Snoqualmie Valley Railroad

Open 10am — 5pm.
There is no charge to visit the depot and grounds, so check it out.
There are parking spaces near the neighborhood.
Before or after you see the Snoqualmie Falls, check this place out!
There are also trains that run on Saturdays and Sundays, tickets must be purchased in advance online.
Great for kids and very informative!

If you have young kids, then this is a great place to go. Mine were climbing all over the trains and having the time of their lives. They already want to go back to go on an actual train ride.

We come here twice a year, and this year it will probably be three times.
Summer: Day Out with Thomas. Yes, the tickets are a ridiculous rip off (anyone over 2 must pay full face price of 19!), but DO YOU LOVE YOUR CHILD OR NOT? Happily, there are a few freebies (balloon animals new this year, a treasure hunt a 2 year old could enjoy and complete w/​free prize, train and mega blox tables, etc).
If you bring your own lunch and come for an early train, this is an entirely tolerable way to spend a few hours and delight the train lover in your family.
Fall: Halloween train. People in costume get $ 2 off per ticket, and 10 for an adult 8 for a kid seems like a bargain after that Thomas robbery. We haven’t done this yet, so will update after this Halloween.
Winter: As other Unilocalers have said, you need to make sure you park in North Bend, NOT Snoqualmie. Countless other families and I made the mistake last year, and for packed trains, long lines, and a demand you be an hour early for your departure, that kind of mistake is damaging. Luckily we made it on and found parking. Ride is fun– decent décor, sing-​a-​longs and pretty good scenery for little ones. The line for Santa is LONG, so if your child is under 3 or even 4, it is pretty rough. Bring books, maybe a bribe lolipop, several toys as distractions. The RR musuem offers a craft stand once you are inside a building and campy Christmas décor to gaze at, but that didn’t soothe 2 yo wiggler last year. When you finally get in with Santa, you better have your camera– there is no opportunity to get photos taken by the museum. Child gets a free gift (some kind of wooden car to a train that you ahve to have been going to the Santa Train for YEARS to have the entire pieces to) and dumps you out through the gift shop. Gee, thanks, RR Musuem. There are free cookies and hot chocolate involved, so that is a plus. Essentially it is worth the exciting moment for your kid– C talked about the Santa train for months, and on our return to Day Out With Thomas this year, he said something about Santa again.

Kind of disappointing if you are an adult. Not really that much to see or do here but ride the train. You might get the impression you will be taking a rolling train ride thru the Cascades but fact is you go straight backwards in a straight line for about a mile to North Bend, the «engineer» flips it into forward and you go straight back to the Snoqualmie. Booooooorrrriiinnngggg. When you look at the prices and schedule it says you can get off and stuff then take the next train back, but there is no reason to get off as North Bend is just as boring. Nothing to do here folks and this is boring. Spend time at the Falls instead as this is boring. If I am having problems falling asleep at night, I just think of the Saturday afternoon I spent there it was so boring and I doze right off. Oh and also, this is boring.

Only if you have kids as the other reviewers mention. Nice little train. My 2 year old son loves to play on the stationary old trains they have next to the station building.

I was so excited to tell my 4 year old that this year we wouldn’t be visiting Santa at Macy’s or anywhere else… this year we would have to take a train to see him. He was so excited! He told all his friends at school on Friday that he was going to ride the Santa Train.
The ride starts in North Bend, we waited for only a few minutes and then boarded. The train we were on is an old one… so next year we will bundle up a little more and maybe bring blankets. One of the Engineer’s is a sweet old man who comes through the different cars singing Christmas songs. All of the cars have Christmas decorations… it is definitely a good way to get in the spirit of the holiday!
When you get to Snoqualmie Depot, it is time to wait in line to see Santa… THE REAL SANTA! This guy (having met him a few times in my day) is great… he gets better every year. It is hard for me to realize how old he is, because he doesn’t look a day older then when I was going to see him at a young age. :-) Santa sat with my son, while I grabbed a photo… He asked him what he wanted for Christmas. There was a cute little train that was given to him when he was done, and then we visited the train shop…
This gift shop is the BEST train gift shop around. I can admit that I haven’t been to all, but I have been to a few of them… and this one is the number one as far as variety and everything else. THEY ALWAYS have the train we are looking for. This time it was Arthur. :-)
After we visited the shop, we went into one of the old trains where they had Hot Cocoa and home made cookie… mmmmm mmmmm good!!!
We will be back next year… For sure! My son also loves going to the Day Out with Thomas here, as well as just a visit to ride the train up to Snoqualmie Falls… What a nice place to have just a short drive away.

For the train buff or non-​buff this is worth the trip to North Bend to check out the trains, get a history lesson, and ride the short track from one end of North Bend, about 20 minutes for the 3.5-mile trip to Snoqualmie. Believe me it’s worth the donation fee to see your little train-​buff enjoy the ride. We took my son when he was head over heals with Thomas the train, he was 4 then, needless to say, now 13, he still talks about that train ride!
They do a «Santa» ride in December tickets sell out fast and I’ve only heard outstanding reviews of this program. Worthy of a short day trip, then visit the outlet malls in North Bend to finish your day off.