Niles Canyon Railway

It's one of the mini bucket list item that we covered. Experience is all right, can be elevated a bit by providing some better food options. Overall a nice little ride and some history lessons. Conductors and most crew members are volunteers and do an awesome job.

A delightful ride on a train powered by a steam locomotive (conventual diesel locomotives also available).
The crew was friendly and knowledgeable.
The Niles Canyon is very scenic - especially nice in the spring time.
My wife doesn't have the same enthusiasm as me for all things train related, but had a really good time.
I thought the cost was a great value.
I would say this excursion is one of the best train rides in Northern California because of it's length, cost and scenery. Roaring Camp is another excellent venue.
Wooooo wooooo.

We had fun here. The train ride was good. Parking was also available for everyone. I will recommend not to take a ride in the nighttime as you can hardly see anything outside if you choose to sit open area. Please try food items inside the train as they are very tasty and also very affordable. Overall, it was a fun ride for the family and friends. Price was flat 35$ for everyone, and it seems ok as it was a 90-minute train ride.

Had a great time here with my family but lost my phone on the way home as well as all the pictures I had taken.

I will definately visit again!

My daughter and I went on the Christmas train for her birthday.it was an amazing experience. I wish I'd known about this years ago when both of my children were still young. The snacks and hot coco were reasonably priced (cash only)
Keep in mind it does get cold aboard the train (not a complaint) just a warning to dress warmly and if possible bring a blanket. Overall a great family holiday outing.

I Travel along Nile’s to commute home everyday about 3 hours.recently after the rainstorms the stupid rich community along foothill road started blocking the PUBLIC road so commuters can’t take it anymore. It’s a public access and totally unacceptable. They even have a cop sit out there to deter people from taking it. What a joke, and illegally unfair to everyone besides those rich slobs

Train of Lights is a terrific journey. Went in the observation car on the last train of the holiday season. Thanks all for your hard work in putting it together.

Must see if you're railfan. Nice to place to visit even if you're not. No public transportation, limited parking Might need to carpool or other transportation

We rode the “Niles Canyon Train of Lights” in the Dome Car which is a little more money than the general admission. I wanted to ride this train because my mother rode this train or one just like it in the 50’s from Boston to California when her family moved here. For her it was an amazing trip down memory lane. By boarding at the Sunol station the dome car was the last car of the train which we had to walk quite a distance. Not easy for someone in her 80’s. The dome car holds 32 people which 16 can ride in the dome in one direction and the other 16 ride in the lower section of the car. At the half way point you switch places so everyone gets a turn. At night there is not much to see from the dome so I would have rather picked a car closer to the entrance so my mother would not have had to walk so far. The train is lit up and beautiful on its own but it’s far more impressive from the outside. Santa came by to visit every child and cookies and cider was available in the dome car.

I rode the Christmas Train of Lights at Niles Canyon Railway with my family for the first time this year and it was magical. Full disclosure that the tickets go on sale in October and go immediately - the ticketing site and it’s queuing process is not easy to use. But luckily for me, I got tickets in the Parlor Car. General admission you need to get there early and wait in line to get first come first serve seats in either a traditional car or an open air (read: cold!) one. For the parlor car we went straight on board our car which has seats arranged along the edges and tables for our hot chocolates. This car was lovely. Next year I want to try the dome car. All the other cars are also beautifully decorated and you can walk through the whole train (except the dome and parlor if you don’t have that wrist band) while the train is going, which is really fun, especially when the rain goes on a slight bend and you can see all the lights down the exterior side from the open air cars. Santa will also come to visit you during your ride and stop for photos. This is an all-volunteer run operation and it just has a very homespun, sweet feel that I appreciated. The price is also totally reasonable, especially compared with “The Polar Express” and other Christmas trains I’ve found in NorCal. I plan on making this one a holiday tradition. Thanks, Niles Canyon!

It's the best train of lights ever especially when Santa came by my grandson loved it.

It was a good way to enjoy a little close to home experience. It would have been a little better if they let you get off at the stop and go to the little shops. We were pretty much stuck on the train waiting for them to turn the engine around for us to go back. There was a farmers market set up the day I went but we just had to look at it from the train and not be able to go to it. Definately recommend getting tickets in advance versus the day of because they will most likely be sold out so its not something you can randomly pick to go do one weekend without purchasing ahead of time.

This little railway station in Sunol is adorable. There's a lovely, rather large picnic area across the street. The train ride was enjoyable. The kids and their Granddad had a great time.

The train ride itself was perfectly fine; our five-year-old enjoyed being on a train, which was ultimately what we came for.

From the perspective of the adults, we had two big disappointments. First, although there was an announcer talking about the history of the railway and engines for most of the trip out, the speakers were completely drowned out *by the noise of the train*, so we couldn't actually hear him.

Second, the distribution of seats is really strange - there are only enough seats on the open/outdoor cars for maybe 1/4 of the passengers, so everybody else either needs to sit in the enclosed car or stand in the caboose. This wouldn't itself have been a big deal, except that the train did not even TRY to enforce their mask mandate.

We booked our tickets after seeing on their website that all passengers would be required to wear masks at all times on board the train, but despite a half dozen crew members ushering people on, circulating through the cars and even checking tickets, zero *attempts* were made to address the many, MANY people not masking - most of whom had no choice but to sit in the enclosed train car!

The next time our kid wants to ride an old train, we'll go back to Roaring Camp outside Santa Cruz.

The Train ride was fantastic! In total it was about 1.5 hours from start to finish (round-trip). The experience is very family friendly and the customer service was great.

Just a reminder that the current train in use is a diesel engine. Make sure if you are sensitive to smell sit in the back of the train otherwise it's a historically fun ride.

The Sunol station has the actual museum and gift shop. Prices are good and the information is fascinating.

The town has some other great attractions, so I would definitely make an afternoon of it.

Enjoyed the train ride and museum! Be sure you check online about availability. Good food at Bocas (across the street).

Revisited on a steam day when they were running the skookum a bit after the review below. Bumping my review from 3 to 5 stars. It's been a while since my revisit, and I still have fond and lasting memories from my ride behind that old steam. I absolutely loved it!

Niles Canyon Railway was a cool place to visit but the day I went it was a little crowded since they were having a fund raising event that day.