Back on the rails: flooding impacts annual fall train tour.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: SAULT STE. MARIE

Just as Sault Ste. Marie was experiencing a nice upswing in U.S. ridership on the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, the city received a blow in early September when dramatic flooding washed out significant rail infrastructure, delaying the start of the tour train season by two weeks.

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A day-long excursion that brings visitors through the Agawa Canyon to experience the changing fall colours, the tour is the Sault's biggest economic driver of the tourism industry. But heavy rain caused massive flooding across the region, damaging critical rail infrastructure, including washing out a bridge over the Root River directly in the path of the tour train.

The train starts running in mid-September when the colours are just starting to turn and goes until after Thanksgiving weekend. The 770-seat passenger train wasn't sold out at the time of the flooding, but the loss was still considerable, said Ian McMillan, executive director of Tourism Sault Ste. Marie.

"It wasn't the worst of times that it could have occurred, but it wasn't the best either," McMillan said, noting the last two weeks of the season are the most popular. "We probably lost, we're thinking, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 6,000 riders over that two-week period, which is a fairly significant economic impact on the community"

An economic impact of $2 million, in fact. The average rider spends two nights in the community, injecting money into accommodations, retail outlets, restaurants and bars, and secondary attractions like the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre.

It's difficult to make up that loss, McMillan said, as many of the later dates, when colours are at their peak, sell out early. Some guests were able to reschedule their dates, but others couldn't as their vacation schedules were already set. Tourism Sault Ste. Marie worked overtime contacting guests who made their reservations online to offer them full refunds.

They also came up with some creative ways to accommodate those who were part of a group tour. For one, arrangements were made to take a guided bus tour along Lake Superior up to Wawa, have lunch in Wawa and make stops along the way.

"That drive from Sault Ste. Marie up to Wawa and Thunder Bay is always represented as one of the top 10 drives in Canada," McMillan said.

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