Texas State Railroad - Rusk Depot — Attraction in Rusk

Updated 9.7.19 Texas State Railroad contacted me on their own letting me know they were compensating me for the problems. They were quite generous and apologized for the issues assuring me that this is not the norm and they were taking my concerns seriously. I hope they do as I have enjoyed my other rides with them and would like to recommend them. Please follow us on Facebook and Instagram at SNDTravels. This is a tough one for me. I've ridden this train a few times in my life and have enjoyed it but Saturday was a complete disaster. My parents were celebrating their 59th anniversary and wanted something they could just relax and enjoy. First off we paid extra for lower dome first class because my parents are having a hard time getting around and the booths were sold to me over the phone as being much more comfortable. They also were to come with free snacks and full service so we wouldn't have to get up. A champagne or apple cider toast was to be served upon boarding. When we arrived we picked up our tickets and waited to board. While standing next to our assigned car I noticed that the setting didn't look right. As we were boarding my wife went back to the ticket booth to ask about it and was told they switched cars because the air wasn't working on the car they sold us on. I proceeded to question the lady that seemed to be in charge on the train. When I started questioning she interrupted and started telling me I should be happy that they put us in one with air conditioning, what did I want one with no air? As I tried to explain my problem with wanting, not just the upgraded seats I had paid for but looking to be moved to something more comfortable for my folks for the 4 hour trip, I finally had to just ask her to be quiet just to finish my sentence. Very unprofessional and rude and she never listened and just walked off. Every other person we dealt with were very friendly but no help was offered. The snacks were left on the table before we boarded and were about what I expected. The "toast upon boarding" was finally brought about an hour into the trip after a sever had come by before we left saying they would be right back. The full service never happened as not one time in 4 hours did any of the servers stop by to even ask us if we wanted anything. Anything we got we had to get ourselves. So much for saying the only difference would be the seating. Upon going to the snack bar we were informed that they basically had no snacks with someone using the excuse that the concessions worker was sick. The man behind the counter was embarrassed and apologized for the whole 4 hours. Poor guy. I did get two cold bottles of water to start the trip but upon my return before the second half of the trip I was informed that they had no cold water and were scrambling just to find enough bottles. While I knew the views are really nothing but trees, the car they had moved us to had filthy windows so if you wanted pictures there was no way. Those who ordered lunch had to put up with the fact that they were unprepared at the depot and the food was brought to the door of the train to pick up causing a long backup just to get off the train. The whole trip was so disorganized and unprepared that the crew seemed really embarrassed. Here's my problems. The train only runs Saturday and Sunday. You have all week to get things ready like finding out if the air works, is everything ordered for the trip, and having the cars ready and clean. No excuses. Upon calling to purchase tickets we should have been informed about the problems or at least when we were picking up the tickets before boarding so that any issues could be addressed. The $10 per person upgrade fee should have been refunded as there were only 20 people the first class car could hold and so they couldn't sell any more tickets that would have had to be refunded. Because it's overly expensive and there is really no view, your just paying money to ride a train and so you have to have your act together. The only saving grace to the trip is that my folks are just great to...

Edit/update the Depot did contact me directly and resolved the situation

I’m not even quite sure where to start, except for $200, we’re so incredibly disappointed.

Our day started at 4AM this morning as we had a 3.5 hour drive ahead of us before boarding the train for the first time. Due to Covid, my birthday plans AND our anniversary plans were cancelled so this train ride was to replace both events’ catastrophe. We arrived at the depot the recommended 1 hour early and i was so excited. We walked around, saw the sites, enjoyed the views. All was well! Alas! We board the train. The train car that we paid $75 per person for. The train car that we researched extensively when deciding which to choose.

A wall of heat! Mind you, this is Texas. It’s HOT outside! When we walked up the stairs into the Dome car expecting some relief from the blistering heat, but it was more hot inside than it was outside of the car,I knew we were about to have some issues. The tiny box fan they had at the rear of the car wasn’t quite going to cut it. There wasn’t even an apology or mention about it being so hot.

That leads me to my next point; the car was so hot our “appetizer” was melted. Mm! Hot, melted cheese and grapes.

We tried really hard to move past these two snafus. We had decided we were going to enjoy this excursion even if we melted! So, we start the journey to Rusk! We’re patiently waiting for some pretty scenery or some narration. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. We literally stared at overgrown ditches and unkept vegetation in dead silence the entire 1.5 hours to Rusk and back. We specifically chose this train ride to see parts of Texas we haven’t seen yet. I could have seen un-manicured weeds for a lot less money in my home town. 🤷🏻‍♀️as for the narration; on the way back, the overhead speaker played about 2/3 of the time and would cut out mid sentence and never resume. We have no idea what the history of the railroad actually is.

Once we finally arrived at Rusk depot, it’s adorable. I’m excited. Maybe this will be better, right? It’s got to be better. Not really. Even though we paid one of the highest fares for the trip; for a less than cool train ride, that wasn’t all! We were last of the train and in line to receive our cold lunch. Infact, we were so far back that they didn’t even have a full variety of the beverages and the food was literally cold. 🤢 had we not paid so much money, we would have been content with the less than appetizing food, but we literally dropped $200 for this one event to receive all of these issues.

In addition to the aforementioned, even though they appear to sanitize (due to Covid), the train itself was in need of a deep cleaning. There were quite a few ants throughout the entire train car. Being certified In food handling, im able to identify sugar ants. These tiny ants are a result of improper cleaning measures and left over food being left for them to come eat.

All in all, we paid $200 for some cute selfies and a really sad memory. If you have a desire to pay large sums of money simply to ride a train, I’d recommend it. If you want to see East Texas and enjoy a cute, fun train ride, I wouldn’t recommend this one at all.

Please note that I only left this detailed of a review in hopes it Will be used constructively to make improvements for...

We just finished riding the Wine in the Pines event and it was a total disaster! DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on this outing. The tickets were supposed to include a sit down dinner. Three days before the event we were notified by email that the menu had changed (apparently due to Covid) and the new menu would be appetizers on the train. We should have cancelled our tickets right then. So we get on the train and there is no schedule of how things will be served. We asked the high school-age waiter about the wines and he explained how they would be served, two dry and two sweet wines on the trip to Rusk and desert wine with desert on the way back. The first appetizer was a small cup of grapes and some sort of trail mix. We were then served a red wine and not long after that a desert wine??? whaat? We then got a lame salad then two more wines and the we arrived at Rusk. Oh and by the way the wine samples were maybe 1oz servings at best. We had a short break at the station there then headed back. We were then served our desert... yes desert..two pieces of The small Sam’s club cheesecake cubes and half of an almond joy bar...yes I’m serious...oh yes and a chocolate covered strawberry. We set the desert aside waiting for the meat and cheese appetizer. We were served the remaining two wines And decided to eat the desert since the cheese cake was melting. After asking three times about the meat and cheese we were served a small box of meats and 3 cheese cubes and some green olives. This was 3/4 of the way back to Palestine! WE NEVER DID GET THE MAIN ENTREE a chicken kbob that was noted on the revised menu! I This was. a $140/person outing and what I described is exactly what we received. This was a 30-yr anniversary outing and it was a huge disappointment! We will never support the Texas State Railroad again and we would encourage others to not waste your money. It is a shame because it could be such a great outing with just a little bit of tweaking. The kids working have obviously had no training whatsoever in food service. The service we received would be expected of a $40-$50 outing, but if you are going to charge 1st class prices you have to deliver 1st class service or you will not be in business long. Obviously we were extremely disappointed and feel like we were ripped off by the last minute changes. If they were unable to do it correctly it should have...