Austin Steam Train Association

Awesome experience run by a great group of volunteers. What a relaxing afternoon of old fashion trip into the country! I definitely recommend a day trip so you can see the countryside during the down and back trip. Easy process and a great Saturday or Sunday afternoon activity!

We have rode the train a few different times, and it is hit or miss. Sometimes you get a great seat with a killer view, and outstanding volunteers. Other times you are stuck in a closet with a tiny port hole and the attendant forgets your section completely. Definitely don’t waste your time at night, the solar film on the windows reflects the light from the inside and you can’t see anything on the outside. Kids will really enjoy the polar express themed rides, the parents will probably wish it was over sooner.. .

This was an amazing experience! The scenery was gorgeous! When they dropped you off at Bertram for the shopping and eating… It was the best. The staff was very friendly. I had rescheduled 5 times due to unseen circumstances and each time they were friendly. I would highly recommend.

We took the train ride for my friend Stefanie for her Birthday. It was a gift from another friend. It was relaxing, but if you are in a hurry, it’s not for you. It gave me a chance to reflect and also gave us a chance to hold a conversation without feeling rushed.

Well we are on the train. Our anniversary hubby paid 50 dollars a seat supposed to be nicest on the train. Yes we have a room all our own 5 ft by 7 feet. 2 1950s dining room chairs and a table. We even had to trade chairs with an empty room to get ones that had any padding at all. The coach cars have padded bus seats and we pay twice the fare and get dining room chairs. Not a good start.

Took the Mother’s day special trip on Sunday from Cedar Park to Bertram.
I liked the train for the nostalgia, but the scenic route doesn’t offer much to look at. Mostly houses and farms along the way.
I booked «the Chicago first class car», but the booths and chairs were not comfy. You do get free water or tea, along with mini brownies /​coconut mini cake /​and little apples. It was nice they handed out a little box of Russell Stover chocolates for the moms.
Service was great also.

We’ve taken many commuter trains and international trains, but not an antique train. We chose this for ourselves, as well as my visiting parents. Like another poster said, our train broke down ½ way into our ride, then we spent 1 hour waiting for retrieval and then went back to the depot. Unlike the previous poster, the volunteers stated we could talk to the office on Monday for any compensation we felt we were owed. (We will be asking for at least 50% refund since we only saw 50% of the tour) I understand why the volunteers didn’t say anything else; they’re volunteers not paid staff — they don’t get to make those decisions. Thankfully no one was unruly or rude to the volunteer staff.
As for the quality: underwhelming. There was no ‘unfolding’ of the landscape. We saw other train cars, lots of tress, the San Gabriel bridge and then. nothing. Lots of backyards with junk, businesses back doors and that’s it. It was very disappointing overall.

We took the grandchildren on the North Pole Flyer. What a disappointment. I would not recommend this train ride unless you want your kids to be board out of tears! They advertised visiting with Santa and Mrs. Clause, story reading, hot chocolate and cookies. They had one Santa and Mrs. Clause for several train cars so you had a very short visit with both. Even they were boring. I believe there was only one story teller that moved from car to car. Because of the configuration of the cars, it was difficult to get the kids close enough to even enjoy the story. We expected the train to really be decked out for Christmas – but it wasn’t. And it’s not cheap! We dropped $ 300 for six of us for very little in return. I would NOT recommend this ride.

Awesome experience! The staff was so friendly and the train ride was so much fun! We will definitely be coming back. :)

We paid for a car with a/​c but didn’t end up with it. I have emailed them about it and still haven’t heard back, a month or so later.
Like many others have said, this was a dull ride. I would have loved to hear someone tell us about the land’s history or anything but just sit there. We had a group of guys sit next to us who drove trains and brought a radio that they found our conductor’s station on that was the most fun we had on the actual ride. That didn’t even have anything to do with the ASTA.
They could have just gave a tour of the train and then sent you to Bernit and said you can enjoy the little show and leave as you like.
The staff was nice even though they said they couldn’t fix the a/​c and the snacks and gift items were reasonably priced.

My wife is a train lover, so wherever we go on vacation we look for vintage train rides. This one is in our neck of the woods, maybe 90 minutes (YMMV with Austin traffic) from San Antonio, in Cedar Park north of Austin. We booked a ride on one of the A/​C trains (thanks Unilocal for all of the reviews), but it turned out to be a pretty nice day. Still the A/​C was great.
The Hill Country Flyer leaves at 10am and arrives back in Cedar Park at 4pm. Make sure you arrive early, there were lots of people around and most everyone had to go to Will Call to pick up their tickets.
Our First Class Lounge tickets included coffee, iced tea, juice, water, fruit, and mini muffins. There are was a First Class lounge for adults only and a First Class Lounge that included children. We booked the latter. Our train car volunteer host was Maurice — what can I say — if you get to take this trip make sure you get Maurice as your guide. Maurice made the ride wonderful! He kept us busy on the trip up and back with word games, challenges, songs, balloon animals, and just general excitement.
There is a «train robbery“on the trip, and all money was donated to a Food Bank — very cool. The «robbers» were funny and so was the sheriff.
When we arrived in Burnet, we walked from the train to «downtown». They had provided us a map with local restaurants and other stores. We chose Post Mountain BBQ, just off the square — excellent food. Note, a two meat plate, which includes 2 sides, was enough food for my wife and me.
After lunch we headed back to the train for the Wild West Show. They use blanks, but wow they are very loud. The show was typical, lame, but fun. They had requested volunteers to be «floozies» for the show, and the «girls» did a great job and had fun.
Overall, we highly recommend the Hill Country Flyer for a great day of train fun.

