If a train has ever stopped you on your way to work or woken you in the night by its rumbling, you need no reminder that Revelstoke is, and has been for a long time, a railway town. The Revelstoke Railway Museum celebrated the opening of its new exhibit, “Revelstoke is a Railway Town,” on Friday, June 24.
The exhibit explores how the railway has shaped the history of Revelstoke. The railway museum invites visitors to discover what it means to live in a railway town and the change and challenges that come with it. The exhibit celebrates the people whose lives were shaped by living in a railway town, from early residents working on the railway to how the industry impacts life today.
The exhibit is the product of multiple donations and the hard work of the museum’s curator, Laura VanZant, summer students, and museum director Jim Cullen.
“The heart of Revelstoke sill beats to the rhythm of the railway,” VanZant said at the event celebrating the exhibit’s opening. She hopes the display will have guests asking questions about what the future of the railway will look like in Revelstoke and Canada.
“Although the exhibit will show you all of the ways the railway in Revelstoke has changed, I hope when you reach the end, you will agree that Revelstoke, in some way, will always be a railway town,” VanZant says.
An exhibit for the community
VanZant and Cullen talk about the process behind the display and how they hope the exhibit will serve the Revelstoke community in a video interview with Mountaineer staff. Click the video below for the full story.