Grapevine Vintage Railroad

Great experience! $ 26 to be on first class, pretty cheap :-) It was a treat for us during the holiday. It had a little delay when the train was close to the Stockyards. But later boarding to come back, made us having time to see the «bull run». That was fun!

If you’ve been on a train before, you probably don’t want to go on this. Save your $ 10 because this is as much fun as your daily commute (and you’ll probably see the same views!).
As an out-​of-​town tourist, I expected more — perhaps a narration of Fort Worth’s history, a staged period train robbery… something. But all we got was a confused train attendant who checked our tickets to make sure we were in the right seats (I guess we looked suspicious!). Take note train operators — the aforementioned ideas that would enhance your otherwise dull enterprise!

Amazing experience for my 3 year old son as was smiling and happy the whole time! The crew and concessions were courteous and exhibited professionalism. Yes, we did have some delay time waiting for freight trains on crossing rails but we ended ON TIME at the Stockyards at 2:30pm.
The caveat was only having 90 minutes able to enjoy the Stockyards (shop and restaurants), which is too big explore everything there, especially if you came there hungry too. Will have to go back to explore more via automobile.
Took a little longer time headed back to Grapevine as the train had to switch rails halfway through ride and wait no more than 10 minutes for opposing rail traffic. But nonetheless, AWESOME!

I should have read the reviews before hopping on the train to nowhere.
The staff was very friendly. There was an older gentleman dressed up as a train conductor who was very friendly and did a great job walking around and entertaining.
However the train ride itself was horrible. We took the one that left out of Fort Worth. It was stopped for 30 minutes while we waited for another train to pass. We then ventured out about 10 minutes and slowly watched the views deteriorating as we drifted from historic Fort Worth and through the ghetto.
It was such a rip off. I’m sorry I had higher expectations for this. I was expecting a narrates train ride through historic Fort Worth and instead got a train ride through the slums.
At the end of the trip we were drenched in sweat and made it back late. Barely on time to watch the stock yard show which was the main reason we visited. We got back right when it was starting so we had to view it from the back. The train schedule said we should have been back 15 minutes earlier.

If I could give this zero stars, I would do it in a heartbeat. This was, by far, one of the most frustrating experiences ever. The train repeatedly stopped on the tracks both on the way to and from the stockyard, and the trip took almost 2 hours each way. Yes, it’s kind of cool to ride on an old steam train, but it loses its novelty after about 20 minutes. Go visit the train to see it and take a picture — skip the actual ride. Not worth it.

I took my twin 3 year old grandkids on Saturday 9÷5÷15. It was fun for the first hour, until we somehow started stopping every 10 – 15 minutes. In total, the ride each way was more than 2 hours. This COMPLETELY RUINED the day. I would never recommend this train ride to anyone, ever. Horrible experience inexplicable experience.

2 hours and still haven’t made it to the Stockyards. every delay you can imagine. Even going on the wrong track! Disappointed – 1^st negative review I’ve given and sure didn’t expect it to be this one – I would NEVER recommend this

Great experience. A great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. In the hot summer time get first class tickets as it has cushy seats and air conditioning. Would not recommend open air seating in the summer months.

Bad experience. Delays, delays, delays. They have a disclaimer about the possibility of delay due to other train crossing or track repair but I had no idea it would be this bad. If you are considering this excursion you need to know it is NOT a 1.25 hour ride. It is not a dedicated rail line for this tourist trap. It crosses and in some cases shares lines with major rail carriers. Obviously the major carriers are going to get the right of way. Apparently they have no ability to communicate with the other trains because on the return ride we boarded, got maybe 50 –100 yards down the track and stopped for another train crossing. We were waiting for 30 minutes. It would have been nice to know that ahead of time so we wouldn’t have to board yet. All told the delays added about two hours to our round trip. Not fun. Got shorted at stockyards.

Train ride was nice and relaxing. Too short s time in giant gift shop village. You can shop or eat… not both. Since you can’t bring food or drinks, though you could see many did, it was a long trip with hungry kids. You should use restroom, eat and bring some snacks before getting on train, or spend too $ on popcorn candy and soda.

For my Mom’s birthday, we took her on the Grapevine Vintage Railroad. She’s in her mid 70s and really loves this kind of thing so I thought it would be a real treat.
I was going to get first class tickets but she would have nothing to do with that. She wanted to ride in the open air touring car. Hey fine with me those seats were $ 10 cheaper. ($ 20 per person).
The ride to the Fort Worth Stockyards was 1.25 hours and was a nice ride through some of the more scenic areas of town (yea right we were going through some of the not so nice parts of town where the railroad tracks are) but it was still quite nice trip.
We had about a two hour layover in the stockyards. This was just enough time to eat some BBQ at Risky’s and watch the longhorn cattle drive then back on the train for a 1.5 hour trip back to Grapevine.
The trip was well worth the time and money and my mom will remember it for a long time to come.

Not the place you want to be stuck in for 4 hours during the not so cool month of August. Yes, there was a disclaimer about long delays on the ticket but a lil proactiveness would have gone a long way.

Fun trip until we were stopped by other train traffic for 1 hour. Then on the way back the same thing happened. 2 extra hours on a train full of kids who were bored — OMG — kill me now!

Found that they no longer run the steam engine. It diesel only. Their website is misleading because it shows a steam Locomotive. If I had known that then I wouldn’t have bought my ticket. Then there was the 45 minute wait because they shared a track with other trains. The only reason why I went on this trip because of the group I was with. This is definitely something that I will never do again.
I would consider Texas State Railroad that runs from Palestine and Rusk.

