Litvyak's profiles

[Litvyak]

You're right, BCER-owned Pacific Stage Lines did run a prewar and wartime service from the North Shore (West Van and North Van) through the causeway to a terminal at Georgia and Cambie downtown. In the original link, the PSL bus (in Ivor Neil's swoopy green-and-cream livery) is stopped to the right on that access lane (no idea of why ... seems an odd place to stop and then have to squeeze back into traffic again).

I'm not sure where the PSL bus stopped in West Van but riders could then transfer to West Vancouver Bus Company vehicles to get up to Horseshoe Bay. That service started c.1930 which suggests that the later PSL run from downtown probably ended up near the old ferry terminal at the foot of 14th Street in Ambleside.

WVMT also ran a service from Ambleside to downtown - but I think to a stop west of Cambie, a building now long gone. In 2008 I had an HD failure in which I lost a big collection of WVMT info, so everything I have left is what stayed in my brain... which isn't much. Sticking out is that the bus to downtown was suspended during the war years and fuel rationing, so they restarted the ferry service between Ambleside and Vancouver...

Again in the original link, there's that small, cream-coloured bus heading south. So who did that belong to? AFAIK, BC Electric Railway Co never owned the 'Blue Bus' line. Might our mystery bus be a 'loaner' from BCER's Vancouver service operating on the PSL route? Or maybe that cream-coloured vehicle was just a tour bus? Who knows?

In reference to the above-mentioned lost material, WVMT did get a lot of their equipment second-hand. They did have at least one Ford bus, which have a striking resemblance to the bus in the image (compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1937_Ford_Transit_Bus_in_Seattle,_when_new.jpg) - there are photos of it/them at both the West Van library and the West Van archives. BCER and PSL had Ford Transits too, but AFAIK theirs all came after war's end. Looking at the original, I think it's safe to assume that the image was colourised after the fact... and if I had to put a dollar on it, I'd say that it *should* have been coloured blue, not cream.

BCER wanted to buy WVMT in the late 40s but it never happened - IIRC the sale was put to a referendum of WV ratepayers and they soundly rejected it.

BTW: I forgot to mention that, in my retouch, I replaced that incongruous Seversky with Fleet 2 CF-AOD.

I noticed that, and I like it! Of course, more likely it should be VB-AOD given it's on floats  ... which reg incidentally is vacant on my master list of BC aircraft registrations

[apophenia]

WVMT also ran a service from Ambleside to downtown - but I think to a stop west of Cambie, a building now long gone. In 2008 I had an HD failure in which I lost a big collection of WVMT info, so everything I have left is what stayed in my brain... which isn't much. Sticking out is that the bus to downtown was suspended during the war years and fuel rationing, so they restarted the ferry service between Ambleside and Vancouver...

That is interesting. I wonder if they had alternating schedules? Perhaps PSL would do an Ambleside run with WVMT doing the next while PSL switch to North Van?

In reference to the above-mentioned lost material, WVMT did get a lot of their equipment second-hand. They did have at least one Ford bus, which have a striking resemblance to the bus in the image (compare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1937_Ford_Transit_Bus_in_Seattle,_when_new.jpg) - there are photos of it/them at both the West Van library and the West Van archives. BCER and PSL had Ford Transits too, but AFAIK theirs all came after war's end. Looking at the original, I think it's safe to assume that the image was colourised after the fact... and if I had to put a dollar on it, I'd say that it *should* have been coloured blue, not cream.

Yup, I think you've got a winner there - that Seattle Ford Transit bus is a dead ringer for the bus exiting Lion's Gate. The colourist would have come up with the cream ... although the B&W tone would have been pale. So, if that Ford was part of their second hand fleet, perhaps WVMT simply hadn't time to repaint it yet when the original photo was taken?

I'm guessing that the 1939-40 livery would have been similar to the attached image.

The description says "parked on Cordova" and the date is 1942. But regular service may have already ended with this being a charter especially for the Sea Cadets.
-- https://digital.westvanlibrary.ca/2839102/data

I noticed that, and I like it! Of course, more likely it should be VB-AOD given it's on floats  ... which reg incidentally is vacant on my master list of BC aircraft registrations

Fortunately, in the retouch, that CF-AOD is virtually unreadable 

[Litvyak]

That is interesting. I wonder if they had alternating schedules? Perhaps PSL would do an Ambleside run with WVMT doing the next while PSL switch to North Van?

