Toronto area Heritage Railways

[dibber25]

I'm in Toronto for one Sunday in August. There seems to be two Heritage railways which both operate only on Sundays, the York-Durham and another whose name escapes me. York-Durham seems to be Heritage diesels, the other is steam. Their websites don't give nearly enough information about either access or journey length. They give the journey duration, but some preserved railways can drag a very short run out to take a long time. Neither seems particularly easy to get to by public transport. So, is either of them worth the effort?

CHRIS LEIGH

[Adrian Wintle]

South Simcoe Railway http://www.steamtrain.ca/

York Durham Heritage Railway http://www.ydhr.ca/

 

I haven't been to either, despite living in Newmarket (about half way between them).

 

It might be possible to get to Stouffville (YDHR) on GO Transit, but I can't check at the moment because GO Transit's website is down for maintenance (in the middle of the morning commute - go figure). EDIT: Here is the current schedule - lots of bus trips to Stouffville, less to Uxbridge. http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/PDF/Timetables/CurrentBoard/Table71.pdf

 

Access to Tottenham (SSR) is more problematic, and not really possible without a car,

 

I would think that the scenery on the two would be similar; farmland and some forest. The SSR crosses the main CP line to the north and west, while the YDHR goes past the GO Transit Lincolnville storage yard.

 

Tottenham to Beeton (SSR) is 8.5km by road - slightly less by rail.http://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Tottenham,+New+Tecumseth,+ON&daddr=Beeton,+New+Tecumseth,+ON&hl=en&sll=44.03994,-79.182896&sspn=0.200895,0.331306&geocode=FdS6nwIdZUM--yl34npyyeYqiDG0KWbbHe1prQ%3BFTqYoAIdhZY--ymVQqRGLeYqiDEe1YXX5hLJgg&oq=Beeton&mra=ls&t=m&z=13

 

 

Stouffville to Uxbridge (YDHR) is 22 km by road - pretty much the same by rail. http://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Stouffville,+ON&daddr=Uxbridge,+ON&hl=en&sll=44.050816,-79.801576&sspn=0.100429,0.165653&geocode=FRrwngIdBNRG-ymBRgjufC3ViTE3ZRs_0AKc9Q%3BFVsOoQIdjLdI-ynxAIfK4zvViTE-zh0OvjIVRg&oq=Uxbridge&mra=ls&t=m&z=12

 

 

 

Adrian

[davknigh]

A couple of other possibilities for you Chris. Waterloo Central Railway, http://www.steam-train.org/ and the Halton County Radial Railway http://www.hcry.org/ You would need a car to get to either one though :-(

 

HTH

 

David

[sjgardiner]

I'm in Toronto for one Sunday in August. There seems to be two Heritage railways which both operate only on Sundays, the York-Durham and another whose name escapes me. York-Durham seems to be Heritage diesels, the other is steam. Their websites don't give nearly enough information about either access or journey length. They give the journey duration, but some preserved railways can drag a very short run out to take a long time. Neither seems particularly easy to get to by public transport. So, is either of them worth the effort?

CHRIS LEIGH

 

I've strangely enough never done either, though i've been to South Simcoe to see the locomotive in action, but never ridden it.

 

I have done Halton County, its more than worth the effort if you have any interest in traction.

 

If you are stuck in the City with no Public Transit escape, the shameless side of me suggests visiting us at the Toronto Railway Museum, we're conveniently downtown by the CN Tower and Union Station.  Depending on the date, we are always open to arranging special tours or opening up the cabs of 6213 or 4803 for long distance visitors. - www.trha.ca

 

-Stephen

 

EDIT: To be fair, their websites don't really address public transit access, as it just isn't how 99.9% of their patrons who are not in an organized group outing on a bus would arrive, The Greater Toronto Area public transit system just isn't set up to accommodate that.

[dibber25]

Thanks, guys. I'm in Toronto for six days so I'll be sure to go by the Museum at the John Street roundhouse. I've been the past two years and visited it both times, (just the outside exhibits) when the LSWR 4-4-0 was there for the 'Railway Children' and last year when things were back to normal. Previously I stayed at the Sheraton but this time I'm at the Westin Harbour Castle which seems to be an equally easy walk. I was thinking about heritage railways simply from the point of seeing something different and maybe taking a ride. Especially as they operate on a Sunday when things at Union station are pretty quiet. The trolley museum looks to be a possibility, too, but the other link doesn't seem to work. Thanks, again. I need to find my way out to the Credit Valley store, too, as I have a freightcar to collect.

CHRIS LEIGH

[Adrian Wintle]

Another sunday option might be the weekend GO train service, either to Barrie or to Niagara Falls.

http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/updates/seasonal2013/Barrie_Seasonal_Schedule.pdf

http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/updates/seasonal2013/Table12.pdf

 

You can get close to CVR on a GO bus (Lisgar station, Milton line schedule) http://www.gotransit.com/publicroot/en/PDF/Timetables/NextBoard/Table21.pdf

or you can take the TTC Subway to Kipling and deal with Mississauga Transit from there.

 

Adrian

[BR60103]

South Simcoe has 2 steamers but I;m not sure if either or both are currently undergoing major rebuild.

Waterloo Central has steam on weekends (I think).

Everything else is diesel.(excepty the trolley museum).

 

The trolley museum is closest (I think) to the GO bus, and only a mile or two walk down the country roads. If the bus will stop at that corner.

 

Even our heritage railways are impossible to access without a car.

[sjgardiner]

CPR 136 at South Simcoe is back and running. Chris, please pm me to let me know when you are in town so I can either meet you at the TRM or make sure our manager knows you are coming to arrange to show you about.

 

Stephen

[Adrian Wintle]

Even our heritage railways are impossible to access without a car.

 

As I mentioned above, the GO bus should be able to drop you at the station for the YDHR (Stouffville).

 

Adrian

[BR60103]

Here are South Simcoe's two steamers (plus another) back when they were owned by CPR -- over 50 years ago -- on a fantrip.

 

 

[dibber25]

Well, I got to visit the York-Durham Heritage line a week ago, and what a nice little railway it is! About 12 miles, they said, of old Grand Trunk line with a beautiful GTR station at Uxbridge as its HQ. Some interesting stuff in the yard including de-powered Budd RDCs awaiting some further work to prepare them for haulage, and two Alco RS3s. When the train arrived it was an RS11 pulling three de-powered Budd RDCs, a baggage car and a caboose. The ride was slow and pleasant without being spectacular. About two thirds of the way there's a stop in order to await the OK to proceed on CN track to reach the GO station at Stouffville. There's no run-round there, so the train propels as far as the YDHR track, where there's a loop. Good value, enjoyable and nice friendly people. Only disappointment is that the room with lace curtains which looks like a station restaurant, turned out to be a museum and there was no food available anywhere, apart from sweets and soft drinks on the train. Opportunity to enhance their takings if there was a better food service? Glad I made the effort to get out there (a bit over an hour on the bus from Toronto Union) and really enjoyed it.

CHRIS LEIGH

 

[dibber25]

A couple more pictures. At first I thought the Budd car was a control car for propelling but it wasn't used that way and the loco ran round. A push-pull operation would certainly have been simpler than what they did.

One of the two Alco RS3s. Both looked to be in working order but were not being used.

Final shot is at Stouffville, where the GO station is used. The building here is modern but they've done such a good job with both GO and VIA stations in many places that it is pretty difficult to tell whether its a recent structure in old style or an old building updated with more modern doors and windows.