I'm writing on behalf of the South Peace Centennial Museum in Beaverlodge, Alberta.
I do not know if you are aware of this museum or not. As of last year (1995) we were running seven traction steam engines in our annual field day. All engines and engineers are government certified, tested, and inspected for safe public operation. There is the possibility of a eighth engine joining us for 1997.
I'm currently just a member of the Museum but I want to try to introduce the museum into a larger influential group since I believe we have a fantastic deal going here.
The most important reason for this message is that myself (at 23) plus a few others (one is 24, another is 18, etc.) are turning into engineers (fully qualified by government standards) but have little knowledge of the real practices of Steam Engineers of their Glory Age except for the VERY FEW fine engineers I(we) have trained under. You may, or may not have heard of Harry Burt, Ted McLean, Gordon McLean, David McLean, Allan Lowe, Bob Gunn, & Murray Lay, just to name a few.
But we need more influence!!!(A.K.A. VISITORS!!!!) More knowledge! Different opinions! We have 23 potential Fireman exam writers trained under the watchful eye of John Kvill eager to run steam engines.
To sum it up: We're knowledgeable, excited, enthusiastic, qualified, well trained; but ISOLATED!
Anyone properly trained with proper references may have a chance of running an engine (at Gord's discretion of course) but we love visitors!
Hope to see you soon!
You can get messages to the museum or info from me at:
Stuart Foster sfoster@agt.net