There's a bell ringing at the back of my head that's saying only WVMT ran busses from West Van to Vancouver, and that PSL bus to North Van had a stop at the north side of the bridge somewhere, whence connection could be made to West Van... but again it's been almost 20 years since I last looked at this in depth so I don't remember

Yup, I think you've got a winner there - that Seattle Ford Transit bus is a dead ringer for the bus exiting Lion's Gate. The colourist would have come up with the cream ... although the B&W tone would have been pale. So, if that Ford was part of their second hand fleet, perhaps WVMT simply hadn't time to repaint it yet when the original photo was taken?

I'm guessing that the 1939-40 livery would have been similar to the attached image.

B&W is strange, though. Red, which seems lighter to the eye, is generally darker in B&W photos than blue... the stripe on the bridge bus is in the right place at the front, and there's a strip of white at the rear that's at the same height; in line with this is a darker area, which may well be the text "West Vancouver Municipal Transit"... but that's just a guess. Counterpoint: the distinctive "headdress" worn by WVMT busses carrying West Van's COA is absent... though as the photo you linked shows, not all of them had the COA present...

The description says "parked on Cordova" and the date is 1942. But regular service may have already ended with this being a charter especially for the Sea Cadets.
-- https://digital.westvanlibrary.ca/2839102/data

This is an interesting photo and it really makes me wish I still had all that info - I had a far more complete roster than CPTDB wiki has, and with more detail.... the bus second from the right is also a Ford.

[Litvyak]

I love colours. :)

Also: I think this using the  "HSV Noise" filter works pretty well to simulate metallic colours...

Here's all the colours the Rover P8 was available in (zooming into full size will help see the metallic effect):

[raafif]

Wow some factory colour selection.

Here's the one for the Leyland P.76

[Litvyak]

Wow some factory colour selection.

Here's the one for the Leyland P.76

So, those 56 colours on that chart weren't all available at once, but there was still a lot of choice, between 32 and 36 colours to choose from any given year...

Incidentally BC Leyland did licence a few of those unique Aussie colours e.g. Plum Loco and Home on th'Orange... and the P76 was also licenced and built in BC: the Force 7V as the Alvis P7v, and the saloon and wagon versions as the Wolseley Duke (with 2.2L E-series straight-6) and Grand Duke (with 3.5 L Rover V8). The P76 is too nifty a car for me not to have "borrowed" it into AltBC.

[perttime]

Recently, I've heard a number of people mention that cars had much more interesting colours in the old times. Now, most cars seem to be black, white, or some shade of grey.

... mine is silver 

[Litvyak]

Recently, I've heard a number of people mention that cars had much more interesting colours in the old times. Now, most cars seem to be black, white, or some shade of grey.

... mine is silver 

Yeah just the other day I saw something about it, that over the past twenty years the percentage of cars that is greyscale (black, white, silver, any sort of grey) has skyrocketed to over 80%... and it's depressing. I miss the days of my childhood when every car seemed to be a totally different colour!

[apophenia]

I love colours. :)

Also: I think this using the  "HSV Noise" filter works pretty well to simulate metallic colours...

Here's all the colours the Rover P8 was available in (zooming into full size will help see the metallic effect):

Wow! You've been busy!!

I had to look up 'HSV Noise filter' ('noise' created using Hue, Saturation, Value ... for anyone else like me who is unfamiliar with GIMP). That is way more flexible than the simple noise filter I use in Photoshop ... although there may be other tools in more modern versions of PS.

Anyway, a very impressive line up (even if it is across generations) and I particularly enjoyed the colour names 

[Litvyak]

Wow! You've been busy!!

I had to look up 'HSV Noise filter' ('noise' created using Hue, Saturation, Value ... for anyone else like me who is unfamiliar with GIMP). That is way more flexible than the simple noise filter I use in Photoshop ... although there may be other tools in more modern versions of PS.

Anyway, a very impressive line up (even if it is across generations) and I particularly enjoyed the colour names 

Glad you like! Once the car itself was done, each simple colour took less than a minute to do - the metallics and polys took longer, on trial and error getting the amount of noise right. I tried the RGB Noise filter too, you can see the results of that on Riviera Silver Blue, Reynard, and Silver Streak; it was Silver Metallic where I decided to try the HSV Noise, and decided I liked it better (I just somehow found those values a bit more intuitive for tweaking this, than RGB).

As for the colour names, thank BL/BMC/Rover, and AMC (Champagne Poly and Autumn Brown Poly), these are all RL colours and names. :)
edit to add: But "M.o.D. Green" was for BCDF staff cars only.

