Nestled in the Rocky Mountain Trench in the East Kootenay Region of B.C. is the city of Kimberley formerly called Mark Creek Crossing, Kimberley was named in 1896 after the Kimberley mine in South Africa. From 1917 to 2001, it was also home to the world's largest lead-zinc mine, the Sullivan Mine with 300 miles of underground tunnels and 40 miles of underground roadways. Today Kimberley is mainly a tourist destination and home to the ski area of Kimberley Alpine Resort.

The history of the Sullivan Mine and the importance of mining in general, are preserved in the Sullivan Mine Interpretive Centre, here visitors can have a real underground experience.

The Kimberley mining railway has been in existence, in one form or another, for 25 years and has developed into a unique tourist attraction. The railway links the downtown of Kimberley with the site of the old Sullivan Mine surface facilities and recent mine reclamation activities, as well as shuttling riders to the base of the Kimberley Alpine Resort.
The Kimberley Underground Mining Railway is owned and operated by the Sullivan Mine and Railway Historical Society, dedicated to the preservation of the mine's history, with exhibits spread over 161 acres within the Mark Creek Valley, in Kimberley. These exhibits include a small replica of an historical Kimberley theatre, a 1901 original mining school house, a typical 1920 miner's residence and a 250 foot long mine powerhouse fully equipped with turn of the 19th century air compressors.

You can also ride open railcars into rock tunnels where miners will demonstrate their trade underground or perhaps participate in our mining show and be exposed to working mine equipment.

Ride the rails through the beautiful Mark Creek valley as you listen to the history of Kimberley and the Sullivan Mine. Enjoy spectacular scenery and occasional wild life as you travel to the Kimberley Alpine Resort. The train will travel through switchbacks, and up steep slopes and sharp curves, as it winds through the narrow valley, across a 200 foot trestle bridge and through a 750 metre (2,475 ft) tunnel where visitors will get a feel for what it was like underground at the Sullivan Mine.
Rooms off the main tunnel display mining equipment, including a working jackleg.
After a brief stop at the Resort Station you can learn more about Kimberley as you continue back to the Downtown Station.
Many examples of mining related machinery are spread out along the valley floor.

Learn about the $80 million Mark Creek watershed restoration project that has returned native cutthroat trout to once-polluted waters.

Open mid-May to mid-September