Conductor Ken Jones helps passengers board the train during Railway Day - 18 Aug 2013 Photographer unknown.

21 August 2013

Railway Day
Still Chugging Along to Success

Wetaskiwin Alberta - All aboard!
 
The annual Railway Day event was held at Alberta Central Railway Museum 18 Aug 2013.
 
The event is an opportunity for children and families to learn about history on the railways. It's also a chance for visitors to take a train ride around the site.
 
The museum site features railway stations, rail cars, and a restored train.
 
All of the restoration work on the vehicles at the museum was done by the Railway Day organizer Bill Wilson and his staff of volunteers.
 
Railway Day was a full day event at the museum, which had a number of activities, shows, exhibits, and food for attendees to enjoy.
 
"It's been a good day," said Wilson. "Very busy like usual."
 
"This is our big day of the year."
 
The day began with a pancake breakfast. There were also model train exhibits, collectors show, a telegraph service demonstration, train rides, speeder rides, wagon rides, and spike pounding demonstrations.
 
Throughout the day, there was classic music playing in the background by a band that has been going to Railway Day for years, the Dynamics.
 
Families and children were treated to train rides throughout the day, around the one kilometre track that circles the museum.
 
Along the ride, conductor Ken Jones not only punches the tickets for riders but dishes out little tidbits about trains to the children.
 
"It's a fun thing to do," said Jones, who has been volunteering his time at railways in Alberta since 1988.
 
"It's a hobby of mine, I like to help people enjoy trains, it's nice."
 
"The more the years pass, the more people forget about trains, so it's nice to help them understand."
 
It's also a day where the seniors can reminisce about the past and relive some of that forgotten magic.
 
"It's a nostalgia thing," said Dwayne Reed, a long-time volunteer at Railway Day from Morningside. "Especially for the old folks."
 
"As we grow older you begin to see things a little differently than you use too."
 
"You guys will too one day," laughed Reed.
 
"Every year we do this, everyone gets a kick out of it."
 
Michael Chan.

Vancouver Island
British Columbia
Canada