Photo by Peter Broster, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Upcoming Events
No ticketed events are currently listed for South Simcoe Railway Heritage Corporation. Many heritage operators publish schedules seasonally or run on regular open hours instead of dated events.
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About South Simcoe Railway Heritage Corporation
Settle into a restored 1920s coach at Tottenham for a 50-minute, four-mile excursion through the Beeton Creek valley to Beeton and back, with the conductor narrating the scenery, the line's history, and the railways' place in Canada's story. Trains run from the May long weekend through the weekend after Thanksgiving, joined by Easter Express, Halloween Adventure, and Santa Claus Express specials.
History
Founded in 1992, the South Simcoe Railway in Tottenham, Ontario is the oldest operating steam heritage railway in Ontario and home to the second-oldest operating steam locomotive in Canada — ex-Canadian Pacific 4-4-0 #136, built by Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works in 1883, which helped build the CPR transcontinental across Canada in the 1880s and starred in the 1970s CBC series The National Dream. The railway's driving force was the late Eric "Smitty" Smith, who began serving in 1991 before the public debut and spent decades as president, Operations Manager, and Chief Mechanical Officer until his death in December 2024. Volunteers returned #136 to service in August 2011 after extensive restoration, while sister steam engine #1057, which had hauled excursions since the 2001 season, has been out of service since 2007 awaiting maintenance; as of 2024 trains run behind diesel #703 during #136's planned maintenance. The PBS series Shining Time Station was filmed here and at Toronto's Union Station.
The Trains
The railway owns two ex-Canadian Pacific steam locomotives: 1883 Rogers 4-4-0 A2m #136 and 1912 Montreal Locomotive Works 4-6-0 D10h #1057. Diesel power comprises ex-CP Canadian Locomotive Company D-T-C #22, ex-Norfolk Southern GE 70-ton #703, and Ruston-Hornsby 165DE yard switcher #10. Excursion trains use restored 1920s-era coaches previously owned by the Canadian Pacific, Canadian National, Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo, and Louisville & Nashville railways, while the wider collection holds former Ontario Northland business car #200, a combine serving as a museum, two wooden cabooses and a steel wide-vision ex-CPR caboose, plus a ballast car, boxcars, flat cars, and steam generator cars.
Nearby
Where to Stay
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