[Litvyak]

The Alvis VA - here in one of the original Alvis colours, Peony Red:



Productionised version of the RW Rover P6BS. Produced between 1970 and 1975, in two variants: one with a 2.2 L V8 producing 127 bhp, the other with a 3.5 L V8 making 148 bhp. A quick little thing, the bigger V8 taking it to just over 130 mph. The subsequent VB, VC, and VD were all further refinements/developments of this car.

The VA was available in a total of 36 colours, of which 11 were available over the whole production; an average of 23 colours available in a given year. Four of the colours introduced in 1973 were licenced/borrowed from Leyland Australia.

[perttime]

That is a cool car. Reminds me of Porsche 914 and Fiat X1/9.

[Litvyak]

That is a cool car. Reminds me of Porsche 914 and Fiat X1/9.

Yeah, both of which are pretty cool too! Like small mid-engined pocket rockets.

[apophenia]

Still loving those colour names (although Plum Loco hurts my eyes!).

That is a cool car. Reminds me of Porsche 914 and Fiat X1/9.

Yeah, both of which are pretty cool too! Like small mid-engined pocket rockets.

Pocket size matters. The 3500-powered Rover P6BS was a beast compared to the Porsche 914 and Fiat X1/9. Of the latter pair, the Bertone-styled X1/9 was the looker (a great pity that Fiats of that era rusted out so quickly).

I always thought of the '84 Pontiac Fiero as the North American heir to the X1/9. Around here, as soon as the weather warms, Fieros emerge like cicada nymphs hatching. I was surprised to spot one at a local muffler shop - the entire local Fiero population had seemed to have been converted to electric drive.

[Litvyak]

The 1974 Alvis VA22 of Angela Denison and Anne Verigin as it appeared at the start of the inaugural Atlin Rallye in 1976, one of eight VAs entered that year. Denison and Verigin were both employees of BC Tel who raced in their leisure time; in advance of the first Atlin Rallye, BC Tel decided to sponsor them as a corporate team. Intended largely as a promotional stunt, the pair exceeded all expectations, finishing sixth in the C1 category (production cars with engines under 2.5 L displacement). The Atlin Rallye is a long-distance point-to-point race from Atlin to Vancouver run over multiple days [edit: need to math it out yet], with liaison stages running over public roads, and various special stages on closed tracks. The liaison stages follow a time-speed-distance format along public highways open to regular traffic; these stages count towards the final time. The special stages are closed-course, and can be either paved roads closed for the duration of the race, or, often, making use of unpaved logging roads.


The Alvis ZA was the productionised derivative of the Rover TCZ concept, with body styling by Zagato of Italy. This 1970 ZA35, powered by a 3.5 L Rover V8, took part in the 1971 Trans-Am Series in the Over 2.5 L group. 1971 was the first year in which the track at the Westwood Motorsport Park hosted a Trans-Am Series race, but the ZA finished only 5th there; it got its only win of the season the previous week at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, finishing 1.7 seconds ahead of eventual series winner Mark Donohue's AMC Javelin.

[apophenia]

Very nice! I'm now imagining a rapid call-out vehicle for BC Tel outages. Extend that rear spoiler and it could support the ladders and lineman's poles 

Love your Alvis ZA too! Most Brits would probably associate Atelier Zagato with Aston Martin but Zagato's 1965 Lancia Fulvia Sport gave hints of the Rover TCZ to come. But that Fulvia Sport had a V4. Hmmm ... an Alvis ZA variant powered by half a 3500? 

[Litvyak]

Very nice! I'm now imagining a rapid call-out vehicle for BC Tel outages. Extend that rear spoiler and it could support the ladders and lineman's poles 

I imagine that joke was made on more than one occasion. Or, footage of A&A's car in the rally being used in a television ad... "they might not be driving an Alvis, but our technicians will race to your aid when you dial 6-1-1..." or somesuch...

Love your Alvis ZA too! Most Brits would probably associate Atelier Zagato with Aston Martin but Zagato's 1965 Lancia Fulvia Sport gave hints of the Rover TCZ to come. But that Fulvia Sport had a V4. Hmmm ... an Alvis ZA variant powered by half a 3500? 

Well... the ZA20 has the twin-carb straight-4 of the Rover 2000TC, and the ZA35 has the V8, so - close enough?

They really got the looks of the TCZ right, it's a gorgeous car. And I was happy to read recently that it's still out and about and being driven!

