A Canada Day fixture will be off the tracks for this year's edition.
Mechanical troubles combined with the lack of a trained engineer will mean the LIttle Prince miniature steam train will not be running during the national holiday next weekend, Exploration Place chief executive officer Tracy Calogheros said Thursday.
The mechanical troubles for the 100-year-old train centre on two steam injectors that need to be replaced with new, custom-fabricated parts that will take several weeks to arrive.
"The steam injectors are the things that dump water from the tender into the boiler so that it replenishes water while you're boiling it away," Calogheros said. "I can manually put water into it but it won't work for passenger service. It'll work fine for four or five laps before you have to stop and add more water but it can't actually operate for a whole day without the steam injectors."
A new engineer has been found, Nick Chapman, but he remains in training to get certification, which requires 50 hours of operation without passengers.
The Little Prince runs along "Canada's shortest railway," a half-mile loop next door to Exploration Place.
Volunteers are still needed for three other positions: conductor, fireman and engineer. Training will likely start in the fall, Calogheros said.
Those interested can send an e-mail to [email protected].
