We, a retired couple, on 07/23/22 rode the Cape Cod Central Railroad departing Hyannis through the villages of West Barnstable and Sandwich to the Cape Cod Canal and back to Hyannis.

We had no problems with the prepaid parking ($5.00) or getting our tickets. The conductor saw someone else with a backpack and told them that there better not be any outside food or beverage in there or they would be put off the train at the nearest stop with no refund. We had outside food, snack and drinks in our backpack so we hurriedly consumed what we could and took the rest back to the car before boarding.

We booked the Standard Class tickets @ $29.99 each and were able to select the upper section of the Standard Class car. The upper section allows somewhat greater visibility over objects along the way and really has no disadvantage except the climbing of an easy set of stairs. One side of the car has three seats on a side and the other has two. We are the typically larger retired couple and we were very tight sitting next to each other in two seats so we moved to the side with three seats and were much more comfortable. The train wasn’t crowded so no one was disadvantaged by us claiming three seats. The real problem here is that almost all of the seats face backwards from the direction of travel on the initial leg of the trip from Hyannis to the Cape Cod Canal and that forced me to twist my neck awkwardly to try and look forward to avoid getting motion sick from looking backward. I know there isn’t the space to turn the train around after each leg, but it should be turned so the seats face forward on the initial leg since things are more interesting the first time around. I THINK THIS IS A BIG DEAL.

The trip is narrated, but the sound had echoes in the upper seats and I think the speakers were only in the lower seating area. This was distracting and often made in hard to understand. This got worse when we picked up more passengers in West Barnstable including several loud children and much worse on the return trip when a group of adults siting behind us talked loudly the whole way home. The Cape Cod Central Railroad should offer the narration via Bluetooth headphones also so those who want to can tune out the distractions and concentrate on the narration can do so.

Unfortunately the view from the Cape Cod Central Railroad is much like the rest of Cape Cod: You can’t see the Cape for the trees. There were a couple of occasions where you could see marsh and dune areas and parts of the Canal, but 95% of the time all you could see were trees rushing past.

My final conclusion is that while the Cape Cod Central Railroad is reasonably priced at $29.99 each for Standard Class, the inability to hear the narration clearly or to see much of the scenery make it a pretty hard no to repeat and I strongly advise the Cape Cod Canal Cruises as a better alternative unless you are really set on a train trip.