Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

LOCAL HISTORY

Kamloops Heritage Railway hopes for increased visitor numbers for the 2023 season

Apr 24, 2023 | 4:03 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops Heritage Railway (KHR) is hard at work this spring, with the hope of attracting visitors and locals alike back to the Heritage Rail Park located under the Red Bridge at Pioneer Park. They have big plans ahead for the spring and summer.

Members of the Heritage Rail Society are preparing the park for the 2023 season, making improvements in the park area and inside the shop. The park features renovated rail cars that visitors can tour through. Much of the work this spring has been focused on improving the shop area, where visitors will be able to tour the legendary locomotive, Engine 2141.

“We’re trying to make a better experience here at the park. We’ve spent a lot of time inside each of these cars that are surrounding us, updating the exhibits, and so on, so we can tell a bit of the story of Kamloops and the importance of the railway here,” Kamloops Heritage Railway General Manager Ken Milloy explains.

“Inside the shop, where the 2141 is, it very much was a workshop, and we’ve just put the workshop behind a wall and painted a few things to make everything look a whole lot better.”

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The Kamloops Heritage Railway has been unable to operate Engine 2141 due to a lack of track availability within the city. However, the organization is looking at alternative plans to improve the visitor experience to the park over the next several years.

Image Credit: CFJC Today

“Last year was a test for us. We had 4,000 people come through the door over the course of the summer months that we were open — half of whom were from Kamloops, the other half were from out of town,” Milloy explains. “We got a lot of feedback on what we’re doing and what we could do and the opportunity to make this place cool.”

The plan is to use technology to enhance the guest experience at the park while showing visitors the role the railways played in the development of the city and region.

“We’re looking at adding things like a simulator, so people can come in and drive a train down the track. I have a long-term plan to do an animated video of Kamloops during the 1910 to 1925 era and show what the railways were like, sit down in one of our passenger coaches and go on a ride without leaving town.”

The Kamloops Heritage Railway Park is set to open for the season on May 6 with a classic car show, food trucks and other entertainment.