[Litvyak]

Incidentally, it only just hit me now: I chose Block Bros. Realty as one of the sponsors on the Alvis, because their jingle "the best sellers...." has been stuck in my head since I was about 4 years old, and I figured it'd suit the time - but it only just occurred to me that like BC Tel, they also used blue, white, and gold colours...

[apophenia]

You have a fantastic memory for these things! I have some vague memories of logos from my youth but it really only comes into focus from '77 to '81 (when I was immersed in Graphics at college).

Based on that, I have a very fuzzy memory of the mid-'1970s Block Bros. logo having staggered 'Bs'. IIRC, that cleaner logo with side-by-side 'Bs' came in c.1980. The again, memory is decidedly not what it once was ...

Further on the VA22's logos, I'm curious about Polysar. In OTL, privatisation of Polymer Corp. would've happened just in time for your 1976 race season. In Alt BC, did Polysar also have a plant in British Columbia?

BTW, like Alvis' inclusion of Cominco too (Go Smoke Eaters!).

[Litvyak]

This is the only Block Bros. logo I remember... and even finding one at all online (a tiny thing from a newspaper page) was a hunt.

Polysar: yeah, they have a plant on the east side of Annacis. "Have", because they're still around. In that universe there's less of a tendency towards the megacorporations we have OTL... Cominco is a Big Thing in AltBC, so their name/logo is seen often on sponsorship stuff.

[Litvyak]

Because I have a tendency to lose myself in such minutiae, I had to work out the route of the rally... so I present to you the Atlin Rallye as it's currently run...

Day 1 - Atlin to Dease Lake, 326.4 miles

Highway 51 in green, Special Stage in orange

Transit Stage: Atlin to Sheslay via Highway 51 = 188.8 miles

Special Stage: Sheslay to Highway 51 junction at Milepost 221.1 via Kaketsa Forest Service Road = 70.8 miles

Liaison Stage: MP 221.1 to Dease Lake via Hightway 51 = 66.8 miles

Highway 51 is a secondary highway; typically for secondary highways in northern BC, it is a two-lane undivided highway over most of its length. Traffic is relatively light, which can make speeding tempting - but in liaison stages, there are penalties for arriving too early as well as too late, and normal traffic laws are in effect: being in the race doesn't prevent a stop by the police for a traffic violation in a liaison stage!

The first Special Stage is a relatively quick gravel forest road with several fast, rather straight sections interspersed with a number of challengingly twisty sections and considerable changes in elevation at several spots along the route.

Day 2 - Dease Lake to Damdochax, 425.6 miles

Special Stage in orange

Liaison Stage: Dease Lake to Ellsworth via Highway 37  = 342.8 miles

Special Stage: Ellsworth to Damdochax via Damdochax Forest Service Rd = 8.8 miles

Damdochax Access Road is an all-weather metal road. Although it has neither the very difficult nor the very fast sections of the first Special Stage, the particular challenge in this stage is that it is run at night.

Day 3 - Damdochax to Cheslatta, 304.5 miles

Damdochax to Burns Lake


Burns Lake to Cheslatta

Special Stage: Damdochax to Kisgegas via Damdochax Trunk Road = 79.7 miles
   
Prior to 1983 this stage was an all-weather metalled forestry road; after this road was upgraded to Trunk Road status, it was kept as a special stage of the rally, and the road is closed to public traffic for the relevant part of the race day. This is overall a very quick special stage, but can be challenging in rainy, misty weather.
   
Liaison Stage: Kisgegas to Danskin = 198.6 miles
(Kisgegas to Anlaw, Hagwilget via Kisgegas Trunk Road, 41.8 miles; Anlaw, Hagwilget to New Hazelton, Hagwilget via Hwy 62, 5.4 miles; New Hazelton, Hagwilget to Burns Lake via Hwy 16, 131.9 miles; Burns Lake to Danskin via Hwy 35, 19.5 miles)

Much of the route from Anlaw, through the city of Hagwilget and on to Burns Lake runs through urban or semi-urban areas

Special Stage: Danskin to Cheslatta = 25.8 miles

This area has numerous (poorly) paved side roads, gravel back roads, dirt roads, and beaten tracks; it is along these that this relatively flat and quick stage of about 26 miles is routed, arriving at Cheslatta through the opposite side from the highway entrance.

