Niles Canyon Railway

We bought tickets for the Christmas train , it was the best time . Everything was beautiful, will definitely be doing it again!

A little late to the review but here goes. Was finally able to book tickets for the Christmas train this year (2023). The instructions in the email were precise and helpful. There are a couple options for the coaches for the general tickets. We chose to sit in the covered coach. Best thing is, once the train is in motion, you can walk around the train and go to the snack/gift shop coach. We then just stood in one of the open sections sipping coffee/hot chocolate. Got a good view of the train when it made turns. The train is beautiful lit inside and out. Kids had a lot of fun. Would definitely recommend trying this train ride.

Staff are helpful, kind and fun!Train is all decorated with Christmas lights inside & outside of train.You can bring on whatever food & drinks you want.I thought we would see lights outside of the train, but you do not.Lots of adorable kids, some cold, tired & cranky. But most were really enjoying it.I recommend sitting in the open cars, the enclosed ones we dusty & noisy. I would give it 4 stars, but I expected more. So that could be me. If I had little ones, I would make it a tradition if they enjoyed themselves!I say you should do it to see if it's your thing! Happy Holidays!

Great tourist train!Took the kids and grandkids on a Saturday morning ride. The weather was perfect. We sat out side. The benches held all 11 of us. The rails were a perfect height. The 2 year olds could look through to see the horses and cows as we passed. There are a few bridges to cross and the creek below had water. The conductors and other volunteers were friendly. There are snacks available. All in all a great family outing.

I have heard so much about the train of lights so I had to check it out!Tickets sell out fast and honestly, I didn't realize it's just the train that's decorated. There's not much to see on the ride.It happened to be a wet and rainy day we rode the train for the 730pm departure. We started lining up at 630pm. It gets really crowded and cold waiting in the rain. As the train drives by, you can see all the lights and decorations on the train. The interior is also decorated. It is definitely very festive. On the train, they have hot chocolate, hot cider and snacks. The snacks reminds me of stuff from Costco. The hot cider tastes like apple pie and the hot chocolate wasn't bad. There's two restrooms near the food area so it can be crowded. There's closed and open sections of the train. Windows cannot be opened. You can walk up and down the train to check things out.At certain turns, there are better viewing to see the entire view of the train, this is best viewed from the open carts. Santa Claus also visits so it's definitely very festive. My kids enjoyed it even though I was expecting more but I imagine little kids might find this fun. I wasn't thoroughly impressed. I do recommend bringing snacks and food instead of buying the snacks on the train.Parking can be difficult, the parking lot is small but there is overflow parking in some dirt lot. So we were luckily able to find parking, it can feel tight but I imagine there should be enough parking nearby.

We came here over the weekend to take our little ones out on an excursion. At first glance, it looked like there were not that many parking spaces, but the lot extends back a ways, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find a spot. While you're waiting to board, you can view the antique cars that they have on display or go into their gift shop. I had preordered my tickets and the process to pick them up was super easy. Lap sitters (kids under the age of 3) are free, but they will still provide them with a special green ticket so that they don't feel excluded :) They begin to board promptly 15 minutes ahead of when the train leaves. You can choose to sit either in an open or closed car. Even in the closed car, you can roll up the windows, so we got the benefit of both shade as well as fresh air. They have a snack bar on board where the restrooms are also located. I would definitely recommend bringing your own snacks though, as the ones they have in stock are basic and not that healthy and they charge $1 for each one. The only hot food available is hot dogs and coffee. Cash only, or you can purchase snack credits with a credit card at the ticket kiosk. The ride through Niles Canyon was beautiful - everything was lush and green after the recent rain and the weather was perfect on the day that we came. I didn't really know what to expect on the ride, but I thought it would be more of a loop where we ended up where we started. However, all it is, is that you leave from the Sunol depot and ride half an hour to the Niles depot. Then it takes 15 minutes to move the front car over to the back and then you go straight back the way you came to end at the Sunol depot again. The waiting part was a little lame, as that is where my little ones became antsy and wanted to be on their way. However, overall the ride was very enjoyable and made for a good experience.

