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THURSDAY
Thursday, August 8, 2013 X Volume 26 No. 63
Kamloops, B.C., Canada X 30 cents at Newsstands
THIS WEEK
Search for pilot continues
From the Tournament Capital to the Transplant Games Page A16 Thompson River Publications Partnership Ltd.
Kamloops Heritage Railway Society director Art Styles (left) and new recruit Mark McGillveray work on the 2141 steam engine. The work is part of a three-phase project to get the train back in use. You can donate at Kelly’s Caboose, 634 Victoria St. Andrea Klassen/KTW
By Andrea Klassen STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
As search and rescue crews scoured the area northwest of Kamloops Lake for signs of a single-prop 172 Cessna plane or its pilot for a second day, David Cruz of TylAir Aviation Ltd. said staff at the Kamloops flight school are waiting and hoping their student will return home safely. “We’re waiting for search and rescue to hopefully find him and he’ll be well and healthy and returned to his family,” Cruz said. The pilot took off from Kamloops Airport in the four-seat training plane on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at 10:30 a.m. for what was supposed to be about a twohour flight, performing exercises in the area near Kamloops Lake. “He was cleared by his instructor to go out into this area and not venture off from there,” Cruz said. “Once those exercises were complete with the circuits, he was to return at 12:45 p.m. yesterday [Aug. 6]. When he was not at the tarmac at 12:45 p.m., the company immediately dispatched two planes to search for him in the area he was supposed to be.” X See TEENAGER A3
BEGINNING TO GET TRAIN BACK ON TRACK By Dale Bass STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
W
HEN YOU’VE SPENT AS MUCH time working on the 2421 steam engine as some Kamloopsians have, you know where every bolt belongs. Despite that intricate knowledge, the folks who started this week to strip the powerplant for the heritage train will take another seven or eight weeks to take it apart. They need to do that to let inspectors check out how much work is needed to get a federal operating licence the society that runs the train needs to get it back on track. Brian Kelly, a director with the Kamloops Heritage Railway Society, said volunteers “who
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know the engine inside and out” gathered at the society’s workshop, where the engine is housed, with an eye to identifying everything that needs to be done, information the city has requested and which Kelly said the society promised to provide by October. This part of the three-phase project to get the train back taking tourists throughout the Kamloops area will cost about $54,000, which the city has provided. The final price tag could go as high as $400,000 to complete the repairs, society members were told at their annual general meeting in June. That makes fundraising vital, Kelly said, and much of it is centred at his store — Kelly’s Caboose at 634 Victoria St. — where people are dropping off donations.
It’s not all cash and cheques, though. Retired railroaders and train enthusiasts have been bringing in memorabilia to be sold, with the proceeds going to the society’s fundraising campaign. So far, about $24,000 has been collected. “And this is without starting to write letters to the big corporations,” Kelly said. He’s hoping the average-person fundraising continues to be a success because, from his point of view, it’s better to go into an office to ask for money with a funding foundation established. “There are two ways you can do things,” Kelly said. “You can go to people with your cap in your hand or you can go and say. ‘Look, we’ve busted our butts, so what can you do to help us?’ “Which do you think will work best?”
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