Skip to content

North Bay heritage train gets face lift

'We modernized it a little bit and we just put on our paint colours that we’re so proud of, that we’re actually doing on our Polar Bear Express' Corina Moore president and CEO of Ontario Northland.

Last summer the North Bay Heritage and Carousel Company rolled out a fully accessible train, able to accommodate two large wheelchairs, courtesy of the ONR.

See: Breaking down barriers at the Heritage Railway and Carousel Company

Over the winter it went back in the shop for a fresh new paint job.

Response from the public and Heritage Train volunteers is one of appreciation for the end product.

“We modernized it a little bit and we just put on our paint colours that we’re so proud of, that we’re actually doing on our Polar Bear Express cars that go from Cochrane to Moosonee,” explained Corina Moore president and CEO of Ontario Northland.

“We always feel like we’re the heart of North Bay and play such a historic role here, and to be able to share these colours, along with our heritage colours, the green and gold on the other heritage train, is really wonderful for us.”

The ONR was approached to give the train a facelift.    

“The Heritage corporation came to us and they actually put in the funding for this second train. The first one we donated, and the second one they came back so we really have partnered on this initiative. It is really nice to be able to do that with them so we can meet our objectives as well.”

Employees approached Moore last year about making a wheelchair accessible car for children and adults.

“It is such an important part of our transportation service. We’re proud to have the accessible buses as well as the accessible train. Not only that, but just to be able to share this with the community and have the employees come down here and see that we’ve done just amazing work and not just on the big railways,” said Moore.

Bill White media spokesperson for the North Bay Heritage Railway and Carousel Company

“Our newly painted, newly minted train set is a diesel engine with a gas motor to it and it is painted in the new colour scheme of the Ontario Northland railway, thanks to the ONR. It looks great and we’re so proud of it,” said White.

He expects it will get a lot of use this summer.

“We have 135 volunteers, and we welcomed 57,000 riders on our train sets last summer. So, we’re hoping to beat that if the weather cooperates this year,” grinned White.

“The last shift that I was on last week, we had people from Korea, we had people from Spain, from Vietnam and we have had a number of people from Toronto, Montreal, all around the province. It is great. Visitors from around the world are seeing these trains.”   

White says they are always in need of volunteers.