Calgary boy's love of the D40LF bus gets Calgary transit on board for his 9th birthday bash
Ryan Rumbolt | CBC News | Posted: January 5, 2018 12:40 AM | Last Updated: January 6, 2018
Not your average birthday party for one transit-loving youngster
While some kids hold their birthday parties at a swimming pool or playground, one lucky Calgary boy got his wish of a party at a Calgary Transit bus depot.
Alec Hamilton says he became fascinated by trains when he was only two years old, but his passion shifted to buses after an older model D40LF picked him up from school one day.
So when Hamilton heard his favourite bus was being retired from service, he got permission from Calgary Transit to have his birthday party on that very same style of bus.
Don't make them like they used to
Now at nine years old, Hamilton is a walking, talking encyclopedia of the Calgary Transit fleet. He's such a diehard fan that he's even gone as a C-Train for Halloween.
Standing in front of the soon-to-be retired bus, Hamilton points out some the features of the older style D40LF buses that are so close to his heart, noting how the older bus is in the "old Olympic design."
Even his birthday balloons were in the blue and purple colour scheme that stretches down the side of the older buses.
"Another thing is how the route display is green," Hamilton said.
"And that window on the back, that's pretty rare on buses except for the Nova buses over there. And then also there's a curved exhaust pipe which are only on a few buses."
About a dozen of Hamilton's friends piled on to the bus and sang a round of Happy Birthday before digging into a pile of presents, including a miniature version of a CP Rail train car.
Community outreach
Russell Davies, manager of the transit fleet, said Hamilton is so knowledgeable about the fleet that some additional employees had to be called in to answer some of his more technical questions.
"He wanted to come along and see the bus before we took it off the road and we just gave him that opportunity," Davies said.
"It's kind of incredible and he's got a job if he wants one, actually," Davies said with a laugh.
Davies said a unique event like Hamilton's birthday reinforces the role transit plays in the lives of the nearly 280,000 Calgarians who use public transit every day.
"We know how important we are to them and every so often we need to let them know that you're important to us," he said. "It's not just 280,000 people, it's 280,000 Alecs or 280,000 grandparents."
As for Hamilton, he's says he is already eyeing up some new favourite rides once the old D40LF is taken off the road.
"This is my favourite in the whole fleet, but I have some backups when this one gets retired for a new favourite," Hamilton said.
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