This is a great experience for kids and adults. The train leaves at 10am and returns around 4pm — so be prepared for a full day of adventure. When you purchase a ticket you will get a reserved seat, which is nice — no general seating. POINTER — book the car with A/​C. We didn’t realize that they had such until we boarded the train. Riding in sweltering heat is not an ideal way to spend a September day. However, the ride is a great experience along with the gun fight show that they have at the end of the line.

We took the sunset trip and with the exception of noisy toddlers it was nice and relaxing. We were in the Buckeye Lake car, it was air-​conditioned and comfy. We found the snack car was not over priced and had we wanted to bring snacks, it is allowed! I would def do again. If I could ask for anything more it would be a kid free car. Just tell Roy Kate sent you!

We took our 6-​hr-​old on the 3-​hour Bertram flyer. Tickets were about $ 20 as a special offer for June. He was so excited … but after about 20 minutes, the excitement wore off. It was truly a very boring ride, with basically nothing to see but fields and some trees. The «trestle bridge» was barely noticeable; it went by so fast. The 10-​minute stop at Bertram (only for the «antique train station») was a massive let-​down, other than getting out of the train and knowing the agony was halfway over.
Yes, it was neat to see the restored cars and yes, the staff was friendly … however, the ride was over-​priced and dreadfully boring at 3 hours. Our son was almost asleep and we ended up trying to entertain him with word games and «I spy» for 2 hours of it. The «concession car“was also a let-​down. Nothing but soda pop and junk food, and a very small selection at that. I would never recommend this ride to anyone, and am thankful that we didn’t take out-​of-​town guests on this one.
It’s a shame to give a relatively poor review to a fantastic concept and admirable restoration, but I felt compelled to warn any families with small children. Perhaps a different train ride (as some reviewers are describing) would be a much better bet. Just don’t do the 3-​hour Bertram flyer.

Man. I hate giving the ASTA three stars. Everyone I dealt with from the ticketing to the souvenirs to the volunteers on the train were wonderful. And on top of that, the five of us that went had a great time.
The tickets we got were $ 25 apiece for adults. This was for the 3 hour Bertram Flyer on a Sunday. $ 25 was the cheapest amount for a seat in an air conditioned car.
The cars were very clean, the novelty of being on a train great.
The ride itself was about as dull as dull gets. Lots of highways and backyards full of junk. If you blink, you’ll miss the 300 ft bridge, which was a supposed highlight. We were running out of things to point out to my 2.5 year old nephew to keep him interested. «Look, a chicken!!»
The return from Bertram is the same route as the way you came, so just dull in reverse. The Depot stop on Bertram is cool for about 5 minutes.
Let’s break it down like this. 5 star customer service, 4 star price, 2 star view.
Overall, worth doing once.

Train ride was about 2 hours into Burnett, Tx several shuttles waiting to take you to different restaurants. While on train your served beverages snacks and fruit. Everyone is friendly and cordial and knowledgeable about the train. Once in town gun fight is 35minutes to departure little western town set up with jail bank and fake gun fire which is extremely loud but some comic relief also you can bring a small cooler with drinks and snacks for train ride and if celebrating anything bring along cupcakes #HillCountryFlyer#

We love trains and have enjoyed train rides in 7 countries so this was right up our alley. Our trip was the Hill Country Flyer and we absolutely loved exploring the vintage cars and the locomotive section. The volunteers were simply brilliant! Very friendly and they loved answering questions about the program, the various cars, and the steam engine they’re putting back together for 2016.
Our lunch stopover in Burnet was also like stepping back into time — right after lunch we explored the antique shop in the square and came home with a cast iron skillet and a vintage comic book. The shoot out was very cheesy but I took it with a grain of salt from my own days working in a tourist town with a shoot out show. Some of the younger children in the crowds had a hard time with the noise of the guns and one child was in hysterics because he thought the actors were really being shot.
Overall we enjoyed ourselves and will definitely want to come back for bluebonnet season!