Day 4 - Cheslatta to Tatla Lake, 233.1 miles

Green = Highway 25

Liaison Stage: Cheslatta to Marilla Rd Junction via Hwy 25 = 10.1 miles

Special Stage: Marilla Loop = 26.3 miles
(Marilla Road from Hwy 25 Junction to Petkau Rd, gravel; Petkau Rd from Marilla Rd Jct to Ootsa Lake Rd East, gravel; Ootsa Lake Rd E from Petkau Rd Jct to Hwy 25, gravel)

Liaison Stage: Ootsa Lake Rd Jct - Ulhkʼatcho via Hwy 25 = 136.9 miles, Ulhkʼatcho to Tatla Lake via Hwy 20 = 59.8 miles

An RW explanation for names of imaginary settlements: Zagreb being the example case here: usually I give preference to other toponyms - creeks, lakes, RW Indian reservations, etc - as a source for names of settlements that exist *there* but do not exist *here*. But sometimes I accidentally discover something interesting at the area that serves as the inspiration. In Zagreb's case, I found something referring to a ranch owned by someone with a Croatian surname near that area. I needed a settlement there to justify that routing of Highway 25 and the lake ferry, and so Zagreb was born. Only in the rarest cases do I use something completely a priori - usually, there is at least some faint connection to reality!

Day 5 - Tatla Lake to Lytton, 349.1 miles

Orange: special stages. Green: Highway 40 (Gold Bridge to Lillooet), Gold Bridge Trunk Road (Girl Creek to Pemberton via Gold Bridge)

Considered by many to be the heart of the Atlin Rallye, this has the longest single special stage of nearly 230 miles through sparsely populated territory, mostly on metal and dirt roads, and in some places, beaten tracks - only a little over 10% of the route has a paved surface.
      
Special Stage: 231.9 miles: Tatla Lake - Cochin Lake - Choelquoit Lake Recreation Site - Henry's Crossing - North Tsuniah Creek - Chaunigan Lake Lodge - Elkin Lake - Nuntsi - Willan Lake - Big Basin National Park entrance - Friburg - Girl Creek - Gold Bridge

Liaison Stage: 75.3 miles
Gold Bridge to Lillooet via Hwy 40; Lillooet to Xáxlʼp [RW: Fountain] via Hwy 99

Special Stage: 17.2 miles
Fountain Valley Road from Xáxlʼp to Nesikep (Hwy 12). The first 6.5 miles of Fountain Valley Rd, from Xáxlʼp on Hwy 99 to Quatlenemo, is paved, though not well maintained; the rest is all-weather gravel.

Liaison Stage: 24.7 miles
Nesikep to Lytton via Hwy 12

Day 6 - Lytton to Vancouver, 246.3 miles

Special Stage: 165.7 miles: Lytton to Boston Bar via Hwy 1; Boston Bar to Tsintahktl (Chaumox) via Chaumox Rd, paved; Tsintahktl to Nahatlatch via Nahatlatch Road (paved); Nahatlatch to  Nahatlatch Fores Service Rd Milepost 12.4 (metal); Nahatlatch FSR Milepost 12.4 to Snow Pillow Road (beaten track); Snow Pillow Rd to In-SHUCK-ch FSR (metal); In-SHUCK-ch Forestry Rd to Skatin (metal); Skatin to Xaʼxtsa via West Lillooet Lake Rd (metal); Xaʼxtsa to Tipella via West Lillooet Lake Rd (paved); Tipella to Ten Mile Bay via Morris Valley Rd (paved); Ten Mile Bay to Stsʼailes [RW: Chehalis] via Weaver Creek Rd (paved); Stsʼailes to Skaulits [RW: Harrison Mills] via Chehalis Road (paved)


Liaison Stage: Skaulits to Dewdney via Hwy 7 = 16.8 miles

Special Stage: 30.4 miles
Dewdney - Hatzic Prairie - north Mission - Stave Lake - Haney - Pitt Meadows. All of this is paved, mostly in suburban/semi-urban area. Between Stave Lake and Haney is a stretch of pure straightaway over 6.5 miles long - this section of the race sees the highest maximum speeds.



Liaison Stage: 22.2 miles
Pitt Meadows to New Brighton Park, Vancouver via Hwy 7, Hwy 7B, Hwy 1, McGill St
   
Special Stage: 11.2 miles
(Park carpark - Commissioner St - Stewart St - Clark Dr - Venables St - Glen Dr - Prior St - Gore Ave - Union St - Expo Blvd - Pacific Blvd - Pacific St - Beach Ave - Stanley Park Dr - Brockton Oval carpark)
The final sprint, run on the Sunday afternoon, runs from New Brighton Park through the streets of Vancouver, finally through Stanley Park to arrive at the car park of the Brockton Oval stadium (home of Vancouver Rowing Club's football and rugby sections, 33,360 seats). From 1976 until the mid 1990s, from Prior Street it crossed the Georgia Viaduct and ran along Georgia Street to the entrance Stanley Park, finishing in Coal Harbour adjacent to the Westin Bayshore.

