The Cloverdale
Your Weekly Clover Valley Newspaper October 25, 2012 ❖ www.CloverdaleReporter.com ❖ 604-575-2405
All aboard in Cloverdale
Heritage rail society officially opens the Cloverdale Car Barn
By Jennifer Lang It was the official housewarming party for Cloverdale’s newest heritage attraction. Last weekend, the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society hosted an open house and official opening of its new Cloverdale Car Barn, drawing more than 250 visitors and dignitaries. And as with any proper housewarming, one of the dignitaries brought along a housewarming gift. At the ribbon cutting, Southern Railway (SRY) of British Columbia President Frank Butzelaar announced the donation of a small heritage building and semaphore towers from Clayburn Junction in Abbotsford – the last manually operated diamond railway cross-
ing in Canada. SRY officials decided to donate the collection to the FVHRS because of its plans to launch passenger operations this spring out of Cloverdale, where a heritage rail revival is underway. “It really is showing that both the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society installations and Cloverdale itself are becoming heritage destinations,” FVHR society chair John Sprung said. The new car barn was completed earlier this year at 5554 176 Street. The big green barn with red trim is home to the society’s tiny fleet: two BC Electric Railway Interurban cars that have been the focus of thousands of hours of volunteer restoration
work. They made the big move from Sullivan Station at 152 Street and 64 Avenue in August. More than 60 years after the last Interurban passed through Cloverdale, passenger service is set to resume on the Victoria Day long weekend in May, staffed by volunteers and running on summer weekends and holidays until Thanksgiving 2013, Sprung said. The project is in partnership with the City of Surrey and the Southern Railway of B.C., with the assistance of B.C. Hydro. “Next year is basically our ‘proof of concept runs’ to ensure everybody is happy,” Sprung said. The society will then look at expanding service westward, first to
BOAZ JOSEPH / BLACK PRESS
Hundreds of visitors came to check out Railcars 1225 and 1304 as the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society held its official launch of the Cloverdale Car Barn. The society hopes to launch its passenger service on the May long weekend.
Newton Town Centre, and possibly as far as the Scott Road Skytrain station. In the meantime, a volunteer drive is underway to recruit operators, conductors, ticket masters, maintenance crew
and more. No experience is necessary, said Sprung, just “living, breathing, and with a passion for people.” Training starts later this year. The Cloverdale Car Barn is also the future
home of Cloverdale Station, a replica of the original Interurban station that was built in 1909. Construction is set to begin in November. The society is about halfway to its fundraising goal of $1.5 million for
the project. “We’re all very excited,” he said. “We’re looking forward to welcoming the world to Cloverdale.” To volunteer call 604574-9056 or email volunteer@fvhrs.org.
Clayton home to take on displaced seniors Fraser Health says it will accommodate more than a third of the patients at the Residence at Clayton Heights, owned by Pinnacle Care Group at 71 Avenue and 188 Street, and the remaining 50 at the aging Highland Lodge in Langley, which will undergo renovations. Officials say the newly-built Clayton facility, which has a contract to provide 166 complex residential care beds as well as a 15-space residence for young adults with acquired brain injuries, will also provide the
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required 29-bed tertiary behavioural stabilization program for older adults. Patient transfers are expected to run from November through April. Fraser Health had asked Delta View for a three-year extension, but was rejected. The health authority indicated it considers the two sites a temporary solution and plans to build an owned and operated facility. The transferred beds are for elderly patients who need six to 24 months of in-
tensive, specialized support at a temporarily higher level than otherwise available to assess, treat and stabilize their psychiatric needs and behaviours. Delta View was built for patients with dementia and operated on a “hugs not drugs” philosophy, and families have been anxious about the pending transfers. Fraser Health says the same type of care will be offered at the other two sites, in collaboration with the Czorny Alzheimer Centre in Surrey.
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Jeff Nagel A new residential care home in Clayton will be configured to temporarily take on 29 older psychiatric patients who will be displaced from Delta View Habilitation Centre in the coming months. Delta View’s owners terminated their contract with Fraser Health to provide spaces for more than 70 seniors with mental health and substance abuse issues, citing a cut in perbed funding from the health authority that left the operating at below cost.
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