On Halloween night, the Kamloops Heritage Railway will be hosting the Spirit Express, a 19+ fundraising event that’s part of the heritage railway’s recent restoration efforts. Spirit Express encourages Kamloopsians to arrive in their best costumes, enjoy some music, food and booze, and explore the spookily decorated coaches of the Canadian National #2141, the steam locomotive first built in 1912 and preserved at the Railway.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kamloops Heritage Railway was a staple of the city, with events hosted each year, like the Spirit of Christmas event, which featured reenactments of Billy Miner’s stagecoach robberies during the early 1900s. Those events made significant use of, and were often built around, the #2141 locomotive, commonly referred to as the Spirit of Kamloops.
However, during the pandemic, as many businesses and tourist attractions across Kamloops were forced to operate differently or shut down, the Kamloops Heritage Railway also ceased operations. The hope was that business as usual could resume once the pandemic was over, however long that would take.
According to Terri Axani, the current executive director for the Kamloops Heritage Railway, the #2141 steam locomotive was decertified after the pandemic as a way to save money, but efforts to recertify the locomotive’s boiler since have been extremely expensive. In addition, losing track access and volunteers only served as further hindrances to the restoration process.
“Bringing that boiler back to recertification has been a very large job,” Axani said. “It [has cost] hundreds of thousands of dollars to date.”
The heritage Railway had done a number of events since in the past year, Axani told The Omega.
“We did a Mother’s Day event, Father’s Day event, and a Family Day event,” she said. “We did murder mysteries all summer and we’ve never done any of them before.”
During one of the murder mysteries, many attendees had approached the Heritage Railway staff in support of a Halloween event, which encouraged their creation of the Spirit Express.
Funds raised during the event will go to restoring the #2141 locomotive, in hopes to return it to the rails. But, according to Axani, the ticket sales have so far been much lower than anticipated.
“I know there’s lots of competing events and lots of people wish we had it days before Halloween as opposed to on Halloween,” she said. “Ticket sales are much slower, as it is a fundraiser and a first time event.”
One of the many challenges that the Heritage Railway had faced was having a code written in 1912 updated and cleared for 2026 with both Technical Safety B.C. and Transport Canada, a costly and time consuming process.
Despite low ticket sales and other complexities, Anaxi says seeing people react to having the locomotive back has been “a lot of fun”.
“I think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll do another All Aboard with Santa,” the executive director said. “Hopefully, we’re back on the rails.”
Donations to the Kamloops Heritage Railway can be made online or as a cheque and all proceeds go directly to the #2141 locomotive and getting it back into operation. More information about the event and tickets can be found online.