Halloween Train Rides... Go On One... IF You Dare!

Taking a Halloween train ride in your area could be a spooky, fun way to celebrate Halloween this year! Train rides often range from pumpkin picking rides - where riders are taken to the pumpkin patch to pick out their perfect jack-o-lantern, to scary, haunted train rides, to costume party rides.

There are also some that are not quite so scary, for the younger crowd, like the one I found here in Southern Nevada. Southern Nevada Railway has a Halloween train this year on October 29th and 30th. The train is decorated and youngsters (as well as us "oldsters") can dress up and participate.

Trains can vary from steam engine trains, to diesel powered streamliners. There are train rides where ghost tales are told to costume party train rides - where prizes are given for the best costumes - and you can even find "mystery" train rides where a mystery is told and solved by the participants!

Any of these can be a fun way to celebrate, and these train rides can be found all over the U.S.A., as well as in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. There is even a website that will give you information on the train rides that are available.

Here, just 20 minutes outside of Las Vegas in Boulder City, is the Nevada Southern Railway. This railway was originally built in 1931, and was used during the construction of "Hoover Dam"... to carry people, as well as building materials to the construction site that were used in the construction of the Dam - and it ran from Las Vegas out to Boulder City. Today's excursion train runs on the same tracks that were built and used back in 1931. This train's refurbishment was funded by the State, and since then has thrived on private donations, and volunteer labor.

This train compliments another train that runs through Northern Nevada, called "Nevada Northern Railway." That train runs in Ely, Nevada.

Train tours can be an excellent way to introduce youngsters to train travel, something that has been missed by several generations. A lot of railways and trains are now defunct, but the ones that are preserved as museums and excursion trains can be a way to show kids how things used to be done in this country.

Here in Nevada, to get to the Southern Nevada Railway museum and excursion tour, visitors can take U.S. 93 and exit at Yucca Street in Boulder City. A right turn will take you to the parking area, and a sidewalk is available to take you to the depot. A great deal of attention to detail makes the depot a charming reminder of the railroad buildings that were constructed in the early 1900's.

Volunteers run the Southern Nevada Railway excursion train, and are dressed in period costumes (except at Halloween, when some of them will be dressed in Halloween costumes).

Taking the train is a wonderful glimpse into the country's historical and colorful railroading past.