Burnaby Central Railway

notes from Coleman

Activity:

Do you know what Santa gave me for Christmas last year? -- a real train.  It goes all by itself around a track and looks just like the miniature trains at the Burnaby Central Railway in Confederation Park. 

Last Summer I got ride on one of the steam trains at Confederation Park.  It was so neat.  The engine made a whistling sound and steam blew out of its smoke stack.  On the day we went it was the Miniature Train Festival:  I've never seen so many miniature trains in one place--at least 4 hands of fingers.  They came from all over North America, even Alabama.  One of the engineers took us for a tour of the shop where people were fixing their trains and even building them.  You could even buy a train right then and there if you wanted to.  Dad assured me his wallet wasn't big enough to hold all the bills a train would cost.  I guess I'm going to have to wait for Christmas again.

And you're not going to believe this, but even Jen and Nathe (he's 12 now) wanted to go for one more ride.  Dad said he was calling it "quits" after the third ride, but Nathe even used his own money to pay for an extra ride.

Age group:

I saw people with all different colours of hair at the Burnaby Central Railway - brown, black, red, gray, and even blue.  I guess that means it doesn't matter who or how old you are--you can still have fun riding on trains. 

Expense rating:

You know, even though we had four train rides each, Dad still had enough money to take us swimming at the Eileen Dailly Pool at Confederation Park.  You see the train costs only two dollars every time you ride.

:

When I look around at the other people on the train, everyone is smiling.  I think this is a good thing.

:

You know what, for once there's nothing bad to talk about.  Not even the occasional long line-up for the train.

Details:

The Burnaby Central Railway is at the northern end of Confederation Park.  The easiest way to find Confederation Park is to go along Hastings Street and turning north on Willingdon Avenue.  The exact address is at 120 North Willingdon, about 5 blocks north of Hastings Street.  The railway is open weekends and holidays from 11 am to 5 pm.  The miniature trains don't run all year round either, usually only from May to October.  Phone 604-291-0922 to get the exact details.  Website: www.burnabyrailway.org

Area:

Burnaby

Season:

Spring, Summer, and Fall

Educational highlights:

The trains and railway tracks were build and taken care of by the BC Society of Model Engineers.  They do a great job.  I can't tell the difference between their steam and diesel trains and the ones I see on Thomas the Train.

Fun for the adult?:

Big people like the trains even more than us little kids do.  It reminds them of when they were like me.