A unique miniature railway on North Bay's waterfront was celebrated today at North Bay City Hall.
North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico hosted a flag-raising celebration to honour the 30th anniversary of the Heritage Railway and Carousel Company.
Dr. Rod Johnston, chair of the Heritage Railway and Carousel Company, is amazed to see that after 30 years, the organization is still able to rely on volunteers, 130 strong, to keep the mini trains on the tracks.
Dr. Johnston is also humbled to see many of those volunteers have been there since its start in 1994.
"It's unbelievable to me," remarked Dr. Johnston.
"It's actually a miracle that we're still going and that there's still volunteers. There are around 130 volunteers that we need. They work three shifts a day, each one is four and a half hours. And year after year, we keep getting people involved, and as we lose some of the volunteers, mostly due to old age, or are moving away, they get replaced by other people.
"And what's wonderful is they're very enthusiastic, and they're all ambassadors for North Bay. You know, they all get to chat with whoever comes. And it's really a wonderful, friendly kind of atmosphere. So the culture of the thing has really stayed the same, and it's been great fun for everybody."
The organization will host a 30th-anniversary ceremony at the Heritage Railway on Saturday, August 31 at 1 p.m.
Don Coutts, the organization's treasurer, says they are close to seeing the two-millionth rider hop on. He boasted that he has seen visitors from 28 different countries take in the Heritage Railway experience.
That's a lot of guests, and it's the appreciation the volunteers feel from those visitors that keeps them going year after year.
"Seeing people laughing, thanking us for the ride, and we thank them for coming. And you know, they get to take pictures of the carousels, especially the small carousels they have," said Coutts.
Dr. Johnston is happy that the Heritage Railway still stands out through all the development that is happening around the North Bay waterfront.
"It's pretty remarkable. It was actually a vision of Stan Lawlor, and he really forced the issue to get it done. And I just said, 'Oh, I can help you find a train.' But it's amazing that, starting with that little train, it has expanded to what we've got now.
"At the time, we would never have considered that we could do something with the rail lines, and that's added a huge amount as well. So it's grown and grown. And what I always said when we were developing the rail lands was, if we get a nice park in town, you'll see a lot of development around it, and I think we've seen that with downtown."
Saturday's 10-6 schedule of activities includes static displays of photos and memorabilia showing the 30-year history, face painting, Shriners Clown Unit, area mascots, and 'retro pricing' of $1 rides all day.