Being new to the DFW area, I’ve been on a mission to find new things to try with my family, which includes our 3-​year old daughter. She loves train rides but has only been on the smaller versions (Disneyland, Zoos, etc.) so we thought why not try taking her on an actual rail line. We decided to play it safe for the first trip and purchased tickets for the Saturday 10a Fun Ride. What a great time. We paid $ 28 for two adults and our daughter. We elected to sit on the «open air» cart (versus the closed) since the weather was so awesome that morning.
The ride is 1 hour in length and basically takes you out around Colleyville, stops, then reverses back the same route. The engine blows its horn at each crossing and most of us waved to the cars waiting (the waves were mostly reciprocated). Our daughter had an absolute blast, smiled the entire time. This was obviously the kids ride– since most of the cart was full of families with small children. Snacks are offered on the ride as well– $ 1 popcorn, bottled water, candy, and canned sodas. As long as the weather is nice, this is a super fun activity to do with your family. I’d imagine the closed carts fill up during the hot summer months since they are air conditioned.
There’s other ride options– one of which is a round trip ride to the Fort Worth Stockyards (including a train robbery on the way), but that seems to be an all-​day thing. I’ve also noticed that the holiday seasons bring themed rides– like Christmas and Easter. Pretty cool for the kiddos!
We’ll be back to try another train ride!

A must try if you are in Grapevine. Christmas time is the best time to ride this train. I usually take to the stockyards to chill and shop. The train drops you off and picks you up a little later so it makes for a good day. There is a some horses that ride up and jump on for some train robbery action. They usually give the young ones a little something. You can pick outdoor seating or indoor seating for a little more $. I always get the indoor seating and have a great time.

Three years ago (from the date of this posting) our Steampunk club had sought interest in riding Puffy the Steam Engine. We scheduled the time and date, took up funds in advance for the ride, and come days before, the train went down into repair mode. We waited weeks, which turned into months, which eventually (after a year of waiting) my husband spoke to the mechanic who was working to get the part that Puffy needed specially made, we were told they were retiring Puffy all together. Disappointment was definitely had by all, as we never did get our hopeful ride.
Some time later in 2012, our club had a film shoot we needed to do, featuring a ride on a train as part of the plot. Grapevine Vintage Railroads was contacted and they were very accommodating with the needs. They arranged a special time for us to come do our shoot, and left us alone on the train to film. Only once did they have to interrupt, which was to move the train some to get ready for the tours that day.
Somewhere along the line, miscommunication happened though, as the set up crew arrived mid-​shoot, and one particular worker there was rather rude, stating she «wasn’t told about no filming going on and we need to get our work done, so you all better hurry up because we’re going to work regardless». Despite her rudeness, I remained polite with her, with the hopes to keep her slightly distracted from her intent to disrupt the one shot our group had at getting this filming done in the small time frame we had.
We chatted a bit, to which eventually she offered up the little known information that down the line, Grapevine Vintage Railroads would be closing doors for good to make way for the new local public rail system coming into Grapevine. This was the reason behind not repairing Puffy, as it was too costly, and not worth it if GVR was just going to be closed down anyway.
We weren’t sure if this information was to be taken for truth or not, considering the bitter source it was coming from. So when we had the chance again to speak to a higher up on a more personal scale, we asked about it and it was confirmed that this was the future for Grapevine Vintage Railroads.
So… if you’ve got a desire to experience the railroad tour, or a love for your past experiences, I would suggest taking advantage of the railroad tours before they do finally close down. I have no reason to believe that they will make it a public announcement before hand though, but who knows.
I gave this location 3 stars because I have to be fair considering my only «train ride» consisted of 2 minutes being moved during a film shoot. LOL Otherwise, the lack of information to the public on progress for what’s happening with certain trains that break down, or intentions to close down, and my less than stellar encounter with the angry worker … those take two stars away.

This is a cool stop on any roadtrip that takes you through Grapevine. There are some cool old train cars, art shows, and more on site. You can walk around the surrounding area and see lots of free stuff at the information center across the street.
It looks like there are special events all year long including neat Christmas Time lights.

At over $ 30 for a wine tasting and train ride was steep for what we got.
It wasn’t a wine tasting at all as you didn’t get to taste all of the wine.
You did get a miniature wine glass engraved with the year and Christmas tour, one glass of wine (more for purchase at $ 5 per glass), some wine and cheese, some chocolates and a train ride. I am not unimpressed but it wasn’t what I was expecting at the same time. There was no information about the winery as mentioned either.
The experience did come complete with fake snow which I appreciate. I would like to see it about $ 10 cheaper and a sample of the other wines that I didn’t choose.

We loved our experience with the railroad. We took the round-​trip train to the Fort Worth Stockyards. The weather was really nice and sitting in the open air car with the windows open, although a little noisy, was lovely. (We got bumped up to first class on the way back and that was a real treat. Much more comfortable benches with air conditioning.)
The staff are wonderful — the older gentlemen in the traditional railroad garb were charming and really added to the effect of the vintage railroad.
I wish they would have signaled «all aboard» before we took off from Fort Worth to head home; we were already on board, but I feel like we may have missed it if we hadn’t been paying attention, or had been in the restroom or something.
Overall it was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a little adventure and some fun.