Getting Railroaded: Langley City’s Historic Railways Come to Life

Langley City has a few roads that run at odd angles through our community. Of course, Fraser Highway roughly follows old Yale Road, originally a wagon road, which connected New Westminster and the Fraser Valley.

Glover Road connected Langley Prairie (City), the Hudson’s Bay Farm, and Fort Langley.

A few of the roads in Langley City were former railway alignments. The most famous railway was the BC Electric Railway, known as the Interurban, which ran along Michaud Crescent and Glover Road. It provided passenger and freight service from Vancouver to Chilliwack.

While many people know about the Interurban, most don’t know about the Vancouver, Vicotria, and Eastern Railway which ran along Grade Crescent in Langley City. Grade Crescent got its name as it was a railway grade.

A few years ago, Bruce Downing, a Langley City resident and railway buff, approached Langley City about putting up some historical markers throughout the community to highlight our railway history. With the community’s support, this has now become a reality. You can read more about this in a previous post that I wrote.

Langley Prairie Station Langley Heritage Railway Interpretive Sign. Select the image to enlarge.

Hunter Station Langley Heritage Railway Interpretive Sign. Select the image to enlarge.

City crews installed signs about a week ago, and you can now walk the Langley Heritage Railway interpretive routes.

The Interurban route runs from Brydon Lagoon to Michaud Crescent/200th Street and finally to Innes Corners Plaza.

The Vancouver, Vicotria, and Eastern Railway route runs from Condor Park to Sendall Gardens and finally to Iris Mooney Park.

It is supposed to be a very nice weekend, so why not check out these walking routes?