There are renovations going on inside the museum lobby, to “create a new ‘wow’ as you go into the grand gallery,” Cordellier says. “If you have a question, they’ll share their passion with you.” Bergeron’s parents, Tamu and Patrick, champion his love of trains with frequent trips to the Exporail museum in St-Constant. “They still want to do their job,” Trottier-Labonne says. The museum has a small staff and relies heavily on volunteers, like the retirees who run the trolley, because the only thing train people like more than talking about trains is driving trains. “Have you seen the crocodile under the bridge?” the conductor asks Nicolas over the screeching of steel against steel. “What’s this X on the ground?” Nicolas asks, and on learning it’s a real live switch that Trottier-Labonne will let him manoeuvre, his “cool” goes on for seconds, till it’s time to get back on the trolley. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Nicolas knows well enough to never let his feet touch the ground when he’s riding the miniature train, so the chance to walk over the tracks is extraordinary. After the tour, guide Darcy Trottier-Labonne takes us on a clandestine walk back over the path, our feet crunching on dry leaves between the rail ties. It sways through the forest, over a bridge and around a bend, through a tunnel where experienced riders yell really loudly and laugh at the echo.
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It’s nearly a full house on the train, which wobbles and shifts, especially on turns. Keep your feet off the ground or it will stop. “You have to hang on because this train is pretty fast. His favourite parts of it are the engine, the caboose and the bits in the middle. It’s like a long, low sawhorse that riders straddle, their feet on platforms on either side. “This train was made a long time ago,” Nicolas says. We get off at the stop that has a miniature train ride through the woods. There’s a bright yellow trolley waiting to take us on a ride through the rail yards and past Barrington Station. The entrance to the museum is through a row of thick trees and across a bridge built over a wide brook. “Keep your feet off the ground or it will stop.
Article content “You have to hang on because this train is pretty fast,” says Nicolas Bergeron, on the miniature train with his mother.