Queen of Sidney: Abandoned Ferry on the Fraser River

Just two Sidney Class ferries were built for the British Columbia Ferry Corporation, entering service in 1960. The eponymous Queen of Sidney (Hull 85) and her sister ship, Queen of Tsawwassen (Hull 309), were based on the similarly-sized vessel MV Coho. But while the latter remains in service today, the slightly younger Sidney Class ferries have been out of use for years. The photograph above, snapped in February 2016, shows the rusting hulk of the Queen of Sidney. The now-abandoned Queen of Sidney plied the western Canadian waterways for more than 40 years. During that time the design held up, with only minor changes made to expand the two ships’ restaurant capacity to meet an unexpectedly high passenger demand. Built by the Victoria Machinery Depot in British Columbia, she measured over 102 metres in length and was able to carry 989 passengers and 138 cars, at a top speed of 18 knots. Queen of Sidney was retired on November 28, 2000. Her sister, Queen of Tsawwassen (which was built at Burrard Dry Dock in Vancouver), soldiered on for almost another decade until being withdrawn from service in late 2008. Both of the now-decommissioned vessels have made an impact on pop culture, appearing in a number of movies as well as the History Channel show Canadian Pickers.