Little Prince Turns 100
Saturday, May 19, 2012 @ 4:52 AM
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Prince George, B.C.- There are three centennial celebrations planned for the Prince George area this year. Not only will Huble Homestead and the PGX ceberate their 100th birthdays, the “Little Prince” steam engine train at the Fraser Fort George Regional Museum is also ready to celebrate a 100th birthday.
Built in 1912, the train played an integral role in the history of Prince George as it was used in the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway ( later CN) which was completed in 1914.
Today, the train is on the tracks at Fort George Park, ready to start choo-chooing its way for another season.
“The train is going to be up an running at noon today and it will be running from noon till 4 every Saturday and Sunday and every stat Monday” says museum CO Tracy Calogheros.
The fare to take a ride on this classic train will be a twoonie for all ages, although babes in arms ride free.
Ron Walker remains the engineer for the train, and Calogheros says there are other engineers in training and the story of the Little Prince will be on display “We have a new centennial exhibit that will open in the Fort George Railway Station today”. She says the folks at Tim Hortons have provided free coffee and timbits for this special opening run of the Little Prince.
Train rides are free from noon till one today.
There had been funding issues in the past, but Calogheros says the City managed to find the dollars to fulfill its portion of the budget necessary to run the train. She says there was also funding from the Regional District of Fraser Fort George and two sponsors, Wood Wheaton and Radloff and Associates, are both contributing to the train’s operating costs for the year so the finances are on track “I think with the increase in the fare, we are projecting that we should be fine to break even by the end of the season and roll on to the next year.”
Calogheros says all the permits are in place and the Little Prince is ready “We’ve done our safety inspection we’ve done out track inspection, and we’ve submitted all our reports and got our compliance reports back from the safety authority so….choo-choo!”
Comments
I think this is great news for the city to have the train running at the park again.
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