Members of the Vancouver Island Model Engineers have kept themselves busy in the past year by repurposing railings salvaged from the old Johnson Street Bridge. The railings’ new home is Heritage Acres, home to a miniature railway and farming exhibits.
The structure, known affectionally as the Blue Bridge, spanned the narrows between the Inner Harbour and Upper Harbour from 1924 to when it was dismantled in 2018.
The salvage company that won the contract to dispose of the old bridge faced the cost of barging the disassembled pieces to Tacoma, Washington.
“They were happy to give the railings to us,” said Claude Jolivet, secretary of the club.
Because they only needed a barrier just tall enough to keep children from racing out onto the train tracks at Heritage Acres, club members cut the 122-centimetre tall railings in half.
“In the end, we managed to get about 165 metres of railing,” said Jolivet.
The railings serve to both keep children safe and as a barrier to protect the club’s small-scale engines from vehicles.
The repurposed railings were repainted in the same colour it wore after the bridge underwent extensive repairs in 1979. It was also the same blue used on the classic light standards throughout Victoria at the time.
The club is based at Heritage Acres, just off the Pat Bay Highway near the Island View Road turnoff. Its 78 members operate model train engines powered by steam, electricity and gas.
parrais@timescolonist.com