[apophenia]

Wow! Gotta love that minutiae 

I especially appreciate details like the Zagreb name origin (and all those switchbacks between there and Tetachuk!). Your approach to naming is fantastic. One outcome is hints at real places that the reader has never heard of. My example would be Girl Creek on Day 5 ... I just knew that this name had to come from a real place 

There is some serious rabbit-hole potential in a lot of these placenames! You probably already know this, but I stumbled across Lillooet (Ucwalmícwts) names for Port Douglas - nkenq for the original village site and Ptékvl's for the modern settlement. Cool stuff ... but, obviously, I'm going to need to approach the edges of these rabbit-holes with care!

Speaking of trivial minutiae ...

-- https://treasurevalleyantiques.com/collections/automobilia/products/block-bros-realtors-sample-no-v-718-brown-leather-fob-keychain-ring

[Litvyak]

Oh that keychain is nifty! Not sure if nifty enough to justify buying it when I already have far too much "stuff", but nifty.

Yeah, Girl Creek is indeed a real place - I'd be intrigued to know the story behind it, but it's not in my copy of British Columbia Place Names (by G. P. V. and Helen B. Akrigg). This is a fantastic book, but since it's in alphabetical order, it's of little use if I'm trying to find a name for a place, say, 60 miles east of Atlin (utterly random example).

I didn't (yet) know about Port Douglas' names, as I haven't yet looked at that area in any depth - I explore a given area per whatever task I have at hand, e.g. laying out a railway line or highway... as a byproduct of doing that, I expand the Gazetteer and the postcodes list, populations, locations and nature of industries, etc... you might have noticed that some placenames have Indigenous names instead of the Anglo names. In-world the story is that in the mid 1970s there was the big 'universal settlement' which amongst other things replaced the Senate with the Council of Chiefs, and introduced the Indigenous Administrative Districts which are about the same level of government as a Regional District, but with a little more autonomy in certain areas... well in the aftermath of this a bunch of places had their official names changed to the/an Indigenous name. Mostly this happened to places within one IAD or another, but there are a few exceptions, like Terrace - it's not in an IAD (but Kitsumkaylum is*), but there was a referendum in IIRC 1988 amongst the residents and they voted to change the name to Ganiks Laxha (the meaning of which I've since forgotten).

* Territories of an IAD are often not contiguous - the Burns Lake area and Chilliwack are great examples of this, but analoguous to RW instances like you'd never be able to tell from just a glance that parts of Marpole are Musqueam reserve land.

Regarding the switchbacks: although I'm sure a lot of my routings aren't truly buildable, particularly for railways which are much more sensitive to grades, but I've been doing my best to keep them at least plausible - following the topography in Google Earth... the angled view can be quite useful for that. And it's a lot of fun and I've learnt soooooooo much about BC, and finding all sorts of places I'd like to visit one day, etc etc... so yeah, it's fun. :)

[apophenia]

It does indeed sound like fun 

I like the 'universal settlement' concept. Your Indigenous Administrative Districts remind me a bit of the RW shíshálh swiya - in being non-contiguous but with roughly the same powers as a Regional District.

Switchbacks: I was mainly thinking about what a hoot such roads would be for rally drivers. 

But you're quite right about keeping routes believable. I'd love to see a lot of BC highways in mountainous regions replaced by Swiss-style elevated roadways ... but that's not going to happen any time soon! Even more important to keep those minor roadways plausible - as seen in your distinctions between metalled roads and gravel tracks.

On Girl Creek: I had a glance at my copy of Walbran's British Columbia Coast Names. As expected, no mention of Girl Creek - it could be too far inland or, perhaps, the creek was named after Walbran's 1909 cut-off date?

Have you ever seen Andrew Scott's Encyclopedia of Raincoast Place Names? I haven't but it sounds very like a much updated version of Walbran. So, again, Lillooet may be considered 'Interior' but at least Scott covers namings from the 20th Century.

[Litvyak]

I haven't seen the Raincoast names book, but I'll keep an eye out when I chance by used bookshops - been a long time since I last had a snoop about in the downtown shops... I've also long wanted to check out the one in Mission, and the one on Dunbar at 41st but that seems never to be open...