Cowichan Valley Railway No. 26
Technical Data:
Designation: 4-wheel, Model Tl2.
Weight: 10 tons.
Built: 1928, as c/n 2856.
The original gasoline engine was replaced by a 4-cylinder Hercules diesel engine, which has in turn been replaced by a Buick 340 cu in, V-8 gasoline engine.
Gauge: narrow (36 inches).
History:
CVR No.26 was purchased new, as No.3 of the British Columbia Electric Railway Company, for use at Victoria and after 1940, at Jordan River. The BCER, an arm of the BC Electric Company (now BC Hydro), built a narrow gauge railway in 1909, to construct the dam and transmission lines of its Jordan River hydroelectric power plant. Until 1970, 6 miles of railway was operated to access and service the dam site.
In November of 1970 the locomotive was purchased from the Nelson Machinery Company of North Vancouver, with funds donated by the late Timothy Eaton of Eatons Canada, as a good, reliable backup to the steam locomotives.
Named the Green Hornet by railway staff, No.26 serves as the railways work engine and alternate passenger train engine. (Information obtained from the BC Forest Discovery Center website)
