Where We Spent a Wake Window: Burnaby Central Railway
Location & Parking:
Parking: Finding a parking spot was tricky and the roads were quite busy. Since I was flying solo with Gabe in the stroller and Yuyu walking along the main road. It didn’t feel safe to trek from a distant lot that I couldn’t find. My workaround was the Burnaby North Lawn Bowling Club parking across the road from the entrance. To be honest, I’m not sure if I was allowed to park there ( so it’s not a recommendation), but it was later in the afternoon, they had many open spots and I was desperate.
Set your GPS to: 120 N Willingdon Ave, Burnaby, BC V5C 6K1.
Official info: https://bcsme.org/
The Damage Report ($): They are only open Saturday, Sunday, and Stat Holidays (11 am – 5 pm). Lines get long, and they stop selling tickets by 4:30 pm. Tickets are $5 per ride (ages 3+) and must be purchased in person.
Wheely Friendly?
There isn't much room for a stroller in the queue, but they have a convenient stroller parking area. It was a huge help to leave the heavy diaper bag there while I took both kids on the ride.
Pure joy as she gets ready to go through a tunnel.
The Snack Situation:
They have a full concession stand with hot dogs, ice cream, and cold drinks.
The Win: There are picnic tables with shade covers that look incredibly inviting on this hot day. I also noticed they rent out their gazebo for birthday parties, definitely something to keep in mind for locals!
Potty Proximity:
Both the men’s and women’s washrooms have a baby change table, which is always pleasantly surprising.
Mum Musings:
This was a "gold star" outing, no crying from anyone. But the success started before we even left the house.
My Strategic Surprise: I feel like parenting is trying to balance love and honesty with strategic information management. I didn’t tell Yuyu where we were going. I was afraid we might not make it if Gabe didn't wake up from his nap on time, and I didn't want her to blame him if we had to cancel. It turned the whole trip into a beautiful, low-pressure surprise!
A kind lady offered to take a picture of us as we waited in line to get on the train.
The Line-up
The Lineup: Expect a bit of a wait. We stood in a 15-minute line to get on the train which seemed like an eternity with kids. A kind lady saw me solo-parenting and offered to take a photo of us. She told me she wished she had more photos with her own kids when they were that little.
The "Thomas" Magic: Yuyu coincidentally brought her Thomas the Tank Engine book, and in a stroke of luck, our engineer was actually named Thomas! We sat up front and chatted with him while we learned about the 42 different routes. So you can go multiple times and not get bored.
The Scenery: The 1/8 scale train ride takes 10–15 minutes through trees, tunnels, and over bridges. Keep an eye out for little toys in the forest like the Tweety Bird house.
Garden Railway: Don't miss the miniature "Garden Railway". Yuyu was overjoyed to see a tiny Thomas train that matched her book exactly.
Museum & Play: We ended the day at the small train museum. While I didn't get to read much of the history, Yuyu made a friend and they spent time in the "Engineer in Training" stand watching the big trains go by.
Toddler Tolerance Level:
We stayed for about 1.5 hours. Between the wait times, two rides seemed to be the "sweet spot" for us.
Nap Roulette Options?
Because we came in the afternoon, this was enough of an adventure for us. We went home to get ready for dinner.
Author
I’m Mimi, the writer behind Mi & Yu. This blog was born out of a year spent exploring Vancouver with my toddler Yuyu and newborn son Gabe while my husband Jamie worked through a demanding fellowship.
What started as a way to survive the newborn phase turned into a collection of tried-and-tested family adventures, real reviews, tested logistics, and the occasional toddler meltdown included. Now back home in Newfoundland, I’m sharing those adventures so other parents can skip the decision fatigue and get straight to the fun part.
