Branson Scenic Railway — Attraction in Branson

In short, DON’T BOTHER with this ‘attraction’ unless you just really, REALLY like trains and NOT for the so-called scenery… Buying tickets online, no discounts were offered for veterans or seniors. These dinner train rides are ONLY available Friday & Saturday evenings. “First class” were the exact same price as the “deluxe class” and below. The dome cars (3) all with glass rooves, were all sold out (if they’re the same price as the others, why wouldn’t they be?!) The only discernible difference in the other two were booths vs table & chairs, and the proximity of bathrooms. You MUST buy in sets of TWO tickets, no exceptions. The table across from us had three adults - so one guy ate TWO full dinners, lol! Seems they are anti-children, because even infants from 0-2 were $41.+ each!🙀 It goes up from there! (DINNER, not regular tickets) You will share a table with another couple. It’s a two hour trip; one hour out and then back again on the same track. It’s not a loop. There is a speaker with a narrator explaining about the train, its history, its cars, its engines, and the two tunnels it travels through - also about the Branson area. It was interesting to listen to on the way out, but there was nothing on the way coming back, just silence - unless a friendly singer/guitar player is in your car singing for tips. She walked from car to car, entertaining, assuming everyone liked country music and religious songs. The dinner/food was good; a 3 course meal with salad, choice of prime rib, chicken or fish, and dessert, coffee or tea. All really good and served well. The “scenic” part of this little trip is the ultimate misnomer!!! Fully 95+% of the “scenery” are trees, trees, trees, trees and more TALL trees just 3-4’ from the tracks. No open spaces, no views, no vistas, no actual views whatsoever. 🌳 The train also goes through two tunnels (absolutely black, of course, as all tunnels are). No visible trestles because you can’t see them when you’re ON them. The ONLY open spaces for a decent photo out the windows, the narrator even tells you when to get ready to take a photo - “Ok folks, get ready, here it comes!”🤪 Re: the couple we sat across from, a 50’s something guy was REALLY dissatisfied, grumbling that they should cut down all the damn trees along the tracks (nice dinner conversation, lol!) Read the online reviews like I wish I did! Also, BTW, replies to reviews like this always state, “the views from the train are representative of our Ozark natural beauty…” etc. Guaranteed you have better views from your car going down the...

Beware of the restroom situation both in the station and on the train. Now, before thinking I am silly for mentioning this, picture having a feeble, elderly father with Diabetes and uses a walker. He couldn’t go to the restroom before boarding the train because the lines were too long waiting for the two stalls they had in the gift shop. Then, we went to our coach seat which was in the Eagle car. Knowing the length of the ride, I had purposely booked seats next to the restroom that was shown on the seat map when I booked my tickets online. When we got on the train, we were greeted with an out of order sign. I then had to take my Dad to another car where there was 1 stall and another line. He finally got in the stall, but he almost had an accident before he did. Yes, I know these are antique trains, but my frustration is that there was no mention that the Eagle train did not have a functioning restroom when I booked on the website. So, staff, if you are reading this, I think you need to have more appreciation for the fact that not every passenger can “hold it” like younger people might be able to. When we returned, he had tried to use the restroom again in the gift shop but at that point, there lime was 15 people deep and at at that point he did have an accident so we had to go to public restrooms behind Dick’s so he could get cleaned up. The train ride itself was nice, but this experience really tainted the experience for us and we may not return because of it. Again, I was not expecting an Amtrak experience, I was however expecting all of the restrooms shown on the seat map to be functional. Obviously, it would be expensive to add more permanent restrooms inside the building, a suggestion would be to get some port-a-potties outside the station or near where the cars like the Eagle...

Awful experience. After looking through the reviews before we got to the train I noticed it was very split. People either loved it or hated it. After riding the train I also realized why people that rode the train in the warmer months seemed to have a lower rating than those in the winter or spring. The train cars are HOT. It felt like I was getting slow cooked for the 2 hour ride. They need to upgrade/retrofit some better cooling on their train for the summer season because that factor alone ruined what little good there would have been. Others around us also complained about the heat issue. The scenery was not great for 80% of the trip. Trees and rocks a few feet from the train is what there is to see with the exceptions being two bridges, two tunnels, and a short clearing showing the hills being the only scenic part of the experience. You can see some garbage along the tracks and some shacks, too. The history provided by the conductor were single sentences every 10 minutes or so. Nothing really interesting, just things like how long the tunnel was, when the bridge was made, where the train came from, but not enough detail to really be interesting. Literally just coming on the PA and saying "the tunnel is 2/3 of a mile long". Cool, I guess? When the lady next to us asked the conductor how fast the train went he started talking about how far it was to Arkansas. The whole trip featured a looping track (pun intended) of Disney song covers played on piano. Helped somewhat cover the screeching sound of constant braking from the wheels. Won't be riding this train again and definitely don't think it's a good value. One last thing, the train was grimy on the outside, it would look a lot better if they cleaned and polished the old silver cars and might even help with some of the...