can anyone tel me about white rock...we are looking into living a bit further out and getting a small apartment downtown for week days.....just google mapped the area and it shows a rail line all the way around the coast....does this mean beaches etc are not accessible...........

No. This world is a crazy place, but it's not that crazy.

Does your version of Google Earth have camera icons which, if you click on them, expand into photos? If so, there is one photo called White Rock Pier, on which you can see people walking across the train tracks.

Here's another web page with (albeit small) photos of White Rock. On one of the photos, the one with the "white rock" in it, you can see people on the beach.
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You just step out of the way when the trains come through. (I am not joking by the way). Expensive housing, easy commute to downtown, has the feel of a seaside town of yesteryear. Beach is rocky/pebbles, not very clean either, at least at the height of the season.

I would live there, just for the smell of the sea, if only I could afford it.

The beach actually has sand - was there a few weeks ago building sandcastles with some kids!! It seemed pretty clean to me, but maybe we hit it on a good day. The sandcastle competition is back there this year, I believe, after an 8 year absence.

The sandcastle competition is back? Wonderful! They must have trucked in some clean sand! Last time (early July) I was there, the tide was in, no sand, just rather mucky debris on the bit before the grass, to the left of the pier. Either way, I still take the kids there, give them water and any type of sand, they are happy. Filthy from head to toe, but happy.