Richard Jamieson knows it takes more than the vision of the Miles Canyon Historic Railway Society to expand the rail service from its current end at Rotary Peace Park to Schwatka Lake.

That's why the society, with the help of $35,000 in territorial and federal funds, is spending the summer exploring just that possibility and whether the community would be "on-board”.

"Get it? On-board,” Jamieson said with a laugh in an interview late Thursday morning.

The interview followed a a breakfast workshop Thursday morning to let community groups, businesses and government know what it is looking at and see what they and the general public think of it through a short survey.

"It needs to be more than a ‘Richard likes trains' (project),” Jamieson said in his Riverdale office.

Since May, Behram Divecha has been in Whitehorse on a contract with the society. He is studying what needs to be done on several fronts to have the society's rail bus, purchased a couple of years ago, serve a proposed extended line to Schwatka Lake.

Along with gauging the support of the community, Divecha has been tasked with looking at any mechanical work, track issues, finances and other matters that would have to be dealt with to make it happen and how long all of that might take.

At the end of it all, he will provide a report to the society, which will then decide whether it can move forward with the entire project, portions of it, or, in a worst-case scenario, not at all.

And while Jamieson and the rest of the society definitely like trains and projects dealing with trains, he believes it is an initiative that goes far beyond that in benefiting the entire community.

"Just imagine,” he said several times as he put forward a vision of the railbus travelling along a route that would see visitors and locals stop at the SS Klondike or other sites along the way if they wished, or simply take the full route out to Schwatka.

That area could then be developed as a major attraction with boat rides, flights, maybe even a hotel, and so on. Partnerships with cruise ship operators could flourish, he said.

With Schwatka then the attraction, the role of the railbus would be clear.

"We become the infrastructure,” Jamieson said. "There's no sense going to Schwatka Lake if there's nothing to go to.”

Divecha's work this summer will be a key piece in determining how the society continues developing its vision.

As he works on the other issues, Divecha is using what he heard from the approximately 50 people who came out, as well as a short survey being circulated throughout town (including at the society's office on First Avenue) about the idea.

The survey asks three questions before providing space where respondents can provide their own specific ideas and thoughts on the railbus.

The three questions ask if the respondent supports rail on the waterfront, if the railbus should be used on the waterfront and would they ride the railbus if it was in operation along the waterfront.

Multiple choice answers of "yes”, "no” or "not decided” can be checked off to indicate where the respondent stands on the matter.

Based solely on the input from the morning event, Divecha said it appears there's support for the project. More than 50 people turned up to take in the presentation, then expressed their interest in seeing the society move ahead on it.

As Jamieson pointed out, the railway society was up against a very busy time of year for businesses and organizations.

The schedule to look at the project meant having the session and doing the survey in that busy period.

The society, however, made an effort to send out both an invitation, then personally call groups like the Tourism Industry Association of the Yukon, various levels of government, and businesses.

The Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce was also involved, spreading word of the event out to its members through is weekly bulletin.

"To us, it's a no-brainer,” chamber president Rick Karp said in an interview Thursday afternoon. As far as when he'd like to see the railbus up and running, "tomorrow would be great,” he said.

From a tourism perspective, he insisted, it would provide a means of transportation to take visitors to attractions like the SS Klondike, the popular eagles' nest on Robert Service Way and attractions that could spring up at Schwatka Lake.

Not only would it be a boon to local business in terms of having more people in the shops and restaurants or maybe even staying a little longer in hotels, but also in helping with summer employment.

As Karp pointed out, those in Whitehorse to work for the summer who are staying at the Robert Service Campground would have another option to get to work rather than perhaps having to walk all the way into the downtown.

The railbus would also serve as a mark of the city's heritage as well.

"Whitehorse grew up around the rail,” he said.

He noted the initiative is one of several initiatives – along with The Old Fire Hall, the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre and Whitehorse Public Library now under construction, the proposal for a wharf and others – that is seeing the Whitehorse waterfront become a major attraction.

"The waterfront is gaining strength,” Karp said. "It's becoming an attraction all on its own.”

Like Jamieson, Karp is confident that while there may be some issues around such things like track placement and street crossings, solutions can be found as has been done in the past with the trolley line.

While the territory is providing a $25,000 Community Development Fund grant to the project, the federal government is providing $10,000.