Aiming to tie in "a piece of North Bay's valued history," with a top-notch provincial sporting competition, Chippewa Secondary School, the hosts of June's AA OFSAA Boys' Soccer Championships is featuring Engine 503 as part of the tournament's official logo (see full-size graphic below).
Sara Pickles, Chippewa's athletic director and the event's convenor says, "The train was one of the options we sent to the Toronto-based company we are required to work with through its OFSAA contract. We’re really happy with the artwork. Engine 503 has significant meaning to the history of the City of North Bay and its ties to the Canadian Pacific Railway”
Chippewa will host Ontario's 20 best soccer sides from June 6–8 as matches will be contested at Nipissing University, the Steve Omischl Sports Complex and St. Joseph–Scollard Hall's Cundari Field.
The Temiskaming and Northern Ontario 503 steam locomotive was built in 1930 for the Ontario Northland Railway. It was retired from active service in the late 1950s and was donated to the City of North Bay in 1960.
Engine 503 has been in the news in recent months. There is a push to move the engine to a site near the North Bay Museum and Dionne Quints Home Museum, where it would rest as a static display in time for some of the 2025 centennial celebrations. The engine has been sitting idle on downtown City of North Bay property for years.
According to a BayToday column by Back Roads Bill Steer, a North Bay group called Fire Up 503 proposes a multi-million dollar steam train tourism initiative commemorating the birth of the CPR and the historic first spike in the years following the centennial. The group has been working on this since 2017 and pledges to restore Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) steam locomotive #503, which was once a stationary heritage attraction in North Bay's Lee Park.
See related: Firing Up the 503 could mean millions for the local economy
It hasn’t been fired up in more than 50 years, said Fire Up 503. “We're looking to change that by restoring and rebuilding it and returning it to service as a heritage rail attraction.”
