Southwest Saskatchewan's newest tourist attraction is starting to really pick up steam.
Eastend Scenic Trains tours have begun going on a few test tours in the area. The vintage iron sees railcars pulled along by a pair of classic rail liners, showing the beautiful scenery around Eastend and the Valley of Hidden Secrets.
The man behind this project is Gary Southgate, a farmer from around North Battleford. He has been heading the effort to bring the project online since 2013.
"I've been buying CPR and CNR passenger-related equipment," Southgate explained. "Most of it is stored in Eastend."
Southgate would like to get the project to a point of regular operations by the end of August. His most recent test drives have all been set up to find any hiccups in the trains and their engines.
Both the engine cars are former Canadian National cars, last in use during the late 1950s and early 60's. Southgate has been having them restored to their original condition, with the paint as close as it can be reproduced.
The excursions themselves will cover a roughly four-hour journey through the area, with plans to hopefully even add a pickup station in Shaunavon.
"We'll probably be adding more cars to the train, but we're just going to start out small with like six or seven, maybe eight cars, for now," said Southgate.
In total, the train has room for 500 people at max capacity, though Southgate doubts they will reach that point.
People can follow Eastend Scenic Rail Tours on Facebook to stay up to date on when the tours officially open, as well as when test tours have availability.