800 left without chance to see tourist destination

A mechanical problem left about 800 people without a chance to see the Agawa Canyon by train last Friday, says a CN respresentitive.

“CN unfortunately was forced to cancel the Oct. 2, 2015 Agawa Canyon Tour Train because of an electrical problem with one of locomotives scheduled to haul the train,” said Mark Hallman, director of communications and public affairs for CN.

Hallman said the locomotive was repaired the same day and service resumed Saturday and today.

“CN refunded 100 per cent of the fares paid by the roughly 800 persons who had tickets for the train that day,” said Hallman.

Ian McMillan, executive director of Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, said tour train bookings are the reason many local hotels are at capacity.

“That is pretty typical for the fall, that is certainly the peak season for the Agawa Canyon Tour Train which is the number one consumer driver in the later parts of September and into October,” said McMillan.

He said the cancelled train will have an impact on the season but the tour train has been pacing well ahead of last year’s numbers, in part because of the addition of two additional coach cars added from the ACR passenger train.

The passenger train has not been in operation since mid-summer.

McMillan said the fall colours are a few weeks behind but it should be a good show leading into the Thanksgiving weekend, the last for the tour train season.

We’ve seen years leading up to Thanksgiving weekend there’s not too many leaves. Lots of colour but it was all on the ground,” said McMillan.

He said the busy season underlines why it was so important for CN to run the tour train, after a third-party operator failed to take over the service.

“That’s why the tourism industry and Tourism Sault Ste. Marie were so emotionally involved to make sure it did operate,” he said.

(FILE PHOTO: Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday)