The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad

http://www.oregoncoastscenic.org

Mrs. George and I are taking The Empire Builder to Portland on Friday, planning on spending 6 days at Cannon Beach.

About 30 miles south of Cannon Beach is the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad.

Does anyone have any impressions? Looks like a fun way to spend the afternoon.

It's a nice way to pass a day George! Go for it!

Yes, a fun trip. Sometimes they run the Heisler (geared), a nice change from the ALCO in your photo.

There is good ice cream at the far end of the trip.

Will you have a car? If so, ride the trolley along the waterfront in Astoria (and check out the architecture on the hill above town), sample cheese and maybe have lunch with the goats at Blue Heron in Tillamook (a little north of the Tillamook everyone knows about), the big Tillamook Cheese factory has a pretty good tour (and Huckleberry ice cream), and spend a day at the Tillamook Air Museum where they restored that ALCO McCloud #25 and you can watch and talk to the people restoring planes. It is also an incredible space, one of the WWII airship hangars.

In addition, if you have a car and school age kids, you will be very close to some Lewis and Clark camps.

Trolley: http://www.old300.org/

Blue Heron: http://www.blueheronoregon.com/

Tillamook Cheese Factory: https://www.tillamook.com/

Tillamook Air Museum: http://www.tillamookair.com/

Thank you for the tips!

Yes, we will have a car, and we're in the area from Sunday afternoon through Saturday morning, when we catch the eastbound Empire Builder, so your tips are quite helpful!

Yes, it's fun. It's not a life-changing experience, but it's a good operation and a pleasant ride.

Something else in the area that's rail-related (though I haven't had the chance to try it out) is the Oregon Coast Railriders attraction.

http://ocrailriders.com/