Stanley Park Ghost Train 2017

• Author: WantsToTravelMore
• Accommodation: Vancouver Accommodations

Each year the miniature train in Vancouver‘s Stanley Park puts on a ride through the woods where they make a family friendly spooky adventure. This year’s theme is Alien Invasion, which gives nods to all the famous alien abduction themes from the 1950s to the X-Files.

The train itself is a small sized replica (hard for my tall body to squeeze into) of Canadian Pacific Railway Engine #374. This is the first engine to arrive in Vancouver and the original full-sized engine is on display at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre in Yaletown.

But the fun is the wooded environment that on a wet October evening produces its own mist and fog without any technical assistance. On our trip aliens and hapless humans were seen just metres from the train. It was all very imaginative and eerie.

For some kids, the biggest fright was the raccoons who were seemingly working (or ignoring) the crowd. Don’t touch them. They look so cute and fuzzy but are best observed at a distance.

The band was fun. They were singing a great variety of material including David Bowie’s Major Tom.

The images in this gallery are pretty hard to make out. The lighting and the limitations of cell phone cameras are abundant. Just make sure to let the secret agents outside the train see your images, but you may want to give a false name.