Advice re Agawa Canyon Tour Train?

[RobertInOntario]

To celebrate my impending 50th birthday , my wife & I are thinking about going on the Agawa Canyon train in late-September but are a little concerned about the long journey which is apparently 9 or 10 hours from Toronto. How difficult a drive is it? Just curious if anyone — who has gone on this train trip before -- has any tips or suggestions. I believe you can you do the whole thing in 3 days (i.e. Allow two days for driving in either direction & one day for the train).

One of our concerns is that we’d have to leave our two young sons with friends and would not want to do this for more than three days / two nights — it would be too hard on our friends!

Also, are there more than one tour train? I seem to have come across two different websites/railway companies?! Of course, I'd be interested in going the more retro/1950s train.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.agawacanyontourtrain.com/">http://www.agawacanyontourtrain.com/</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.agawacanyon.com/">http://www.agawacanyon.com/</a><!-- m -->

OK, I've just read further on one of the websites and there ARE two different trains that share the same line. This is all news to me but I'm sure excited if it would be possible to go on a 1950s train. Again, open to advice and feedback.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

[MasonJar]

Rob,

There are excursion trains a lot closer to home.

The fall colours on the Wakefield Steam Train are supposed to be great, although you are going back another 50 years or so...! <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.steamtrain.ca">www.steamtrain.ca</a><!-- w --> . It is only about 5 hours from Toronto, plus there's some great things to see on the way and back.

Here's a decent start <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.canadabyrail.ca/maps/Ontario.html">http://www.canadabyrail.ca/maps/Ontario.html</a><!-- m --> for listings of excursions.

Andrew

[RobertInOntario]

Rob,

There are excursion trains a lot closer to home.

The fall colours on the Wakefield Steam Train are supposed to be great, although you are going back another 50 years or so...! <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.steamtrain.ca">http://www.steamtrain.ca</a><!-- m --> . It is only about 5 hours from Toronto, plus there's some great things to see on the way and back.

Here's a decent start <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.canadabyrail.ca/maps/Ontario.html">http://www.canadabyrail.ca/maps/Ontario.html</a><!-- m --> for listings of excursions.

Andrew

Thanks, Andrew! If we're considering the fall, the Credit Valley Explorer (one good local option) seemed to be booked up on the dates we could go. The Wakefield Steam Train is a good option to think about though.

Our latest half-baked idea was to take the Agawa Canyon train in the late-summer. That way, we might be able to bring the kids, it's not busy at all then, and the prices are cheaper.

Meanwhile, I'll check the Wakefield site...

Cheers,
Rob

[BR60103]

Rob: As I understand it, they operate 2 trains a day. One is the single day return to the canyon; the other is a regular one-way trip the length of the line -- 2 day round trip.
We managed to drive from 400 and 89 to the Soo in one day in a motorhome.
-- reserve your tickets ahead, especially if you want anything special. When we went (30 years ago) you couldn't buy tickets the day of the trip. There should be a hotel down where the train boards.
-- buy gas when you see it. There may only be one gas station in town. When tou turn off 69 onto the TransCanada at Sudbury, there's a gas station visible just beyond on 69; there's no gas station west on the TC for ages!
--The route is 400 - 69 - TC (15?). Don't go to Tobermory for the ferry. The only possible alternate is through Michigan.

[RobertInOntario]

Rob: As I understand it, they operate 2 trains a day. One is the single day return to the canyon; the other is a regular one-way trip the length of the line -- 2 day round trip.
We managed to drive from 400 and 89 to the Soo in one day in a motorhome.
-- reserve your tickets ahead, especially if you want anything special. When we went (30 years ago) you couldn't buy tickets the day of the trip. There should be a hotel down where the train boards.
-- buy gas when you see it. There may only be one gas station in town. When tou turn off 69 onto the TransCanada at Sudbury, there's a gas station visible just beyond on 69; there's no gas station west on the TC for ages!
--The route is 400 - 69 - TC (15?). Don't go to Tobermory for the ferry. The only possible alternate is through Michigan.

Thanks, David. I phoned the railway today and there is a Quality Inn across the road and several others nearby. Thanks also for your feedback about the route. It sounds very straightforward and will be very scenic. I drove to Winnipeg (through Canada) in 1991 and back and one of the few things I remember from the journey was that it was incredibly scenic. I'll still see how this goes, although Andrew has got me thinking about the steam train in Wakefield, QC now! Thanks again, Rob

[galt904]

--The route is 400 - 69 - TC (15?).

The transCanada is highway 17. I can do the trip in 9 hours going 401/400/69/17, and I'm an hour west of Toronto.

[RobertInOntario]

--The route is 400 - 69 - TC (15?).

The transCanada is highway 17. I can do the trip in 9 hours going 401/400/69/17, and I'm an hour west of Toronto.

Thanks! We'd really like to go on this trip but are now thinking of going in the summer (instead of the fall). The train tickets are cheaper then and our schedule is more flexible. Only concern, we'd bring the kids with us -- they would love the train journey -- but will get very restless during a 9-hour car trip!

Rob

[Russ Bellinis]

Rob, a trick my wife and I used when our kids were young was to have the car packed up ready to go the night before departure. Then we would get up very early in the morning. We tried to be out of the house and on the road by 5:00 a.m. Usually I would drive until I got sleepy, and then wake my wife and she would drive while I cat napped. We would stop for breakfast when the kids woke up around 8 or 9 a.m. Immediately the trip for the kids that would have taken 9 hours was reduced to 6. They usually got bored in the car before we reached out destination, but it was an extra 3 hours of not hearing "Are we there , yet?"

[galt904]

In the summer the trip might take a little longer due to cottage traffic...

You could take the ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island to break up the trip, but then you'd have to listen to the kids for 2 hours complaining about only seeing water.

[RobertInOntario]

Rob, a trick my wife and I used when our kids were young was to have the car packed up ready to go the night before departure. Then we would get up very early in the morning. We tried to be out of the house and on the road by 5:00 a.m. Usually I would drive until I got sleepy, and then wake my wife and she would drive while I cat napped. We would stop for breakfast when the kids woke up around 8 or 9 a.m. Immediately the trip for the kids that would have taken 9 hours was reduced to 6. They usually got bored in the car before we reached out destination, but it was an extra 3 hours of not hearing "Are we there , yet?"

Thanks, Russ -- that's not a bad idea! My wife & I are not morning people but if we're disciplined, this might work! It's certainly a good way of speeding up the day and seemingly reducing the hours of travel. Cheers, Rob