Another sold out season for Summerland’s KVR Christmas Express

SUMMERLAND – All aboard for Summerland’s Kettle Valley Steam Railway’s Christmas Express, if you’re lucky enough to have tickets that is.

The train begins its Christmas runs on Dec. 10, but if you haven’t booked by now, you might be out of luck for a seat on the increasingly popular seasonal tour.

Railway General Manager Ken Orford says the tours are sold out, including two extra trains running on Dec. 12. There is a waiting list, with the odd seat possibly still available.

“We’d have to look, but it might be on a day the passenger can’t make it,” he says.

The railway’s Christmas run is a 90-minute journey on the only 10 miles of track left on the Kettle Valley Railway. The tour runs through Summerland vineyards and orchards as well as providing a sweeping vista of Lake Okanagan as it crosses the Trout Creek bridge, 238 feet above the creek.

Two trains will operate daily at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 10, 11 and 12, and again the following weekend on Dec. 17 and 18, as well as Dec. 19, 20, 21 and 22.

Orford says the excursion sold out last year as well and they've been discussing how they might expand their Christmas operation.

“Unfortunately, we run into Christmas. We have to give our people Christmas off and what the public doesn’t realize is the train takes two days to fire up and three days to cool down. It has to be staffed during those periods, so someone will be there right up to Christmas,” he says.

Orford says they have also been discussing the prospect of running a train during the downtown light up.

“Those discussions will be ongoing through next summer,” he says, noting demand is so strong for the Christmas run the railway is having a hard time keeping up with it.

Orford says about 25 per cent of the railway’s customers come from the Lower Mainland, with the majority of customers coming from valley cities like Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton.

For more information on the Christmas Express, see the Kettle Valley Steam Railway website, or call them at 1-877-494-8424.

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