Hey everyone! It`s a beautiful day in Vancouver
and I`m here are the Vancouver Comics Art
Festival, otherwise known as VANCAF. But we
are at a special place. So before we go inside,
I want to talk about where we are. We`re at
the Roundhouse Community Arts Centre. And
it has some history to it, you won`t see it
as a tourist spot. So I want you to check
it out.
The Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation
Centre is owned and operated by the local
government. The residents may use it for a
variety of community events.
The reason why this place is called the Roundhouse,
is because back in 1888, it used to house
the steam locomotives. It wasn`t until the
1950`s until the diesel locomotive came in
and then the use of this place, it became
extinct. But thankfully to the World Expo
that Vancouver hosted in 1986, the neighbourhood
decided to revamp, renovate this place, making
it one of the most popular pavilion of the
festival. After then, they decided to maintain
it, create a community and arts centre...and
it lives on.
The restoration team took great pains to maintain
much of the original structure as possible.
Connected to this building is a ceiling to
floor glass encased display area that is dedicated
towards the housing and maintenance of a historic
steam locomotive.
This beautiful train behind me is Engine 374.
Its the first locomotive passenger train to
enter in Vancouver back in May 1887. Normally
its sits in its display building. But today
its its 130th anniversary, so its outside!
Woohoo!
Just like the Roundhouse building, this train
was found in a deteriorated state, however,
thanks once again to World Expo 86, the locals
and train enthusiasts rallied together and
restored it to its beautiful condition.
Before we head back inside and leave this
Victoria Day musical interlude, maybe for
a second we can imagine what it must`ve been
like...back in the day.
