Colebrookdale Railroad — Attraction in Boyertown

Let me start by saying that the train and station are absolutely beautiful and were a wonderful experience on their own. Staff was very friendly. I probably would have given it 5 stars if I had booked just a coach ticket at $35 per person (maybe). The reason for the low stars is the overall experience to price point.

The meal was so awful and nowhere near the additional $100 the excursion cost. What is advertised was a brunch with an undetermined exact menu but would include fruit, eggs, sausage, french toast bake or pancakes, and oatmeal. No order was taken. No option to indicate food restrictions/preferences was given. No oatmeal was provided or offered. What was received was a small cup of unripe oranges with sour cantaloupe/honey dew, then an hour into the ride two low quality FROZEN blueberry pancakes, a to-go packet of syrup, two pieces of partly raw, mostly under cooked bacon, and a chunk of egg casserole, which had peppers and onions baked in. No peppers and onions were indicated in the potential menu. It's on me for assuming my eggs would be separate from the sausage and not include flavors I don't care for, but it also seems like the "potential" menu could have been more honest and accurate. Also, I was technically supposed to receive two plates, as my companion couldn't attend, but tickets are not refundable so both tickets were checked in and punched. No second meal was brought out (which means the extra $50 paid for that ticket wasn't honored), but I held back my complaint because there was no amount of lost money that would have me try to choke down any more of what was served.

Which brings me to my second point. What was advertised was fall colors and flavors through the most scenic views. They certainly can't help that the leaves hadn't turned yet (10/6/24) but I do wish they had been more honest about how the ride was conducted. We rode an hour in on direction, at a very slow pace, passing lots of ravines and backyards, parking lots, and commercial truck storage centers. Then sat idle for a half hour before driving backwards to return to the station sooner than anyone expected. The views were very nice, but not quiet as envisioned, based on the website description. No announcement we had arrived at the station and were to disembark was made. Several riders were very confused and unsure if we should sit or leave. In the beginning of the ride the voice over was so loud you couldn't hear the staff, then got very quiet, and never returned to a listenable volume, so much of the history of the area shared was inaudible, which is a shame because I think it would have added to the experience.

If you chose the Beaver car, know that is gorgeous, and they are very concerned that you are careful to not ruin the seats and respect the restoration. And rightly so, they did a great job! What they don't seem to care about is the bathroom and side glass doors SLAMMING at full force into the wall with every bump, so that it constantly sounds as if the car is exploding. Also note that the seating chart appears to be inaccurate, as I chose table 1 which was to have much better views. However, I was placed on the opposite side with less viewing advantage. I'm not sure if their chart is inaccurate, if it was a mistake on the part of whomever set up the tables (as the tables are only numbered with a paper card with your name), or if I just don't know how to read a map (didn't seem to be the case but is always a possibility) but that added to the disappointment. Also know that if you book the Beaver car, which again, is gorgeous but not worth the food cost, it fits two people per table and I would avoid tables 1 and 2 as they were close enough to the bathrooms that it was obvious in both sound and smell when someone was using one. Not the fault of the train at all, did not affect my review, just worth noting for potential riders in the future.

Overall, at $70 I probably would have felt it was worth the trip. At $180 absolutely not. Stick with just the viewing cars or donuts and cider, but don't waste your...

Last Sunday my daughter said they had tickets for a train ride would we want to go. My husband and I jumped on it to spend the day with our grandchildren, went on the website and purchased the only side by side tickets left. The ticket booth is the cutest building, can't deny the cars are decorated very nostalgic, but our mortifying experience was about to begin. This was our first time on this train. My daughter went to her reserved table, we asked a young server where our seats would be, she looked at our tickets, said she'll be right back and showed up with a manager. The table our tickets were for had a couple sitting diagonal from each other clearly so no one would sit there. The manager stated we had tickets for the table side by side, with that the woman flipped out saying she has a disease where she sweats profusely and needs to move around. Well, thats fine except she should have paid for all 4 tickets to reserve so no one would sit there but having paid $90 we had a right to our seats. Instead of asking the couple to move in the seats they reserved, or pay us for our tickets or they should leave the train. Instead the manager said she would upgrade us to the lounge car if there were empty seats but I declined saying the trip was to be with my family. She was wonderful in trying to solve our situation; however, it was embarrasing and mortifying that she went to a few tables asking if we could sit with them that had 2 persons at them. The funny part is, one said her friend would not be happy but I could have pulled up the website and purchased those open tickets so why did these passengers have the right to refuse anyone sitting! How embarassing for a mostly full train car to be standing there while someone was asking if anyone would allow us to sit with them all the while we are holding our overpriced tickets in our hands! My daughter bought 4 tickets, we bought 2, so for 6 seats we reserved, we scrunched with my daughter, they putting the kids on their laps and trying to eat the way too expensive food options. I emailed the website after our embarassing ordeal that we should be compensated for this outragious behaviour, and by the way, the woman never moved out of her seat as she said she needs to due to sweating, so it was a good act she got away with. I told them if she wanted the table all to herself she needed to buy all four tickets but the 90 minute ride would have cost her $200! Interestingly the website now says to reserve a table all 4 seats must be purchased! The website also says due to staffing shortages, the phone may not always be manned but emails will be answered. Well, I've sent 2 emails just looking for an answer like we are looking into the situation or sorry you experienced this but nothing!! No responses. Funny that the site is asking for support but they don't have the courtesy to show some customer service by responding back via email.To be the only ones standing having everyone looking at the situation and being turned down to sit at other tables is reprehensible - something should be done to compensate. I would not spend that kind of money for an experience like that again. Very sad too because the staff was nice, the cars are beautiful but the checks were incorrect, receipts not given, maybe a special theme would be fun but I would not go again. Shame on them for not even acknowledging the situation.

