Southern Ontario - places to visit

[salop89a]

Hi,

 

I am planning to visit my cousin in Southern Ontario (Windsor) next May/June for the 1st time and am looking for suggestions for railroad places of interest to visit in the area.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Basil

[mdvle]

I am planning to visit my cousin in Southern Ontario (Windsor) next May/June for the 1st time and am looking for suggestions for railroad places of interest to visit in the area.

 

While I can't provide any suggestions it will be easier for others if you can indicate how long your visit will be, what is your ability to travel (are you renting a car, borrowing from cousin, not very mobile), and can you / are you willing to cross the border into the US.

[GP9u]

The trouble with even Southern Ontario is it's big.  Really big.  But if you happen to fly into Pearson, there are a few places worth a look en route to Windsor if you have a car. You'd need one or two overnights to make your way down to Windsor for sure.

 

If you like class 1 action you can check out CP and CN around the GTA. CP at Guelph Junction, CN at Paris and both at Bayview Junction are kind of en route. If you like shortline action, a bit further west you could check out GEXR (some about to be handed back to CN) and OSR around Kitchener-Waterloo, Salford, Stratford, maybe even Goderich if you have the time/stamina. Also there's rumoured to be a half-decent O scale modern shortline layout in Waterloo (actually it's in my basement) that you'd be welcome to operate if of interest*.  

 

* Assuming it's not 1st week of May as I'll be in England for a wedding.

 

If passenger trains are your thing, you will see VIA all the way, and GO Transit out to KW.  Somewhat sparse compared to UK action though!    

 

I'm not so up on Windsor but there are the tunnels to Detroit plus CP, CN, ETR and VIA. Here's an idea of what you might see in Windsor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmBWgq4Mt9M

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSkXEL4dT78

 

HTH,

 

Pete

Edited September 20, 2018 by GP9u

[salop89a]

The trouble with even Southern Ontario is it's big.  Really big.  But if you happen to fly into Pearson, there are a few places worth a look en route to Windsor if you have a car. You'd need one or two overnights to make your way down to Windsor for sure.

 

If you like class 1 action you can check out CP and CN around the GTA. CP at Guelph Junction, CN at Paris and both at Bayview Junction are kind of en route. If you like shortline action, a bit further west you could check out GEXR (some about to be handed back to CN) and OSR around Kitchener-Waterloo, Salford, Stratford, maybe even Goderich if you have the time/stamina. Also there's rumoured to be a half-decent O scale modern shortline layout in Waterloo (actually it's in my basement) that you'd be welcome to operate if of interest*.  

 

HTH,

 

Pete

Hi Pete,

 

Thanks for the information (and the kind offer).

 

Plan at the moment is to fly to Toronto Pearson and spend a couple of days sightseeing before taking the train to Windsor. I am not planning to hire a car and will be reliant on my cousin for transport in the Windsor area.

 

At the moment I am looking at being in Canada for late May/early June.

 

Basil

[GP9u]

Hi Basil,

 

You're welcome!  If you do decide you want some railfan action en route, you could get off a VIA train at Kitchener, Woodstock or Ingersoll and I could bring you to a few local spots for OSR and GEXR. Chris (dibber25) and I had a fun day doing that when he was over 3 years ago, thanks to OSR webmaster and railfan Walter Pfefferle. LMK nearer the time if of interest and I'll see what I can rustle up.

 

Pete

[sjgardiner]

Hi Basil,

 

You're welcome!  If you do decide you want some railfan action en route, you could get off a VIA train at Kitchener, Woodstock or Ingersoll and I could bring you to a few local spots for OSR and GEXR. Chris (dibber25) and I had a fun day doing that when he was over 3 years ago, thanks to OSR webmaster and railfan Walter Pfefferle. LMK nearer the time if of interest and I'll see what I can rustle up.

 

Pete

 

Having the current week between jobs means I've finally gotten out to chase the OSR.  It's a great way to spend part or all of a day if you get the weather and have a car.  It's easy to follow, their crews are on the radio for communications as they are switching and moving about.  Pictures and Videos from Monday this week are linked below:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55976115@N00/shares/23DWxK

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpysJVgYaxw3LdUUDoRxDVOBNoLURkhyV

 

Cheers

 

Stephen

[salop89a]

Having the current week between jobs means I've finally gotten out to chase the OSR.  It's a great way to spend part or all of a day if you get the weather and have a car.  It's easy to follow, their crews are on the radio for communications as they are switching and moving about.  Pictures and Videos from Monday this week are linked below:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55976115@N00/shares/23DWxK

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpysJVgYaxw3LdUUDoRxDVOBNoLURkhyV

 

Cheers

 

Stephen

Thanks for the links. Some great photos there.

[Covkid]

Just seen this thread

 

We have friends in Burlington and went out to stay with them for a few days several years ago, flying into Toronto. We mostly did the standard family stuff including Niagara, but they kindly stopped en route so I could have a quick look at a yard.  There were a number of locos parked up there, but also stopped by a lock on the Welland canal and watched a "laker" come through which was an amazing sight.

 

Another trip we made was out to the Guelph transport museum which was not far from their home. This included a ride on a preserved interurban car and a look at the wealth of vehicles waiting preservation. Sadly didn't have chance to spend any time at the Railroad yards in Guelph but it looked really interesting.  

 

A couple of months after that visit we went on a holiday to Stowe in Vermont which involved flying into Boston then driving a hire car up through New Hampshire and into Stowe. Beautiful area and some lovely touring.  The middle weekend we arranged to meet our friends at "Thousand Islands" so we drove to Burlington (VT) and went across Lake Champlain on a ferry into NY state, then drove across to the bridge over the Hudson river into Canade, then through Kingston to the hotel. After the weekend we stayed on the Canadian bank of the river to drive eastwards then crossed back into Vermont and back to Stowe. 

 

Plenty to do if you want to do it, but a car is more useful to you than doing public transport I think.

[mdvle]

Another trip we made was out to the Guelph transport museum which was not far from their home. This included a ride on a preserved interurban car and a look at the wealth of vehicles waiting preservation.

 

Would have been the Halton County Radial Railway, actually in Milton https://hcry.org/

[Gordon H]

_{There is also the Elgin County Railroad Museum in St Thomas.}

_{http://ecrm5700.org/}

 

_{Moving down in scale a bit from the real thing, there is the St Jacobs & Aberfoyle O Gauge display.}

_{Mostly open at weekends.}

_{http://stjacobsmodelrailway.com/}

[GP9u]

Well now Basil, the excellent St. Jacobs and Aberfoyle is 10 minutes from my house. So if you do visit there, you'll pretty much have to come by here for an ops session!  .    

 

Pete

[salop89a]

Well now Basil, the excellent St. Jacobs and Aberfoyle is 10 minutes from my house. So if you do visit there, you'll pretty much have to come by here for an ops session!  .    

 

Pete

Thanks, Pete

[Covkid]

Would have been the Halton County Radial Railway, actually in Milton https://hcry.org/

Yes. That's the one. Thanks for the link.  We had a ride on London & Port Stanley No 8 - a fine beast !!!

Edited October 28, 2018 by Covkid