West Chester Railroad — Attraction in West Chester

I guess it's sort of funny that Google thinks that I visited the West Chester Railroad, but since they did I'm compelled to leave a little note here. I actually visited a hoagie and Cheesesteak joint that is right next door. I think I did look at the very beginning of the West Chester Railroad now that I think about it. It's a railroad that used to be commercial and actually ran very close by the house that I grew up in, in Westtown Township on Oakbourne Road. If I'm not mistaken, I think certain times of the year you can take a rides on the train cars along the old rail line. It goes through West Chester and Westtown and as far East as it goes I'm not really sure. When I was a kid, freight trains used to go down that line carrying Freight I believe, from West Chester to points East, possibly even Philly. I've never actually taken a ride on the train, but I hear it's a nice ride With some nice views after you get out of West Chester. when I was growing up we used to take hikes down the railroad tracks pretty far and see some very cool things like mini rock mountains that they blasted through to create room for the railroad, various bridges that went over streams along the way, and nothing but pure woods and Wilderness on both sides of the track. Sometimes we would put a coin like a nickel or Penny or a dime right on the track, then retrieved the severely flattened out version after the train ran over it. Had a lot of good times hiking the tracks when I was a kid. There were times just like in certain movies, when you suspected a train was coming but you could not yet see it. We put our ears right to the train rail, and you could hear and feel the vibrations even though the train was nowhere in sight yet. Yes, me and my four brothers had some very good childhood memories "Down...

One time must do, but would not go again. Started out. No Xmas music in the background. The "treats" they said were given was a mini broken candy cane. Singer w/ banjo which was nice. Sing Alongs w/ him were cute. Got to Glen Mills station. No direction on where to go. Just get in line. Everyone was rushed to see Santa, w/ what I guess was supposed to be Mrs.Claus only because she had a Mrs. Claus like hat on w/ light up Xmas sweatshirt & jeans telling us to "Go! Go! Go!" to get us to move to make room for the next family trying to get pictures. Snack car was dirty, assuming it was for storage normally. Tarp hanging I guess to hide whatever was behind. Prices were decent. Servers were less than Christmas like in Tshirts. Our car was the last one which was fine except there was no notice when the train started. This had to be the most unsafe & dumb thing they did. No "All Aboard!" or notice that we are departing back to West Chester. Carrying 2 cups hot chocolate, pretzels & young children was less than thrilling while the train josteled us around as I almost fell on top of another person. Going from car to car while the train is moving I wouldn't recommend. Its definately a train from the 1920s! It was an experience you should do especially w/ young children but for the money I paid, it...

I love trains and was really looking forward to riding this train as it was the closest I could get to riding the old Chester Creek line which was shut down back in the 70's and now partly converted to a walking trail. I have been on other trains like this in Boyertown PA and Lancaster PA area and both are leaps and bounds better then this, and cheaper too. West Chester railroad claims their cars are restored however they replaced all the windows with a foggy Plexiglas which is hard to see through. Some of the windows are broken and boarded up. The cars look about what I would expect from a car built in the 50's yet they claim the one I was in was built in 1932. The cars are heated with portable propane heaters, The Boyertown area train has the original wood stove heaters restored and working. There is no open air car like Lancaster and Boyertown has. There is a snack bar but to get to it I had to walk through 3 train cars and there is no place to sit so I had to carry my food back to where I was sitting. Over all I was less then impressed with what they had to offer and its really not worth the $22...