Earlier this month I managed to nix my regrets about not visiting the Eastern Ontario Train Museum during a recent Smiths Falls trip (during which we narrowly avoided certain disaster at the Hershey factory). My girlfriend and I returned to visit en route to lovely Prince Edward County.

The museum is housed in the old Smiths Falls train station and contains all manner of train-related artifacts, including an extremely elderly fellow who maintains the exhibits along with his equally aged miniature dog. The real attractions are the trains themselves, of course, many of which you can walk through or closely approach. The place looks to be poorly funded, poorly attended, and generally rickety — the best $5.00 I ever spent.

Many of the trains are rotting, decrepit, or in a partial state of restoration. On display are a number of generic box cars and dump cars that were, quite surprisingly, only decommissioned in the very recent past. Some of the more exotic exhibits include a well-hidden 1947 Cadillac M-260 Inspection Car. It literally appears to be a jacked-up Cadillac with flanged steel wheels and a few extra body panels.

As a boy I suppose I exhibited “the usual” interest in trucks, trains, and pretty much any other giant machinery, so having the opportunity to wander through them was not without its childhood thrills. The older wooden caboose cars, in particular, were fun to wander through. As I found out, there really isn’t much to them aside from a spot to cook, read, and sleep.

After leaving Smiths Falls we headed to the absurdly scenic Prince Edward County. The area consists of an armload of scenic small towns and farming areas. There are plenty of attractions to keep you busy if you’re willing to spend a few hours getting lost, finding your way again, and paying $1.35/litre for gas.

A more recent trend, apparently, is the opening of numerous wineries in the area. Some are mediocre, but others are quite impressive (at least according to my bush-league wine assessment skills). We managed to escape with a mere four bottles from two separate wineries. It was probably worth cutting the risk since the roads were probably filled with half-drunk yuppies racing their SUVs to the next wine tasting location. Oh, wait…

For your further viewing pleasure:

Enjoy.