After only her second day on the job, the new conductor of the Little Prince is already finding the experience rewarding.
"It's really incredible," said Tianni Calogheros. "You see all those kids, they're having so much fun. A lot of repeat customers."
Outfitted in her black suit and gold-embroidered conductor hat, the 17-year-old takes her role of ensuring the Fort George Railway passengers' safety seriously.
And after last year's non-starter of an opening weekend, there was no shortage of people looking to take a ride on the Fort George Park steam engine.
Seven-year-old Nativa Daniels said she enjoyed her first ride on the Little Prince and turned her pleading eyes towards her mom April Alec for another ride.
"I loved it," she said.
Alec was riding the train again for the first time in many years, having taken her first spin on the half-mile track when she was a young girl herself.
"It feels awesome to experience things like that," Alec said, noting Nativa was let down when she couldn't ride the rails last summer.
"Last year's opening weekend was a big disappointment for everybody," recalled Tracy Calogheros, Fort George Railway and Exploration Place CEO. "The public has been so patient because of all the shutdowns and certification issues. But this year the kids are squealing by the time they're getting in the door."
The miniature train's 100th anniversary was anti-climactic after it was discovered that two steam injectors needed to be replaced, closing the railway for the entire season.
Although rain cut half of the Little Prince's opening day short on Saturday, there was a steady stream of passengers on Sunday.
According to Calogheros, the excitement has been building for days.
"The last two weeks while we've been doing the track inspections and the steam inspections it's just been a steady stream of kids coming and looking and hoping that it will run," she said. "I've never seen anything like this actually, for public interest."
Annalise and Kim Choquette also rode the train for the first time Sunday, while spending the afternoon in the park for their great-nephew's first birthday party.
"It's fun for the kids," Annalise said. "I think it was something memorable."
The memory of riding a steam train is something that's becoming more unique, said Calogheros, who said she was told recently that steam engines all across the continent are shutting down with fewer engineers to run them.
"They're either getting too old to do it or passing away and there just isn't that much interest in the younger generation learning how it all operates," she said.
The railway's two new engineers, John Calogheros and Nick Chapman, were both permanently certified last week and last year's conductor Steve Carras is in training to be an engineer as well.
If they could get more engineers certified, Calogheros said she would like to be able to run the train for longer than the four hours per day on weekends.
Currently, the train runs between noon and 4 p.m. most weekends and statutory holidays - with the exception of June 1 and 2 - until Labour Day, weather permitting. Tickets are $2 per person.
