Our Story
The Heritage Railway
At the beginning, in 1994, Mayor Stan Lawlor and Dr. Rod Johnston proposed that North Bay should have a Heritage Railway so its rail history would be preserved and also give rides. It could be located at North Bay’s Waterfront on land owned by the City.
So, with a few volunteers of a railway background, Lawlor and Johnston traveled to Cleveland, Ohio and bought a steam-powered miniature locomotive. As well, they bought a gasoline-powered diesel locomotive and three passenger cars. They did it with a $50,000 loan from the City, guaranteed through Dr. Johnston.
The equipment was brought to North Bay and, during the winter of 1994, the two locomotives and three cars were cleaned and sandblasted and painted the ONR colours, green and yellow.
In the spring, the track bed of 2740 feet was covered with gravel and stone and laid with rails used in mines. At 4:35 the afternoon of Friday, July 29th, 1994, everyone went home, cleaned up and came back for the grand opening. That first holiday weekend the little Heritage Railway operated both engines and three cars and carried 2,800 passengers at $1.00 a ride!
Over the intervening years the equipment continued to be upgraded. The Canadian Pacific donated a used Caboose for an office and storage area. A further diesel-powered locomotive, with three cars was purchased. And, in 2006, a battery-operation “Lucy Dalton” replica engine was built here in North Bay.
In December, 2008 the one millionth passenger was celebrated. On August 31, 2024 the Heritage Railway and Carousel Company had its 30th anniversary and the two millionth passenger!
Information provided byColin Vezina
The Building of Our Carousels
In the summer of 1999 the children of North Bay were enjoying riding on the Heritage Railway, in the city’s waterfront park. Barry Jacobs, a volunteer with the railway, decided that the community needed another attraction. He suggested to Rod Johnston, chair of the company, that they buy a carousel.
Rod loved the idea and went to Edna Scott, a collector of antique carousel horses for advice. This dynamic trio convinced the whole town to join them in making a carousel!
Barry’s job was to adopt out the horses and other components to fund the carousel. Within 4 months all 33 horses were adopted. Rod was to secure funding from all three levels of government. Edna’s job was to design the carousel, figure a way to get the horses carved and convince local artists to volunteer hundreds of hours to paint the horses and all other carousel parts.
Professional carousel designer/maker Chuck Kaparich of Montana carved 28 of the 33 horses, and taught a week-long workshop to locals on how to create their own.
Before the project was finished nine horses (including some spares) were carved by members of the Woodcarvers club, whose previous experience had been limited to decoys. Meanwhile the artists trained by Chuck Kaparich formed teams to train others.
The “rounding boards” and other panels were adorned with original art reflecting life in North Bay. Two interior doors showed characters from the comic “For Better or For Worse”, painted by Lynn Johnston, then a citizen of North Bay.
More than 350 volunteers dedicated three years to the Carousel, which began operation on July 1, 2002—an instant success with residents and visitors.
Winter Wonderland Carousel
As if creating one carousel was not enough, volunteers took on the task of creating a second, one-of-a-kind Winter Wonderland (animals of Northern Ontario) carousel. This was designed by Edna Scott, carved by North Bay Carousel Carvers and painted by local artists. This smaller carousel has a Christmas theme, with Santa’s sleigh and comfy chair. This second carousel opened in July of 2005.
Adapted from an article in The Carousel News & Trader
written by Pat Stamp