WFP shuts down Island logging train after 100 years

Western Forest Products has shut down its Englewood logging train, which has been moving logs on the North Island for 100 years.

The closing means the net loss of 15 staff and is effective immediately.

Western spokeswoman Amy Spencer said the decision is not related to a derailment of the train this year.

“It is a business decision. Since Western started trucking logs out of the operation it found the flexibility trucks offered was better than the train.” Trucks are able to deliver wood to more sorts and mills, reducing costs and increasing efficiencies,” she said.

The train has been out of service since late April, when two people were killed and three others were seriously injured after a WFP logging train derailed in Woss, a hamlet between Port McNeill and Campbell River.

The train was in a re-load yard when it suddenly rolled down the tracks and collided with a track maintenance car where men were working.

The collision caused logs to spill across the railway tracks, trapping at least three workers underneath.

The Englewood Railway is a 90-kilometre logging line that runs from Vernon Lake, through Woss, past Nimpkish Lake Provincial Park to Beaver Cove. At its peak, the train employed 34 people. While all of those positions are to be eliminated, Western said it will work with the union to find opportunities for some workers to transition to other positions, and it estimates the overall reduction in jobs will be about 15.

Western Forest Products said it will work with local communities and governments to honour the train’s long history, which dates back to 1917.