Train Days for Father’s Day and for a good cause

Times Contributor

 

The Aspen Crossing train station in Mossleigh will celebrate Father’s Day weekend with something most fathers like: trains.

“Train Days  at Aspen Crossing is something special for Father’s Day weekend,” said Aspen Crossing owner and founder Jason Thornhill.

“Most fathers and boys like trains and it’s a lot of fun for everybody.” 

There will be model garden trains to marvel at, a small train for kids to ride on, a pancake breakfast, hay rides with a team of heavy horses and much more for dads and families to enjoy.

The  kids’ small train was  built by Ken Sanderman of Three Hills. The train can accommodate 12 kids per ride. Sanderman donates his time and lends Aspen Crossing his train for this weekend. Train rides for the  kids will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with brief stops to rest the train conductors.

“I take turns driving the train with Ken,” said  Thornhill.

For the last seven years the Rocky Mountain Garden Railway Society has also supported Thornhill’s Father’s Day event. Each year members of the society lay down tracks and put up buildings in the 3,500 sq. ft. Aspen Crossing greenhouse. The trains are a 1/24 G or garden scale, or ½ inch to the foot, said the Society’s Lynn Buchanan. The garden model trains will run for the whole weekend.  

“We’re very into trains,” said Buchanan. 

Thornhill has run fundraising Father’s Day events for seven of the eight years since he created Aspen Crossing.  Each year a different charity benefits from the generosity and support of Aspen Crossing and its volunteers and  visitors. Last year the event benefited the  Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, said Thornhill.  This year STARS Air Ambulance will be the beneficiary.

 “Jason is a man with a vision and a mission. He is not done building up Aspen Crossing  yet,” said Buchanan. 

Started as a garden centre in 2004, Aspen Crossing has evolved into all things trains and railroad. There is a museum, a gift shop, an 1887 Pullman restaurant rail car as well as a Canadian Pacific caboose and a campground.

The Train Days event is June 16 and 17. The pancake breakfast from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. is $8 for adults and $4 for kids  aged 12 and under. Other snacks are available after 12:30 p.m. 

Aspen Crossing is located 1 kilometre west of Mossleigh on Highway 24 (also called Highway 547).