Ontario's five Christmas trains cover the whole range of its heritage scene. The streetcars do it in Milton, where the Halton County Radial Railway's Christmas on the Rails fills the first two weekends of December. The country railways do it at Port Stanley, whose Santa trains run through November and December, and at St. Jacobs, where the Waterloo Central Railway runs Christmas trains from mid-November to just before Christmas.
Further out, the Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario runs North Pole Express dates from Smiths Falls in late November and December, and Huntsville's Portage Flyer holds a Christmas train day in mid-to-late December. None of these is a spectacle on the licensed Polar Express scale — that production runs only in Alberta — and that is rather the point: these are community railways dressing up for their biggest family weekends of the year, and the smaller ones sell out their best dates.
The trains
Heritage streetcar museumOperating
Milton, ON · Ontario
SeasonMay-Oct weekends/holidays, Thu-Mon Jul-Aug; early Dec Christmas on the Rails
Full-size vintage streetcars and interurbans carry you over 2 km of track at Ontario's electric railway museum near Milton — ride as much as you like on one admission, and come back in December for Christmas on the Rails.
⚠ Planning a late-season visit? The museum's own website disagrees with itself about November — one page says closed for the month, another says open weekends until November 1. Confirm before you go.
Narrow-gauge heritage trainOperating
Huntsville, ON · Ontario
SeasonMid-May to early Oct (2026: May 16-Oct 10), Tue-Sat; Dec Christmas train
The little Portage Flyer — 1926 steam in summer, a 1948 diesel in the shoulders — runs 1 km along the Muskoka River between Rotary Village Station and Fairy Lake, reviving the old portage railway that once linked Huntsville's lakes, plus a Christmas train in December.
Heritage tourist railwayOperating
Port Stanley, ON · Ontario
SeasonMay-Dec; weekends spring/fall, Wed-Sun Jul-Aug, Santa trains Nov-Dec
Hour-long scenic rides from the Lake Erie beach town of Port Stanley toward St. Thomas, running through most of the year — murder-mystery dinner trains in September and Santa trains to finish it.
Museum caboose ridesOperating
Smiths Falls, ON · Ontario
SeasonEvent-based year-round; regular caboose rides Sundays Jul-Aug plus holiday specials
Short caboose rides from a 1912 station in Smiths Falls, run as a season of event days — Easter, Mother's and Father's Day trains, Sunday rides through summer, Thanksgiving, and the North Pole Express in late fall.
Heritage railwayOperating
St. Jacobs, ON · Ontario
SeasonApr-Oct regular Heritage Hopper Thu/Sat (Tue Jul-Aug); Nov-Dec Christmas specials
The Heritage Hopper links Waterloo with the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market, the village of St. Jacobs and Elmira — hop on and off through the season — then gives way to Christmas trains from mid-November.
Halton County Radial Railway: Christmas on the Rails, the first two weekends of December.
Muskoka Heritage Place - Portage Flyer: A Christmas train day in mid-to-late December.
Port Stanley Terminal Rail: Santa trains through November–December.
Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario: North Pole Express dates in late November and December.
Waterloo Central Railway: Christmas trains from mid-November to just before Christmas.
The full picture: this page is one province's
slice of the Christmas trains calendar, which
covers every holiday train in Canada — and the
Ontario directory page lists this
province's railways for the whole year, not just the holidays. Seasons here are
typical patterns from the operators' own calendars — always confirm this year's
dates with the operator before you travel.
