A 112-year-old train is still chugging in Prince George, B.C., but budget concerns could take it off the rails
The Little Prince steam engine needs $100,000 annually to operate, Prince George museum CEO warns
A 112-year-old steam engine in Prince George, B.C., could be coming off the rails due to its high cost of operation.
The Little Prince is a wood-burning "Dinky" steam engine that was built in Iowa and arrived in B.C. on a sternwheeler in 1912 to help support construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway.
CN Rail donated the train to the city in 1971 and it was later moved to a small rail line built in what is now Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park. Operation of the Fort George Railway and Little Prince train was turned over to the Exploration Place museum in 2009, where a group of workers and volunteers have kept it running as a summer tourist attraction.
Upwards of 20,000 passengers ride the train annually, and it is featured in promotional content for the city, which states the Little Prince is the last engine of its kind operating in North America.
"It is a piece of the fibre of the community of what is Prince George," Exploration Place CEO Tracy Calogheros said in an interview with CBC Daybreak North. "We've got grandparents bringing grandchildren [to ride the train], whose parents brought them."
But she also said that as her organization struggles with financial losses stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, it can no longer afford to run the train without more support from the city — specifically, a $100,000 annual operating budget along with a commitment to build up a capital fund of $100,000 in the coming years to pay for future repairs.
"It's not an ask," she told city council at a presentation Monday night. "I'm telling you what it's going to cost to operate your train," adding she would be happy for the city to find another organization to take over operations of the Little Prince, should they choose to do so.
Canada's shortest passenger railway
Despite its small size, the Little Prince is not a toy, Calogheros says.
"This is a six-tonne steam engine that operates under Canada's passenger rail rules."
It runs on 2.2 kilometres of track, which the museum says is Canada's shortest passenger railway, fully regulated by Transportation Canada.
That means it is subject to inspections, needs regular track repairs and is required to be operated by licensed conductors and engineers who are expected to complete more than 100 hours of training and tests.
While the city provides $25,000 a year to the museum, Calogheros says costs are high enough that she has lost between $10,000 and $80,000 annually, not counting the hours of her own time needed to keep the railway in compliance with federal regulations.
She said she has repeatedly warned council that the current funding model is not adequate to keep the train operating long term. Without more funding, the museum will no longer be able to run it.
"The museum is in a serious financial crisis at the moment and my board will not authorize anything that looks like a financial risk," she said.
Aside from the annual operating budget of $100,000, she said the city should be prepared to build up a capital budget of a further $100,000 to handle repairs and upgrade the storage and repair sheds where the train is housed in winter months.
Council hopes for support from feds, corporate donors
Council spent nearly an hour discussing the future of the Little Prince after hearing from Calogheros on Monday. While they unanimously agreed it was an important asset for the city, they worried about where the money to keep it operating would come from, particularly as they head into budget talks later this month.
Coun. Kyle Sampson said while he believes keeping heritage items is important, it is not one of the city's core mandates. He asked staff to come back with a report on possible funding models for the train.
Likewise, Coun. Ron Polillo said he hopes Heritage Canada or other federal grants might be available to keep the train operational as a piece of national history.
"It shouldn't be, I believe, mostly on a city to make this happen," he said.
Coun. Cori Ramsay suggested the city explore selling naming rights or finding other sponsorship opportunities from the corporate sector. Mayor Simon Yu thought the City of Prince George could drum up publicity by inviting 10-year-old Prince George, the eldest child of Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, to visit for a ride.
In the end, council voted to have a report on the train's operational costs come back to council in time for budget discussions, which will be held from Jan. 22-24.
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