Delaware River Railroad Excursions — Attraction in Phillipsburg

Well, I hate to discourage anyone not to go on a train ride from this organization. I've thought a long time about the should or should I not read reviews of others and really steam locomotive no diesel locomotive. Parking was issue all parking lots full only parking on street which you didn't know if you could park sign on parking meter said only for Sunday not Saturday. So, I had to ask police officer if it was okay to park he joke said, "Enjoy the train ride. I told him I would enjoy the ride if I found a ticket on my car. Poor communication from the train organization. Ticket booth small all paperwork that he wanted didn't know what he wanted or if there was a problem I understand when you order tickets it tells you that you should bring the paperwork needed him made me believe that I was not on the list and didn't have the paperwork that I needed. He needs to communicate more efficiently. When asked where we go, we told us that just down the path, not knowing the area didn't know what path he was talking about. Poor communication. Bathroom Porta pot out, but with about 300 passengers, it's an issue. Stores not open around the area. The organization should have a gift shop on around the area with the bathroom rather than Porta pots. I'll comment on Porta Pot was clean, but there was no hand sanitizer in Porta pot. That's a health concern. When boarding the train, that was difficult too. All these passengers are getting on the train with young children, children, teenagers , adults and senior's what an issue. Windows on the train are some not even able to see through upstairs downstairs windows are very difficult to see through. I understand it should be first come so served, but you had passengers saving seats for other passengers. Kids were loud and uncontrolled even though the parents said my children are well behaved. That's really a joke. Now communication should be told to us that remember we're gotten on so you k ow where to get off the train at the end. Pumpkin patch really had a different thought of what a pumpkin patch was. I truly think that this train ride is really for young children, and please don't think that the winery ride justifies having adult passengers. After all this, the question would be, did you enjoy yourself? The answer is maybe. Fix the windows better parking steam engine and better communication.and gift shop and bathrooms. Or even put bathrooms at the end of the path and have a gift shop there. By all means, this is not to tell you what to do but to suggest what could make this train ride a little better. Hope this helps...

Beware of a mean Santa who told five year old he was putting her on the naughty list because she didn't want to take a picture with him.

Yes - unfortunately this was our experience when we did the Polar Express ride on Sunday, December 15th.

Our group had two families, with three children the oldest who is 5. When Santa came around, she didn't want to take a picture with Santa and instead of respecting her wishes, he told he was going to put her on the naughty list. And he unfortunately would not let it go - even when the parents stepped in and explained we do not force our children to take pictures with people or do things they don't want to do, he kept going. At one point he took out a fake scroll and added her name to the naughty list. We have the entire thing on video. She's five, and the other children are 4 and 2.5.

What makes this entire situation worse is that we've been brushed off by almost everyone at the Delaware River Railroad that we've attempted to talk to about it. The initial crew members we spoke to on the train were understand and compassionate, and mentioned we weren't the first ones to have issues with this particular Santa. But when their boss showed up, all compassion went out the door. He told us the response "seemed like a normal response" and that we were "overreacting."

You would think the Santas would have a deep understanding of children and the ability to handle sensitive situations with care and respect. A child not wanting to take a photo with Santa is not unusual, and those situations should be met with kindness, not coercion or threats.

I also submitted a question via the website and the response I received was also not great. They told us the Santa was just trying to make it so we could get a picture with the kids and him. In my opinion, he took it too far and it's having a lasting impact on all three kids. The little girl is now asking if every Santa she sees is a nice Santa or a mean one, like the one from the train.

It's really a shame that this happened and I even hate writing this review because in the past, both of our families have enjoyed this experience. I write it so other parents can be aware and hopefully this doesn't happen to...

FALSE ADVERTISING! A TERRIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

I seldom write reviews, however, I have just returned from the Great Pumpkin Train and felt obligated to warn others not to waste their time and money on such a disappointing experience.

Where do I begin?

The ride starts in Phillipsburg, NJ - a dismal ghost town whose main street is filled with empty, abandoned buildings. The only bathrooms available are 2 port-a-potties and the only store open is selling dusty, expired goods. Thankfully, I did pick up a couple of those expired goods - they were the only food items that we would see for the next 4 hours!

The allocated parking for the train ride was in an empty lot a considerable distance away. On arriving at the ticket booth, all 600 passengers were made to stand in the same line, regardless of whether or not they had purchased their tickets in advance. This line was served by only 2 attendants. As a result, there was a considerable delay and our 12:30 pm train did not depart until about 1 pm.

The promotional material for the train says "the traveler finds himself back in the 1890s......" and indicates that the train is run by steam when, in fact, the train we rode was a 1960s era diesel train which appeared to be in a filthy and unsafe condition. The "scenic ride" occurred along a trash- and graffiti-strewn train track, which passed along the back of a lumbar yard and a quarry. We had actually seen a lot more fall foliage along the highway on our drive in. No information or instructions were provided. We were dropped off at the corn maze/mining site and were not told when the next train would be back to pick us up. The corn maze/mine was nothing special and the only food available for sale was popcorn. Passengers - most of us with young children - were then made to wait 2 hours in a field swarming with gnats for the next train to pick us up! On the return trip, we stopped off for 10 minutes at the so-called "pumpkin patch" which was actually a tiny clearing at the side of the train track, with several small, pre-picked pumpkins on display.

All in all, the experience was very disappointing and left me feeling angry for having been deceived out...