Planes, trains and automobiles
Plenty to see during trip to western provinces
So, 151 years of Canadian history.
What did you do to remember?
We went to Louisbourg, visited the fortress, obviously, but also the S&L Railway Museum.
I saw a replica of Mira Gut and the old train back in the early days. If I hadn’t recently holidayed out west, I would have been suitably impressed. Many from CBRM understand having to go out West to visit their family. We try for a trip a year but this was our biggest, longest, and best trip ever to British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.
In B.C., we visited an old paddle wheel boat, formerly the largest stern wheeler in Canada that was renovated into a museum. It housed an incredible model railway. A scale model of the ‘Kettle Valley Steam Railway,’ completing models of each little community including everything in them in the early 1900s … mountains, trestles, tiny vehicles, grain elevators, people, and trains.
Their unique fund-raiser had you insert a dollar to see a tiny steam engine blow its whistle and exit the tunnel. You follow it winding along the tracks for 47 ft x 14 ft x 47 ft., encased in plexiglass. We learned about the 6,000 hours put into its construction, from 1989 to 1993. People we met in Penticton didn’t even know it was there.
That was just such a tiny, very enjoyable portion of our trip. Readers have told me how much they enjoy the memories that my stories revive. Today, it’s revived memories for me as well – old and new.
Next, in Westaskawin, Alberta, we enjoyed 2.5 hours visiting Reynolds Industrial Museum featuring cars, farm machinery, war motorcycles, and planes going back to 1890. How cool it was to sit in a pink Cadillac and an old helicopter with our 7- year-old granddaughter. This memorable moment reminded me of when my grandson at 2 when he was learning his first words. One of the big ones was “hel-i-cop-ter” and “motor-cycle.” On July 2, he turned 17 on the same day his great-grandmother (my mom) turned 82.
On to Winnipeg. My daughter often said we should go on “Prairie Dog Central (PDC) Steam Railway” but we never did until now. As the only regularly scheduled vintage railway in North America, it was pretty special.
One big event for its 50th anniversary was “The Great
Canadian Train Robbery.” Replicating stations from the past, they included a wagon with old suitcases on it but no carpet bags. I looked. While, we nostalgically waited to hear porters calling out “All Aboard” and see “Red Hats,” we listened to music from an authentic “calliope” built in 1911 in Amsterdam.
The authentic PDC steam engine was built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1882. They share 14 km of tracks with modern CNR. Original coaches made of mahogany and oak were also about 100 years old. Being quite a sight, many people were stopped along the route videoing us as we passed. We had two stops, one because paid passengers had missed the train, and staff drove them out so they could come aboard. Imagine seeing that happening on modern transportation these days! I’m pretty sure cell phones must have been involved.
Before long, the day’s main event occurred. We were chased by masked cowboys and cowgirls on horseback (and one mule) with guns, just like an old-time Western. The train stopped and they boarded, still gunned and masked, and robbed us. Well, actually it was staged, the actual money collection was a fund-raiser for ALS.
Our destination was Grosse Isle, a small rural community
with pioneer village, craft and food vendors, petting zoo, and another train. This one, constructed from old farm chemical barrels, cut out to make little seats for kids, hooked together, driven by an engineer on a lawn tractor. The infamous horses and riders were available for petting and “kissing” (as my granddaughter discovered).
We were visiting a oneroom schoolhouse built in 1889 and used until 1965 when the sing-song voice rang out, “All Aboard.” On our clickety-clacked return, my mind wandered to Red Deer, 15 years ago. Grampy set up a model train around our Christmas tree that year. Two year-old Tyler’s enthusiasm often led to frustration, using his latest new words, “Battery dead,” as the woo-woo of the little train fizzled out.
Another memory sparked was a regular trip to a local convenience store with a model train circling the wall, close to
the ceiling. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to suffer through the coal smoke like on our real train.
Thank you for sharing my trip memories. Just ask me to see all the pictures we took. Yes, pictures save memories, but in reality, this is grandparenting for us, not the way I remember it with my Nanny and Grampy. Joyful and bittersweet memories, all clumped into a couple weeks. Back in the day, miners might have enjoyed their two weeks by taking the train out to Mira Gut, but look at what we got to do.