Chippewa Valley Railroad

"Such a cool experience! They recommend all children ride with an adult, but kids 2 & under ride free. The workers are friendly and knowledgeable about trains. Tickets are a reasonable price."

Becca Weaver

"The train itself is neat, especially if you have a train-obsessed kid who’s been asking to ride it for weeks and looked forward to a fun afternoon. And I’m sure some of the folks who work there are nice enough. Unfortunately, the folks who run the trains seem to have lost their mission somewhere along the way. Within the first minute of being there, the man driving the yellow train accosted us - publicly, loudly, and as rudely as he could - while other workers and customers stood by. Imagine what impact that had: a little boy, dressed in his train overalls, holding his model train and little toy conductor, got to watch his dad get bawled out by an 80-year-old who was out for blood at a kid’s ride.

According to the man, we had driven through the stop sign leading into the parking lot and which the train crosses in front of. Not only did neither I nor my wife see the stop sign he was referring to, but the train wasn’t even near to where we had been driving. It was an honest mistake, one that he could have handled respectfully. And he almost certainly would have done so if we were locals and it weren’t for the fact that our license plates are currently from out of state. Apologizing multiple time to him for our error didn’t help. In front of a group of 30-40 people, and while I held my soon to be disappointed two-year-old, he proceeded to make an example of me. He referenced my out-of-state plates. He lectured me about how the police wouldn’t even ask questions for “not stopping for a train,” which in this case is the size of a toy car. He clearly watched and waited for us while we parked, making everyone wait in line while he came over to make his point. Rather than simply handle it humanely, he did his level best to make everyone aware that he wasn’t going to let this transplant to Wisconsin leave without knowing I wasn’t welcome here. Noting someone’s mistakes and asking for future compliance is one thing, but this was aggressive and rude - albeit unsurprising given his age and presumed attitude toward non-native Wisconsinites. I’m sure he’ll have a wonderful story to tell his hunting buddies about that time he “really showed a Californian.” His handling of the situation soured the experience and ruined what could have been a fun outing for a small family trying to acclimate and fit into a new community. Throughout the ride, my son kept saying, “The conductor is not nice.”

So much for the fabled politeness of the Midwest. Needless to say, this will be our last time visiting Chippewa Valley Railroad, and I look forward to sharing this story with our neighbors with school-aged kids."

Adam Scott Kunz

"My boys love riding the trains so much we are here almost every weekend during the summer! They were so excited they got to go one more time for Halloween!!! Especially dressed in their costumes!!!"

Tia Freedy