Prairie Dog Central halts 2021 season before it starts

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This article was published 11/08/2021 (1682 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All aboard? Not quite yet.

Would-be passengers hoping to ride the train at the historic Prairie Dog Central Railway attraction will have to wait another year, as the west Winnipeg historic site announced it will remain closed for a second consecutive season.

Catherine Duffin, marketing manager at Prairie Dog, said the train rides had already been suspended through the spring and early summer due to COVID-19 public health rules. Even with recent eased restrictions, the historic attraction opted to stay shuttered through the fall, planning instead to go full steam ahead in 2022.

“We were hoping that the lifting of restrictions would work for our dynamic a bit more than they do,” Duffin said in an interview Wednesday.

Currently, restrictions would limit the trains to 50 per cent capacity, but Duffin said the safest option for passengers and volunteers alike would bring train capacity closer to 30 per cent.

“While social distancing isn’t mandated anymore, it would be reckless of us not to social distance on our train, so that would reduce capacity again,” said Duffin. “It’s just not financially viable to run.”

Duffin said Prairie Dog Central has been working closely with the province, and has been looking closely into restrictions each time they change. The vintage locomotive group is prioritizing the safety of its volunteers, many of whom are over the age of 60, she said.

The attraction (run by the non-profit Vintage Locomotive Society Inc.) has stayed financially on track these past two years through a funds from a “side arm” for profit company, said Duffin, adding the team feels “really lucky” to have survived the lean pandemic years.

After cancelling both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Duffin said: “We’ll be coming back strong, I feel, with our great train robbery trains, our family fun days, our heritage village picnic trains, and all of the popular one-off events we do every year… We’re very much looking forward to engaging with the public again.”

Prairie Dog typically plays host to around 12,000 passengers per year with the help of a running cycle of 50 active volunteers who maintain and restore the train and grounds, as well as serving as porters for locomotive passengers.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers