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Saratoga and North Creek Railway Trip Report

We took a ride on the Saratoga and North Creek Railway one way from North Creek to Saratoga Springs on 10 September 2011. After enjoying a lovely drive to North Creek, we went into the station building to buy our tickets. The station was busy with other passengers and it was a little bit confusing figuring out who in the ticket office was actually selling the tickets (most people in the office were not), but it turned out there was only one group in front of us in line so after a few minutes it was our turn. Actually buying the tickets took a long time. I got the feeling that they had to actually go on the public website, create a reservation, and pay for it on line before they could sell the ticket. I would have expected a much more streamlined process for selling tickets at the station.

We paid for only regular coach seating so found seats in one of the coaches. The seats were very comfortable, but the air conditioning in the car was a bit strong. Our car also had a bar selling beverages. After spending awhile watching the Hudson River roll past, we decided to see if we could get some snacks from the bar. Surprisingly they only sold drinks, but the bartender told us we could get food on the lower level of the dome car and showed us a menu. Although the menu really didn’t have any snacks, we decided to go in for a bite to eat. The lower level of the dome car was a dining car with a kitchen. The tables had white linen tablecloths, metal flatware, and cloth napkins. It took awhile for the food to arrive since everything was cooked to order, but it was probably some of the best train food I’d eaten. It was also very reasonably priced especially considering we were a captive audience. The chef and wait staff were very friendly and really seemed to enjoy what they were doing. Not too long after finishing our meal we arrived in Saratoga where we were met for the drive home, ending our trip.

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