Niagara Railway Museum 2026 season is focused on restoration work and a donated 30-by-13-foot model railway that the museum hopes to have running by July. The volunteer-run site at 21 Warren Street in Fort Erie opened its 29th season two weeks ago.

Niagara Railway Museum 2026 season adds exhibits
The Eric & Darren Davis National Pacific Railway model. Credit: NFR Conventions

Why the Niagara Railway Museum 2026 season stands out?

At the Fort Erie museum, several locomotive restoration projects are moving ahead alongside the reassembly of the National Pacific Railway model, donated by Darren Davis. The 1:87 scale layout was built over 35 years by his father, Eric Davis, before the family gave it to the museum last year.

Among Canadian railway enthusiasts on Facebook, the National Pacific Railway model was already one of the best-known layouts. For returning visitors to the Niagara Railway Museum, its size and detail make it a visibly different addition.

The model includes more than 140 buildings, a six-foot scratch-built bridge and a mainline trestle measuring 225 feet long and 110 feet high. It also has two operating streetcar lines, a Petro-Canada refinery, working traffic lights and neon signs. Before it could be shown in Fort Erie, the layout was dismantled, moved from Burlington and rebuilt piece by piece inside the museum shop.

Restoration work remains central to the Fort Erie museum

Ken Jones founded the Niagara Railway Museum in 1994 with a small collection of documents and photographs. Over time, it has become one of Ontario’s larger railway collections, with four steam locomotives and a collection size that Jones places around fifth or sixth in the province.

The only other museum in Ontario with more than four steam locomotives is in Ottawa. That comparison gives the Fort Erie site a stronger heritage profile than its early collection might suggest.

This season, one locomotive is getting a full cleaning and repaint for the first time in years. A second locomotive cab and two rail cars are also due for more work. “Being able to show something different when people come back is an important thing to me,” said Jones.

Several new members have joined the museum this year, giving the organization more capacity to move restoration work forward. Still, Jones said the Niagara Railway Museum faces the same problem as several private heritage groups across Fort Erie: a shortage of volunteers. “And it’s harder to get younger people involved,” said Jones.

RailDays and nearby railway attractions

Jones recently met with Clark Bernat, the Town of Fort Erie’s new manager of culture and museums. Bernat oversees the Fort Erie Railway Museum on Central Avenue, a short distance from the Niagara Railway Museum.

That proximity is already affecting how some visitors plan their trips. Jones said two families returned this season specifically after discovering that the Fort Erie Railway Museum was within walking distance of the Niagara Railway Museum. “There’s four attractions right here, within two miles of each other, that’s a big draw right in town,” said Jones.

For the Niagara Railway Museum RailDays event in September, Bernat has agreed to open and staff the Fort Erie Railway Museum, which is generally closed to visitors during the off-season. Jones described the arrangement as useful cooperation for both the town and the museums. “It’s great for cooperation and great to get people into the town,” said Jones.

RailDays is planned for September 29. The Niagara Railway Museum is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until October.