They are a scam company. They took $150 from me and now say the tickets are invalid because the train of lights is overbooked. Please boycott them and it's ridiculous how they let all the bots buy it and then resell for hella high value. This is for 12/08/2024 parlor first class at 4:30 pm. This is so ridiculous I will never come back again. At least give me back a refund if you are unwilling to honor my tickets.

Came with my 2.5 year old toddler and husband on their "Summer and School Train" option.Most people come for the holiday train or even the regular trains but if you have time on a weekday and the day/time works for you this is way more worth it.TICKETS - you purchase tickets on their website when they open slots, you check the calendar and they usually have 1-2 dates each month that you can pick from and then 2 times (10 am or 12 pm). You pay $3 for every person over 3 and then you get a confirmation. If they don't have a minimum of 75 people that day they will cancel and refund you the money. Luckily (or maybe not luckily), there were several school groups that came the same day as us.PARKING - parking is easy to find, just route to the 6 Kilkare RdSunol, CA address if you're departing from the Sunol Station. It will be pretty obvious where the parking is and there were no issues.TRAIN RIDE - they suggest getting there 30 minutes beforehand but it didn't take us that much time to get our tickets. They usually start boarding 15 minutes beforehand so we had time to pickup our tickets from the ticket window and then walk around. They have porta potties (use the locked ones) on site and then 2 restrooms on the train itself.We got to board first before the kids got there and got a nice spot inside the indie car since it was a cold/windy day. One good thing is they let you walk around the train as it's moving so you can easily switch seats (although it might be hard to find a new spot if someone else claimed it) or just stretch your legs.Inside the closed train car it was very loud given the amount of kids there were but it was definitely festive. You can see a lot when you look outside the window, I found that the side facing the parking lot was more interesting.The outside areas actually weren't that cold and not super windy but the seats are not as comfortable. They let you look over the edge and you can even see the track as the train moves.It takes about 45 minutes to get to the Fremont station where they disconnect the front and move it to the back to go back to Sunol. That takes about 15 minutes and is fun to watch, if you can go to the "back" now "front" of the train to see the coupling it's neat to see the train connect back and you get a little jerk. Then, it's 45 minutes or so back to Sunol. You cannot get off when they stop at Fremont.We have a fairly active/antsy toddler that loves trains so I wasn't sure even for him if he would last. In the beginning he had fun looking at the outside of the train and then once it started moving he liked looking outside the window. Eventually about 20 minutes in he wanted to walk around so we walked to each of the cars and spent time outside looking at the scenery. When the front of the train switches, he also enjoyed seeing that whole process. On the way back he ate his lunch so was content for a good amount of time. He never became antsy and since you can move around easily it was perfect for him. The total time was about 1 hour and 45 minutes by the time we got back to Sunol Station.RESTROOMS - two restrooms, one has a changing table. It is very clean and pretty spacious inside. No complaints there.FOOD - the snack car was open but the actual snack bar was not. We brought out lunch with us and ate it on the way back, no one cared since you can eat on the train.Overall, for only paying $3 per adult, this was definitely worth it. You do have to put up with loud kids and going on a weekday, but if you have a train lover (or are one) then I would check it out. The volunteers are also very knowledgable and helpful if you have questions and they often tell you what's happening.

Super fun!What a special ride in the fall.We rode a train pulled by a 2-6-6-2 steam locomotive.Great views and train sounds.Weather was perfect with mini showers to make the day special.Brakeman, they were all courteous and nice.

We went on the Train of Lights. 3 adults in the parlor car. It's super well arranged- and the only way I would ever do this is again is riding in a reserved seat. The other line looked like madness.The seats were comfortable and Santa comes through the cars. Also, there are drinks and cookies included- and the drinks are good. The volunteers who work on the train could not have been nicer.We were on the second trip- I think it was 7pm. Very dark out and couldn't see much.I'm not sure I'd do this again, but I'm glad to have done it once. If you have a kid that likes Santa this would be a fantastic opportunity to take pictures. Not sure it's as good an idea for adults by themselves.