update I want to acknowledge the RR was kind enough to refund my ticket money. Hopefully, this encounter either reinforces or changes their policy for passengers that if its a four seat table and 2 tickets purchased doesn't mean passengers have the right to claim the table when they only bought 2 of the 4 tickets. The staff were all wonderful but the situation put them and myself in a terrible situation. Now if the website is clear on the ticket sales and how it works, it puts the power in the RR hands should the situation arise...

EDIT: While I appreciate the owner's lengthy response, we did not receive adequate communication at any point during this experience.

Despite your claims, we never received a call, and the only email communication we received was a confirmation upon purchase and an additional confirmation the day prior, confirming the booking with brunch included.

After driving an hour, we didn’t want to turn around. When settling on the Diplomat, we weren’t informed that the tickets were $55 each.

Expecting to eat brunch, we had foregone breakfast but were reassured by your team that there was an à la carte menu (this is the first time I’m hearing it referred to as "lite fare"). We were, reasonably, disappointed to discover that this consisted only of Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, and pretzels, with no coffee available for a 10 am train ride.

Finally, it was never disclosed to us—or other riders, based on recent reviews—that the Diplomat was an unfinished car with opaque windows.

Overall, for $55, this is not a good value. You are charging more than comparable train rides, suggesting a premium experience, yet fail to deliver on basic amenities, such as a finished train car.

Original Review: I reserved this trip weeks in advance and was very excited in anticipation. We had booked the 10am Autumn Splendor brunch trip. We arrived at the station only to be told that the dining car we had booked was out of order. They had claimed they tried to call and email us to see if we wanted to come a different day. However, the only email communication I received was the initial booking confirmation, and the day before confirmation for the dining car. We were told we would still be able to get food, it would just be an "a la carte menu." An a la carte menu to them actually means soda, box wine, bottled beer, and bags of pretzels/goldfish/oreos that we could pay extra for. There was no coffee, tea, or any hot food items, though, when boarding, we could smell hot food and coffee wafting from the kitchen for the lucky diners whose car was not out of order. Instead of a dining car, they put us in Coach class, the Diplomat car. The Diplomat car is unfortunately an entirely unfinished car with bus seats on both sides. There was only one working toilet on the entire train and it was located in the very first car on the opposite side of the train in the first class car. While we were standing in line waiting for said single toilet, we noticed that the dining experience seemed aesthetically pleasing, but the food looked mediocre for $80/person. We (and most other coach passengers) spent most of the trip in the open air car that had no seating. Unfortunately, our drive to the station was more scenic than the train ride itself. We were essentially looking into the backyards of people's houses the whole way, and not all of the houses were nice to look at. The train went about an hour before it stopped and went backwards an hour back to the station, so we saw the same "scenery" twice. Once we disembarked, we questioned why our refund from the dining car to coach class was not the amount we expected. I had checked the website and confirmed that for the same excursion in the same car it costs $35/person. The lady explained that some days are more expensive, and that we would be charged $55/person. $55 for what? $55 for no food, bad scenery, bad customer service, and no difference in experience as the $35 days I suppose. Next time we take one of the many other train tours that have better prices. Ultimately, I am extraordinarily disappointed. Don't always trust a place's advertising. I hope Colebrookdale railroad sees fit to refund me so that we're charged a rightful $35/person, which is more than that...