My husband, mother, and I had a family wedding to attend near Cranbrook this past weekend, and we had some time to kill Friday morning before heading up to the wedding venue. Because it was near our hotel (and there wasn't anything else to do), we decided to go to the Cranbrook History Centre. We arrived shortly after 11am and the employee told us there was a railcar tour starting at 11:15am, so we purchased tickets for the tour.
Cranbrook is known for the Canadian Pacific Railway building a line through the town in 1898 (something I didn't know before I went to Cranbrook; in fact, I didn't know anything about Cranbrook before our trip). The history centre offered several tours of original (and partially refurbished) railcars, running from 20 minutes to two hours. We went on the 45 minute Comparative Tour, in which we had a tour of several railcars from the 1920s to the 1970s.
The tour guide, Georgia, was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. We learned a lot of interesting facts, such as the whisky, Crown Royal, was created for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II's tour of Canada. It was quite interesting seeing the different trains and learning about the history of rail travel. One of the trains we were on had had several famous people ride it, including the Kennedys, Winston Churchill, and Queen Elizabeth II.
After the tour, we looked around the rest of the museum. It was a small museum, but the exhibits were interesting and worth a look, especially the room with the elaborate model railway (it was pretty amazing). Plus, at $6 for admission ($4 for seniors), you can't complain. The price of the tour, which included admission, was a reasonable $19 for adults/$15 for seniors.
If you are ever in Cranbrook, I highly recommend taking a railcar tour at the Cranbrook History Centre. It's inexpensive, and what else is there to do in Cranbrook?
[Yelp collections: Cranbrook; Museums and Art Galleries; Cheap Thrills] read more