Heather Wright/The Independent

Shirley Scott had an idea for the perfect birthday present for the Town of Petrolia; reviving the Bear Creek Express.
And in a week, with the help of a lot of volunteers including Leland Martin and Dan Brown, that dream became a reality for the Petrolia150 Parade.
The Bear Creek Express was a small train with a steam engine and three cars. Children would head to Bridgeview Park North with two dollars for a ride around the tracks.
Over the years, the train stopped running. It was given to Petrolia Discovery but aged in the buildings at the site. It was moved to the public works yard, but still, it sat idle.
Scott approached the town, hauled the locomotive out of storage and work began to restore it.
“A bunch of volunteers came forward and spent hours putting this together within a week,” Scott said as they prepared the float containing the Bear Creek Express for the parade.
“We’ve been working on it as a secret. The Town of Petrolia didn’t know I wanted it for the parade.”
One of the first people to lay eyes on the newly restored train was Petrolia Deputy Mayor Joel Field. He used to run the train for the children’s rides.
“It was emotional when I pulled up,” he says. “Just to see the kids faces, to see that thing go around, and to know how it went into disrepair for whatever reason…just having it brought back is amazing, like I am so pumped and stoked that it actually choked me up,” Field said.
The deputy mayor said running the train was an “amazing” summer job.
“The kids just absolutely loved it. It was an awesome job. It was a unique thing to run to get it to go, because you had to pull the clutch and almost pop it.”
Laurissa Ellsworth, director of marketing, arts and communications childhood also included the Bear Creek Express. “I remember my parents taking me down there and riding that train around, and that was pretty neat.”
Scott says while the exterior has been restored, more needs to be done. Seats have been ordered and the engine, which has seized up, needs work.
While that work continues, Scott plans to bring it to parades and display it at the Petrolia Farmers’ Market so people can get a glimpse of the train and understand the project. She also hopeful more people will help with the cost of the renovations, adding many businesses have already got on board to help.
Eventually, Scott hopes to see the Bear Creek Express on the rails again, bringing joy to the kids in town. She’s not sure exactly where that might be, although she does think the best home for it may be the Petrolia Discovery.
Wherever the train tracks are laid down, Deputy Mayor Field will be there to support it.
“We love that little train.”