Randy Schnarr (left), who will head the “Riding the Rails” project at Bruce County Museum stands with Doug Huber, a fireman who worked on the local lines in the 1950s including #1532, the steam train depicted on the life size mural at the Southampton Market.

Hub Staff

An anonymous donor gifted $15,000 to the Riding the Rails display, a Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre (BCM&CC) project which will feature model trains making their way through the five major centres in Bruce County.

Tying in with the train theme, a cheque was presented at the unveiling of the Steam Train #1532 mural at the Southampton Market August 26. Saugeen Rail Trail President, Joyce Scammell presented the cheque to Randy Schnarr - who will head the Riding the Rails project - and BCM&CC Director and Curator, Cathy McGirr.

See: Steam Train #1532 official unveiling

Each of the towns will be represented in an interactive 12 foot long window box diorama which will be stacked on three levels, explained Schnarr. “They're going to start coming out of Mildmay and then into Walkerton, they'll go up a helix into Paisley on the other side and then Port Elgin, up a helix again and they come into Southampton, so Southampton has the whole top,” he said.

A smaller, 6 foot version of the display was available for people to view inside the Southampton Market the day of the mural unveiling and Schnarr said the idea was to replicate the towns along the way so that people could relive the past. “You get down to eye level it's like being there.”

Schnarr said the research is going to be the most difficult aspect of the project and is currently trying to obtain old pictures of what was around back in the railway days. “Part of the story is not just the trains, it's all of the people and the business along the lines,” said Schnarr. “When we think back to the railway, it was the life blood of Bruce County communities, starting way back in 1872, lasting well beyond the '60s. The railway played a key role in the development of Bruce County,” said Schnarr.

The project will start this fall and is expected to be completed in 2018.

Saugeen Rail Trail President, Joyce Scammell (left) presented a $15,000 cheque from an anonymous donor to Randy Schnarr and Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Director and Curator, Cathy McGirr (right). The funds will go towards the “Riding the Rails” project, which is set to begin this fall and is expected to be completed in 2018.

A smaller version of one of the window box dioramas was on display, August 26, at the Southampton Market to give people an idea of the “Riding the Rails” project which begins this fall and is expected to be completed in 2018.