By David F. Rooney
There’s a new trainmaster at the Railway Museum. Marjorie Somerton was hired on this past spring and wants to re-invigorate the museum and its signature event, Railway Days.
A writer, she comes from a railroading family with its roots going back to late 1800s. Her grandfather worked at Donald and later served in the Boer War under the legendary Mountie and soldier Sam Steele. Her father worked for CN and while Marjorie did not follow in his footsteps she says “railroading is in my blood.”
Born in Montreal, she went to high school in Kelowna, university in Toronto and later live din Calgary and Surrey before accepting the position of executive director of the Revelstoke Railway Museum this spring.
As the new executive director — a title she doesn’t like — she is working to re-invigorate the museum and find ways to stretch its dollars.
“Money is always a challenge,” she said.
It needs money for the currently malfunctioning train simulator and its signature Railway Days event in August needs a new focus. Railway Days had, perhaps, been a tad too long — 14 days at one point. In 2009 it was nine days long, it was shortened to six days in 2010, then lengthened to 12 days in 2011. A year later, in 2012, it was shortened to four days and this year it will be three days long.
The length of time required to stage a successful festival a week is one challenge. The other is locating and engaging the new activities and events required to ensure that the public wants to participate year after year after year.
Somerton defines herself as a storyteller and that skill set may be just what’s needed to re-energize the museum.
“To me it’s all about interaction and making it fun for the visitor,” she said.
And there will be some and interesting additions that will make Railway Days 2013 a little different and interesting.
This year’s edition of Railway Days is going to be just three days long — August 16 – 18 and there will be plenty of things to do in those three days. Here’s a preview of what you can expect:
Friday, August 16
The celebration of all things related to trains and, by extension, the CPR will kickoff on Friday, August 16, at 5 pm with Baggage à La Carte.
Baggage à La Carte begins with a special 30-minute presentation of travelling exhibition, The Empress of Ireland. This liner was the CPR’s pride and joy. It carried tens of thousands of people, many of them immigrants, to our country from ports in the US, the UK and Europe.
But in the early hours of May 29, 1914, she struck a Norwegian collier (a ship designed to carry coal) and sank in just 14 minutes in the frigid waters of the St. Lawrence River near Rimouski, Quebec. There were 1,477 on board when she went down. 1,012 of them drowned.
The special exhibition about the Empress of Ireland is being shown in 10 cities across Canada, including Revelstoke. It will be here for just two days so you won’t want to miss this.
From 5:30 – 7 pm the Museum will be offering à la carte appetizer plates (from Buns and Beyond) for only $10 each. You can purchase your ticket in advance at the Museum. Call 1-877-837-6060 or 250-837-6060 between 9 am and 6 pm daily. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.
From 6 pm until 9 pm you are invited to enjoy live music by the Kettle Valley Brakemen. These popular guys have unique blend of true historical stories and original songs about BC’s colorful steam rail era. This event is sponsored by the Columbia Basin Trust. Please click here to watch a video the Brakemen have produced.
There are other things going on in town during Railway Days. They include, on Friday:
10 am – 5 pm — Bloom 2013 on top of Mount Revelstoke
10 am – 5 pm — The BC Interior Forestry Museum
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm — Street fest concert at Grizzly Plaza with John and Holly
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Saturday, August 17
From 9 am until 6 pm stop by and explore the Empress of Ireland exhibit display.
From 10 am until 11 am enjoy coffee in the Business Car.
11 am until 4 pm the Museum hosts FAMILY DAY. This year the museum will provide rides along a stretch of track on an old-fashioned velocipede. It will also have a Hobo Camp Art Corner, interactive games, more music by the Kettel Valley Brakemen at 11:30 and 2 pm. And Librarian Kendra Runnalls do some Storytelling in the Business Car from noon until 4 pm.
And, from 7 until 8 pm, the Bygone Era Entertainment Society will host their August Grand Victorian Railway Days Magic Lantern Show at the Nickelodeon Museum at 111 First Street West. “We have the Secretary of the Magic Lantern Society of the US and Canada coming from Seattle to present his Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (established in 1877) union slides,” Nickelodeon owner David Evans said in an e-mail to The Current. “This is a rare opportunity to see the formation of a major trades union, as well as our trip across Canada on the CNR, illustrated songs from the Civil War period, some of our rarer moving slides and of course our Victorian Disco Light show. Will be circulating more about that nearer the time.”
Seating will be limited for this event so please pre-register now by calling 250 837-5250 or send an e-mail to mechmusic@aol.com.
There is also a Saturday evening Concert with Shred Kelly. Tickets are $10 per person or $20 for a family — cash only — at the Railway Museum and Society Snow & Skate. At the gate tickets will by $15 per person or $25 per family.
Please click here to see a YouTube video about Shred Kelly.
There are other things going on in town during Railway Days. They include, on Saturday:
8:30 am – 1 pm — Farmer’s Market at Grizzly Plaza
10 am – 5 pm — Bloom 2013 on top of Mount Revelstoke
10 am – 5 pm — The BC Interior Forestry Museum
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm — Streetfest concert at Grizzly Plaza with Tanya Lipscomb
7 pm — 8 pm — August Grand Victorian Railway Days Magic Lantern Show
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Sunday, August 18
From 9 am until 6 pm you can catch a last glimpse of the Empress of Ireland exhibition.
10 am until 11 am you can grab a last coffee in the Business Car before
the 12 pm until 4 pm Vintage Car Show in Rotary Park.
All through Railway Days you can browse through the railway memorabilia and books in the Museum shop, take part n a fundraising raffle and a 50/50 draw.
There are other things going on in town during Railway Days. They include, on Sunday:
10 am – 5 pm — Bloom 2013 on top of Mount Revelstoke
10 am – 5 pm — The BC Interior Forestry Museum
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm — Street fest concert at Grizzly Plaza with Lindsay May
You can check for changes to the schedule by logging onto www.railwaymuseum.com.
