The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad is a beautiful adventure with stunning views and two nice playgrounds.

The Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad is a unique heritage railroading museum that provides train rides between Garibaldi and Rockaway Beach, Oregon. Also, some train rides go to Wheeler Depot on Nehalem Bay. For tickets and schedules for the different rides, you can check the OCSR webpage.

All the locomotives in this museum, named the Kepner Memorial Collection, were purchased by the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad – a volunteer non-profit museum organization – from Fred Kepner. He dedicated his life to preserving historic steam locomotives, and organizing and founding, in the late 1970s, the Great Western Railroad.

Last summer, my family and I did the Garibaldi - Rockaway Beach - Garibaldi route by train, and it was a really fun experience. We parked our car in a parking lot near Lumberman’s Memorial Park, where a playground with slides and swings is available to the public. We could see some points of interest in this area during the ride such as the Garibaldi Historic US Coast Guard Boathouse (known as Garibaldi Pier or Crabbing Dock), Crab Rock, and The Three Graces (rock formations in the ocean), Smith Lake, and Diamond Beach. Then, the train stopped at the Rockaway Beach City Center and Park, where my daughter could play at the Pirate Ship Playground and have some ice cream. We could also use restrooms and watch the ocean from one of the two picnic tables available in this fenced playground. We spent half an hour there, and the locomotive warned us – whistling! – that it was time to go back. We chose to do both routes in the open car, but you can buy seats in the old-fashioned indoor vehicle too.

It was a memorable experience, and I hope you have the same fun that my family and I did!