The weekend of September 8 and 9, the Kimberley Underground Mining Railway will run their regular train schedule, but at greatly reduced rates. The one hour 10 a.m. “Kids” Trains from Downtown to the Resort and back will see the fare for 12 and under reduced from $10 to $5 and for all others the rate will be only $10. And for Ages 3 and under plus the family dog the ride is always free. The two hour Underground/Powerhouse Train Tours at 11 a.m. 1 p.m., and 3 p.m. will have adult fares reduced from $25 to just $15.
Sullivan Mine and Railway Historical Society President Mick Henningson said the Society exists to provide a major tourist attraction for the City and to preserve the history of the Sullivan Mine.
“We also provide seasonal employment to at least a dozen people. For Jeni Jenks and Carly Trinder this is their eighth season working for KUMR. Starting in High School, Jeni and Carly are now our senior commentator/conductors and this year Jeni also became a fully certified engineer. You may also see them selling you a ticket to ride the train. Jeni just got her college degree and Carly is now back in school working on her teaching degree.”
Henningson said the train is expensive to run, for instance, insurance and inspection fees are a $30,000 bill. However, we like to have a weekend to give the local community a break.
“We were having a great season up to August 16th. We had a total of over 150 people on the three trains on the 16th. On August 17th, the first day of the evacuation alert the ridership dropped to less than 75 and by Sunday, August 19th we had a total of less than 50 people on four trains.”
Mick added that we are very fortunate that we have many volunteers working particularly in the maintenance shop, administration and station areas in particular to keep costs down.
“It’s nice to have a weekend to give the community a break”.
