Cloverdale heritage railway rolling out 2nd annual music festival

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Surrey’s heritage railway is off to a busy start.

The historic rail line in the heart of Cloverdale has enjoyed sold-out events every weekend so far in 2025. Now the Fraser Valley Heritage Rail Society will kick off its summer music fest.

“We are ready to launch our popular two-month Cloverdale Station Summer Music Festival starting June 28 with different performances every Saturday and Sunday until the end of the season,” says Allen Aubert, society secretary. “This is our second year of offering the music festival at no cost thanks to a cultural grant from the City of Surrey.”

Information on the various performances with times and days can be found on the FVHRS website. The festival is free and visitors do not need a ticket to come hang out on the platform and listen to the artists play and sing.

Heritage rail opened to the public May 3 and Aubert said the first seven weekends have seen the railway at full capacity.

“We are delighted to report that both the Saturday Heritage Railway Adventure – our on-site, ride-everything experience, along with a tour of the Discovery Centre – and the Sunday Sullivan Excursion have had sold-out events each weekend,” he noted. “As we say, ‘we have your weekend covered.’”

The recently commissioned BCER 1231 car is running on Saturdays as part of the heritage railway adventure, while the BCER 1225 car is running on Sundays on the 55-minute ride up to Sullivan –the so-called Sullivan Excursion – on the mainline.

“This season we’re not crossing 156 and going right to the Sullivan Station,” he said. “Pending the construction of a new rail spur there that we are working on, that when completed will take the interurban right up to the Sullivan Station platform, this project along with renovations to the Sullivan Station are planned as part of our 25th anniversary celebration taking place during 2026.”

Aubert said the goal of society volunteers is to have Sullivan Station ready to go for mid-2026 so passengers can both board for travel to Cloverdale and disembark at Sullivan.

“Our next destination will be Newton town centre in a few years.”

FVHRS now has three restored operational interurban passenger cars with a last one awaiting restoration work.

“The Surrey heritage railway’s future expansion is very exciting,” Aubert added. “It’s an important part of creating tourism destinations, which is becoming increasingly important to the economy.”

The society has also worked with Cloverdale’s Honeybee Centre to rejuvenate the wildflower pollinator meadow at Cloverdale Station for the 2025 summer season.

“We have our two beehives and soon the new wildflower seeds will begin producing flowers and nectar for the bees,” Aubert said. “Honey from the Honeybee Centre is available at Cloverdale Station and is proving extremely popular with our visitors.”

Their custom-designed, railway-themed socks have also been big sellers at the gift shop along with their custom-designed railway T-shirts and railway hats.

“It’s encouraging to see many visitors from various parts of the world interested in checking out our heritage railway and enjoying the authentic experience of riding on an historic B.C. Electric interurban.”

The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society operates the railway out of Cloverdale Station and the Restoration Car Barn at Hwy 10 and 176A Street, in Surrey – which they now call the Cloverdale Heritage Railway Campus.

For more information, or to get tickets for 2025, visit fvhrs.org.

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