CP Spirit of 150 Rail Tour

The Royal B.C. Museum’s 150th anniversary exhibit begins the first of two provincial tours in June, with a CP Rail train visiting 33 communities. The rail tour begins June 12 with stops at Sparwood at 3:15pm and Fernie at 6:30pm.

The CP Spirit of 150 Rail Tour is a mobile version of Free Spirit, Stories of You, Me and B.C., an eclectic exhibit that blends aboriginal and European history with pop culture, starting with B.C.’s establishment as a Crown colony in 1858.

The CP Spirit of 150 Rail Tour includes the vintage CP 2816 Empress steam locomotive and support cars, two vintage passenger coaches, a vintage business car, a heritage baggage car converted into a traveling museum, and a vintage stage car. Visitors can view historic displays, watch a stage show and interact with costumed performers depicting some of B.C.'s most entertaining and notorious historical figures.

As part of the project, the Royal BC Museum (RBCM) has transformed a 1958 Union Pacific baggage car into a rolling museum – a traveling version of "Free Spirit: Stories of You, Me and B.C.," a major exhibition about British Columbia on display at the museum in Victoria until Jan. 11, 2009.

BC150 is a celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Crown Colony of British Columbia in 1858. Every community is invited to participate in this year-long celebration of B.C.'s cultural diversity, community strength and achievement. For more information on BC150 events and programs, please visit http://www.bc150.ca/.

The month-long rail tour includes swing through the Kootenays, the Rockies, the Shuswap, Kamloops, the Fraser Canyon and Vancouver. A similar tour with a truck-based display is planned for this fall to communities that aren’t reached by the historical train.

http://www.multimedia.gov.bc.ca/EN/celebrating_150_years/

The complete schedule is available here