Celebrate BC Heritage Week from February 17 to 23, 2025 — a time to highlight and showcase local heritage across the province. This year’s Heritage Week theme is “Pastimes in Past Times.”
Steveston residents would often use the Interurban Tram to escape the quiet of their fishing village and head to the bright lights of Vancouver.
On Friday and Saturday nights, people from Steveston and other parts of Richmond hopped on the trams to Vancouver. Once there, they’d head to Granville or Hastings Street to enjoy clubs, vaudeville shows, and cabarets featuring musicians, orchestras, and pipe organs.
Late on the way home, a young motorman would be encouraged to “open ‘er up” and push the tram to do its fastest speeds of up to 60 or 70 kilometres per hour. The tram would bounce and shake down the track with passengers chatting, laughing, and munching on peanuts bought in Vancouver, shells scattering across the tram’s floor.
Look for the “Date Night” display onboard Tram Car 1220 at the Steveston Tram and get a glimpse of what it felt like to be a passenger in Richmond 100 years ago.
Celebrate Pastimes in Past Times with a visit to the Steveston Tram museum, open Tuesdays to Sundays 10am to 4pm (winter hours), and step aboard the beautifully restored Tram Car 1220 to be transported back in time, and imagine what may have been like to travel the historic rails of the BCER.
