Have you ever wondered where the original Stanley Park train went?

In the late 1940s, Provincial Chief Engineer John Armstrong built a miniature steam engine and train in his basement in Victoria, cutting a hole in the wall of his house to get it out onto tracks laid in the neighbourhood. The railway soon became too big an attraction for his community. In 1947 the Vancouver Parks Board picked a location in Stanley Park that was to eventually become the new home for Armstrong’s railway.

Ted Humphrey bought the train from the Parks Board in the mid 1960’s. Ted owned Acme Pallet Company in North Vancouver and he was an imaginative entrepreneur with a dream. He wanted to create an amusement park and the Stanley Park train became part of a collection of merry-go-rounds, go-karts, trampolines and other amusement rides.

Ted’s family contacted my friend Brian Croft and arranged a meeting to view the train. With us was historian and author Henry Ewert and Don Evans, President Emeritus of West Coast Railway Association.

Ted and his son Chris were there to unveil the train. There it was, as beautiful as the last day it chugged through Stanley Park. We also saw its coal tender and a number of rail cars that carried thousands of children in its years of service.

Ted and his family want to find out more about the history of the train. If you have photographs of the original train between the years 1947 and 1963 or you know more about John Armstrong, email [email protected] and he will send them along to Ted.