The Sullivan Mine and Railway Society, which operates the Kimberley Underground Mining Railway tourist attraction, recently held their AGM and President Mick Henningson reported on the past season.
“2017 was an excellent year for “Kimberley’s Underground Mining Railroad”, operated by the Sullivan Mine & Railway Historical Society,” Henningson said. “A record 10,714 people rode the train with no trips lost because of any mechanical rolling stock or track issues. We lost some trips on two occasions because of B.C. Hydro high voltage power line problems.
Another highlight was the return of a two tonne high grade ore specimen mined and shipped to Montreal for the 1967 World’s Fair. After being displayed in Montreal at the Cominco – Canadian Pacific Pavilion, it was on display at Cominco’s Product Research Centre in Toronto for several decades, then Trail and now the Powerhouse.
The weather was quite favourable throughout most of our operating season starting Victoria Day Weekend except for heavy smoke from forest fires during the last two weeks of August. This did impact train ridership and area tourism in general.
We did operate throughout the season without any reportable incidents to the B.C. Safety Authority. Our Safety Management System and Engineers Handbook were again upgraded early in the year. All inspection and training records were thoroughly reviewed by a B.C. Safety Authority Inspector to his complete satisfaction.
Inspections to our track and some tie replacement occurred prior to and during our operating season. Two major track projects were undertaken after the regular season end at Labour Day and the following “Community Appreciation Weekend” and between some special group train trips.
The Society is fortunate to have two complete train sets plus two spare locomotives. The shop crew did an excellent job of maintaining our rolling stock pre, post and during our operating season including, in particular, some ongoing upgrades to electrical systems.
The Sullivan Mine Geological Display Project in the Station basement was completed to lockup in the Spring, in time to host tours of Geological staff and students from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and a group of 30 Japanese Engineers and Geologists. The Geological Display will be completed with all drill core and ore specimens from the Sullivan and other area mines in jewellery type glass displays before our 2018 operating season begins May 19, 2018. Besides all the volunteer work on this project, funding was obtained from Columbia Basin Trust administered by the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance with matching funding from a combination of the City of Kimberley, Tourism Kimberley, and several exploration and mining companies plus original funding from the CBT Community Initiatives Program administered by the Regional District of East Kootenay.
Another project undertaken in 2017 was paving an additional piece of parking lot between the Station and Miner’s Cabin. This improved the amount of paved parking access to our Station area buildings and improved drainage in this area subject to Spring flooding. This funding was from a 2017 grant from the CBT Community Initiatives Program administered by the RDEK. A third grant received in 2017 was a Columbia Basin Trust Built Heritage Planning Grant to do a needs assessment to upgrade the Powerhouse infrastructure. This study will be done in the Spring “when the snow melts”.
The Joint Heritage Marketing Campaign between Kimberley’s Underground Mining Railway, Fort Steele Heritage Town and the Cranbrook History Centre continued throughout the year. Some Digital Marketing on the Weather Network & Trip Advisor was undertaken as part of our joint marketing. Our usual marketing, utilizing the local media also continued through our operating season. We worked closely with the Kimberley Riverside Campground to cross market our facilities at every opportunity.
Turning to our finances, our Society continues to operate “in the black” without grants when dealing with the yearly operating and maintenance expenses. Our biggest single expense next to seasonal paid wages for 12 employees including several students is insurance. We also have five commercial Hydro meters which is also a major expense. Each year we request a grant from one or more sources to cover the cost of a betterment project for our facilities.
Trip Advisor currently rates Kimberley’s Underground Mining Railway “Number 1 of 26 things to do in the area”. Our ability to provide a first-class unique attraction at a very reasonable cost is made possible by our many hard working and very talented volunteers and seasonal employees. I also need to credit several local suppliers and contractors who give us “a break” on their supplies and services plus the support of the City of Kimberley.”
The Mining Railway opens for the season on the May long weekend.