Our experience here was a dazzlingly happy one, and we would respectfully urge you not to be put off by a the words of couple of other Yelpers, one of whom didn't stay here. First and most obviously, this will be a great stop for anyone who loves trains. And second, the restaurants -- one in a dining car and the other in the train station/gift shop -- serve some surprisingly good food. And really, how many opportunities do you have to sleep in a real caboose outfitted as a comfy bedroom? Others think highly of it, too -- it has been voted among the top 10 unique hotels in the world (no kidding).
We stayed in caboose #8, which had a king bed and a loft bed in the cupola; the loft requires using a steep ladder, so it's best suited for kids. There's a private bath with shower, it's got an AC, and it's quiet; we just kept smiling the entire time we were here. It was only a few steps from our caboose to the dining car and the restored parlour car, which dates back to 1908 when it was prepared for the Governor General, a gentleman named Earl Grey (the tea guy). Two other cars were originally wooden cabooses that were built in 1911. There's a lot of interesting railroad history here.
And we found the inn owner, who oversaw the purchase of the cars and opened the inn 30 years ago, and his stationmaster both delightfully informed about the history of the inn and the cars. They are usually around the station, which is also a restaurant, formerly a gentlemen's waiting room, and a gift shop that carries an eclectic assortment (to put it charitably) of odds and ends, not all railroad connected. We wished they carried more adult clothing for purchase.
Lunch and dinner are served in the dining car; reservations are necessary for dinner because there are only about 10 tables. The menu choices are somewhat limited but we ate nothing short of delicious. Same for dinner, where we found the rich, meaty lobster thermidor a terrific dish. The prices aren't cheap for the area, but we believe we got our money's worth and then some. Breakfast is served in the station, and it too was very good, especially those blueberry pancakes with local maple syrup and the nicely roasted coffee.
Overall we had a thoroughly enjoyable experience and would recommend the inn to anyone with even the tiniest interest in old trains. As for negatives, we found the internet very spotty in our caboose, and the TV had a poor picture, which wasn't a big deal since we had little interest in TV in such an engaging, unique atmosphere. read more