Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad

A great little train ride operated by dedicated volunteers! Keeping in mind this is a nonprofit train experience, I was very pleased. The tracks were once cargo tracks, and the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad utilizes the abandoned line after sever storm damage to the rails in 2007. The trip to Rockaway parallels Hwy 101. We left Garibaldi and traveled along the northern most part of Tillamook Bay, where you can watch the fishing boats coming and going from the ocean back to the harbor in Garibaldi. At Barview the experience turns to a marshy environment as you navigate several small lakes. Houses start appearing along the line as you come into Rockaway Beach with peak-​a-​boo views of the beach. The train stops in Rockaway, where you can explore before the return trip. You can pickup the train in either Garibaldi or Rockaway for a round trip. Three departure and two return times to choose from. Staff was very friendly, overall a great hometown train experience!

Didn’t even get a chance to go on the trip. We called and booked spots for two families for the Father’s Day BBQ ride. When we asked if they had highchairs the respondent said in a very condescending tone that nobody has ever asked for highchairs and that kids don’t normally ride the train. I repeat, «KIDS DON“T NORMALLY RIDE ON THE TRAIN!» So, why would they advertise that it is family friendly and on top of that why would you go to a Father’s Day celebration without your children? They called back only to tell us that they were going to refund our money and that it was not fit for children. Beware anyone who would like to take your children on a fun train ride, because although dogs are allowed, kids are frowned upon.

Decided to take a scenic steam powered railroad trip yesterday. The ride along the bay from Garibaldi to Rockaway on a clear September day was quite delightful. We rode on the open car, but others chose a restored 1932 passenger car, and others chose a covered open car. I think we had the best choice because the views were unobstructed in 360°. A very pleasant hour and a half.

Cool little Aug. railroad trip if you wanna kill a couple of hours. I’d like it more if they gave riders an hour of layover time for the reg ride. Staff is friendly and answers questions about cool stuff. It was foggy that day, but sun burned off fog by the return.

After reading the other reviews I almost feel a bit guilty for my wife and I enjoying ourselves on our ride. Maybe it’s because we’re still kids inside, or maybe it was a chance in our hectic busy lives to slow down and sit with each other and enjoy a view of the coast we don’t get very often. Plus my wife likes looking in windows of houses we go buy and there was no shortage of that!
Really though this is a museum that part of is on wheels. They are trying to do their best to restore the main car and keep the locomotives running. Not a cheap endeavor or an easy one. We took the the noon train (no food, though you can bring your own), it was probably the least crowded ride as the return trip was definitely more occupied. Yes both Garibaldi and Rockaway Beach are little more than slow spots on the coast highway. But for $ 18.00 each we spent a couple of hours in the past, enjoying the weather, the views, and the beach towns. We got to Garibaldi early and poked around the town, then during our ½ hour layover we scoped out some places we wanted to check out in Roackaway and came back in the car.
Yes, it is geared towards families mostly, or train buffs, but as part of a day on the coast it was a way to slow down, and to be honest I saw things that I normally wouldn’t notice in a car or on a motorcycle. We probably won’t do this every year, we just have too much going on. but I can see us riding again in 2 or 3 years, or if we decide to try a diner train or other experience. Everyone is starting to tell us we need to «unplug» more often. Well for a couple of hours, this is one way to do it!

It was okay, but there isn’t much to it. ½ an hour ride; ½ an hour layover; ½ an hour ride. I’m sure children would enjoy it more than adults.
Make sure you sit on the side nearest the ocean not the highway. The side nearest the ocean has the best views.
Arrive early if you want to ride in an outside car. The windows on the inside cars do not open and can get warm.

This is a neat little train ride to take the kids on… on a clear day it is beautiful…
The kids will love it… if you are adults without kids, you may get bored… as you stop for 30 minutes in Rockaway Beach.

There isn’t much of a «scenic anything» on this train ride that you can’t see from a car. My four year old LoVES trains and even he was bored after 10 minutes. Definitely save your money for something else. Was not worth the 41.00 (2 adults, 1 child). On the slight upside, you can pay by credit card and the very few short views you do get are amazing.

This review is for the dinner train event on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railway. I’m going to try and write this as objective as I can, for we had miserable, dark, wet, rainy weather for our outing. So much so they couldn’t even use their old steam engine (it was taking on water)… they had to pull out the diesel one. I’m sure the views would have been quite impressive if we could have seen out the West side windows, but since it was pouring rain and the old 50 year+ enclosed cars had their windows fogged up, we didn’t see much.
The dinner train goes up from Garibaldi to Wheeler and back (3 hour trip). It’s a long 3 hours. At first, we were all excited. I know this dinner train only runs once a month (and you have to book way in advance; it sells out quickly) during the summer and fall, and I know the OCSR is more of a historical/​museum/​preservation entity, so I wasn’t expecting a polished dining experience… and it wasn’t. Everyone was very nice, the dinner event was sold out, so all the tables were full, but they have them spaced enough where no one feels super cramped. All started well, but it turns out they serve the dinner Allllll throughout the ride… sodas & water first, then a cheese and cracker plate, then a salad, then the main course, then desert. Dinner over three hours is a LONG dinner, especially when they bring the courses separately and spread out. The food was good, and one of the servers was one of the chefs and smoked the salmon herself. It was all quite good… kind of an older ‘traditional’ menu of prime rib, smoked salmon, or pork medallions in gravy, all with veggies and potatoes, but it was good. The desert was excellent (cheesecake). A neat part of the trip was that as we made our way through some of the neighborhoods, people would come out onto their porches or be in their front windows waving and smiling… kinda cool… one guy even raised his beer as if to toast (from his Lazy Boy in his great room) as we passed by… that made us all laugh.
The less pleasing aspects of the train was the way it rocked back and forth. The trip is slowwwww… and the rocking will either put a person to sleep, or make them nauseas. A big downer for us was the fact that there is assigned seating, and the train doesn’t turn around on the return trip (there’s no way for it too), so we were on the land-​side of the train (the East side), and we never got any of the ocean views out our window… we got to look at vegetation or Hwy 101. To make matters worse, there was a massive accident on Hwy 101 during our dinner train with 3 fatalities… and we rolled right passed it as we ate our dinner. I don’t know what to say about that… eating a nice dinner as you watch a real-​life tragedy out the window.
All in all, it was an interesting one-​time experience for us. For the $ 350+ for the four of us, it’s pretty expensive, but then part of it goes to the historical preservation of the train. Would I do it again? No. Would I recommend it to someone, only if they got good weather and went earlier in the year (we went in September, and it got pitch-​dark ½ way through the trip).
I’ve been on a few scenic/​dinner/​wine trains in the PNW, and this one was okay… an interesting experience. Although, if you want a unique scenic dining experience, the Portland Spirit dinner boat cruise is WAAAAAY, WAAAAY better of an experience, especially their Sunday brunch cruise.

It’s a relatively short ride (30 minutes each way) from Rockaway Beach to Garibaldi and back, but for kids it’s a great experience. The steam engine is unique and although there are three types of cars (one fully covered and enclosed, one covered but no windows, and one that has no top or windows), that fully open car right behind the steam engine is the one to sit in.
It’s not the most scenic of trips — mostly rocky terrain and all, but it’s definitely worth taking the kids on at least once! They’re great to you on the train and make you feel welcome.
The only thing is, they let you off for a 30 minute layover (in our case it was in the very spartan town of Garibaldi) and say they give a 5 minute warning signal. Well, the warning whistle was so short we almost missed getting back on our return trip!