by its official name and call it “Trout Lake” due to the park’s notable feature.

So what does this have to do with the BC Electric Railway?

Today, the park sits near the Expo Line between Commercial-Broadway and Nanaimo stations. This of course means it was once served by the Central Park Line of the old BCER by way of Lakeview Station, located at where SkyTrain meets with Victoria Drive.

Lakeview is not an unremarkable station as it found itself the site of one of the worst transit disasters seen in Vancouver history.

On November 10th, 1909, BCER interurban train “Sumas” collided with a flatcar containing logs destined for an iron foundry located not far uphill at Nanaimo and 24th Avenue. The collision instantly killed 14 passengers and only spared 9.

Interestingly, the BCER did restore the car in 1910. However, when the interurbans were retired in the 1950s, Sumas was not spared.

With the interurbans being scrapped in the 1950s and the expansion of suburbia into the neighbourhood surrounding the park, the railway ceased to become active, with regular freight service terminating at what is now Joyce-Collingwood Station.

However, in 1985, SkyTrain took over that right of way and Trout Lake found itself connected via rail once again.