This review is based on a first-​time Austin Steam Train experience, for the Wine Flyer Tour.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get completely trashed — and I do mean absolutely sauced while on a train? I didn’t really think about it when I bought the tickets — the motion of the train chugging back and forth, looking out the window at the landscape floating by. It wasn’t the best of my ideas, and while my party did have a lot of fun, I’m pretty sure that we won’t partake in this adventure again. Pros, Cons, and things to Improve on listed below:
Pros:
1. It’s a train! Beautiful hill country scenery with great train cars.
2. You get to meet a lot of awesome people — they’re quiet at first but once the wine starts flowing, everyone loosens up. It does get awfully loud in the cars, but we had a car full of hilarious ladies that were very entertaining.
3. All of the volunteers and servers for the winery were pleasant, cheerful and knowledgeable. really great!
4. Generous pours of four different wines — all excellent. We were offered a Rose, two white wines and a red tempranillo mix. I really loved all of them, and will probably buy some Pilot Knob wines in the future.
5. The staff offered water at intervals which helped a lot. There was also a concession car, although we didn’t go to it.
6. When you get to Bertram, they will let you off to explore the train station there for about 10 minutes which is pretty cool.
Cons:
1. The train was late, (1 hour) due to track fixes and waiting for a freight train. My husband and I had made plans to go to a movie afterwards, and ended up missing it.
2. The service timing was off. On the way up, we got two different wines, and they were slow getting to the other two, which were slammed into the last portion of the trip.
3. If you are at all prone to motion sickness. which I am actually not, tread very carefully on this journey. I did get motion sick by the end which was not a welcome surprise with the food, alcohol and heat.
4. The Chicago car, which we were in lacked sufficient air conditioning, although other cars, (the Zephyr car) seemed to have much better air conditioning.
5. Tickets for this particular event go *fast* — a month out, there were only a handful of seats left.
Things I’d like to see improve:
1. Tickets — Buying tickets online was confusing at best. We think we finally figured out that they fill by car and by seat, down the line. If you and your friends don’t buy your tickets together, you most likely will not sit together. It’s not like say… the Alamo where you can actually choose specific seats.
2. The food could have been better. It was catered by a local bakery. The cheese/​fruit plate was warm. the cheese did not look good at all, was greasy, and not the quality I would have hoped for. The chicken salad with vinaigrette was awesome, but the cold swiss cheese and ham with asparagus pastry was odd at best. The finish of the petite cheese cake trio was excellent. I originally had this comment in the «Cons» section, but it wasn’t all bad — so I moved it to the «Improve» section.
3. Pilot Knob did not provide any «tasting tickets» — you know those little informational flyers or cards that you get during a wine tasting where you can mark down what you liked or didn’t like… a hard copy explanation and names of the wines as well. They didn’t provide this, only a little card about the winery. They need to provide a card like they do during wine tastings, as this was a wine tasting. I have no idea what the name of the specific wines we tried were — as they shouted the names across the car — and even if we could hear them, it wasn’t going to stick in my memory… we needed something concrete.
All in all, we did really enjoy the Wine Flyer, but I’m ultimately reserving two stars for the food, A/​C and arriving 1 hour late into the station, and improvements that need to be made. I’d definitely like to try one of their other trips like the murder mystery, polar express or just the Bertram Flyer — this organization of people obviously work hard, do a great job and create some awesome events — kudos to you all!

Took the train to the Bluebonnet Festival in Burnet. I guess to some it is a little high priced but for something you do maybe once a year it is ok and I felt it was worth the price. It was thirty for the trip.
If it is going to be hot, I would pay more and get a seat in the newer air conditioned cars. We walked thru them when we came back early and it felted like in our car we were traveling in Peru with the chickens and goats tied to the top. Just kidding the car we were in was an older car with not much space, like coach in a plane and not air conditioned. It was fine for the 2 hour trip. The newer cars were more spacious and had nicer seats, more room and air. They do cost more for a seat and you have to ask for one of these cars.
Crew is all volunteer and extremely pleasant and helpful.

For review purposes I picked Austin Steam Train Association vs. A Day with Thomas that happened today thru this weekend in Burnet, Texas. Little Rooster LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine; a significant portion of our paychecks go towards cute yet expensive train toys. When we found out two months ago that Thomas was coming to Burnet, we hit the web and purchased tickets.
So its the same venue if you did the Hill Country Flyer to Cedar Park to Burnet. We picked the Friday option hoping for less kids because it was a school day. We arrived to a minimal crowd and began to venture around. Rooster was excited by every stop and the event staff was friendly beyond expectations. Naturally we went straight to Thomas. Took some pics with my camera phone which the staff who was also snapping paid shots happily accommodated.
We moved on to Sir Topham Hatt who got loving hugs and held Rooster’s hand for the all important family photo album. The family had some time till our actual train time so we visited the gift shop. Unlike previous reviews, the merchandise had no real markup over regular retail prices. Your gonna pay $ 13 for a single piece of wood with a label maker made descripion like «Bash, Dash, and Ferdinand» anywhere you shop.
Our time arrived and we boarded the train. No A/​C but the breeze on the old LBJ passenger car was manageable. Most folks will realize this event is NOT made for adults. The music was loud but the boy sang along with every note. From my perspective the train did go backwards and then back to the station which others have complained about. I could care less as little Rooster smiled from ear to ear every second of the ride.
Back off the train and another photo op in front of Thomas. A few pics and we headed back to the car for the ride home. Who were they trying to impress here? Not me or the wife. The boy would give this event a million stars and we had a great time for a reasonable amount of railroad tokens. See you next year Thomas!