Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway

What a blast!!! We decided to take this train ride on our recent trip to the Poconos. There were nine rambunctious ladies in our group, we purchased tickets to ride in the caboose. Josh our car host was amazing!!! Our 85 year old mom was with us and he graciously helped her in and out of the train. The ride was beautiful and a whole lot of fun! I recommend this trip for all ages!

Now I don’t want to seem jaded — in this life I really try to not be jaded — but this train ride is not all that thrilling for an adult. Most people are going to get a better experience out of simply walking through Lehigh Gorge State Park, rather than this somewhat limited train ride. Actually I envied the people who were frolicking in the park as I watched from my coach seat.
At least small kids will love it. I went on the ride with two small kids and they seemed to really enjoy it, since they’d never done anything like it before. It’s a way of getting some nice views to them without having to over exert them or go on a big hiking excursion.
We did the 45 minute ride, and I’m glad we chose to not do the full two hour ride. In coach someone has to take the aisle seat, and of course that person was me. I was stuck careening my head to see some of the sights; even then, aside from two very scenic vistas as your cross the river there was not a whole lot to see.
Tickets are fairly priced at thirteen dollars per adult. I suppose this is a unique experience and I’m glad I did take a ride, but for future reference I would really only recommend this to people who will be taking kids with them.

Terrible! A waste of an hour! There’s no view, its all industrial looking. I’ve been on many scenic rides in the MA, VT, NY. I was so disappointed here. Nothing to see :(

4 April 2015 visit.
We loved this train ride through the beautiful Lehigh Gorge from the town of Jim Thorpe. We happened to be on the Easter weekend train and the Easter Bunny gave out the most awesome homemade taffy. That thing lasted me the entire 70 minute ride.
The scenery, even in early spring with hardly anything in bloom was lovely. The narration is informative and good.
A return visit is confirmed.

I loved this train ride! We visited JT on an October Saturday. Even though the lot was full and we wound up parking over the bridge and two blocks away from the station, we understood it was just a typical busy, busy autumn weekend and were fine with the walk.
We decided to go with the standard car over the open air. We figured we’d go with the more comfortable seats with the option to open/​close the window. The ride was beautiful and even over the loud chatter of passengers, you could hear historical tidbits and fun facts along the way. When we got to the end of the line, they told us we could stay put, or switch sides to get a different vantage point for our return trip. Thankfully, even though it was a packed train, everyone wanted to switch sides.
This is a must do when you visit Jim Thorpe!

Once a month through October, they run the train from Jim Thorpe to White Haven and you can take your bike on the train or rent one from them. Then you ride back to Jim Thorpe, we did this on the last one of this year, October 21^st.
This was a totally excellent experience, every employee involved goes out of their way to be helpful and friendly. Pleasant ride up the trail, about 1 hour. We rented bikes as a part of the experience, these were TREK bikes, very light and in excellent shape. They individually fitted each person and wanted to be sure the bike fit before you head out. We picked up sandwiches from Renee’s Cold Cut Shop, at the top of the hill from the bike fitting area in White Haven, the best hoggie I’ve every had. and… $ 5 for any sub. Add a Kosher pickle, they specially source these, delicious. The bike trail back to Jim Thorpe goes along the Lehigh river, it’s shaded with large trees and the trail is very smooth and easy to ride. The ride down took us just under 4 hours but we stopped for lunch (twice) and took just under 100 pictures. We are both seniors so this should be the high side for the return trip. I highly recommend this experience to anyone.

Very enjoyable ride up along the Lehigh Gorge trail. I did the 15 mile bike ride from Rockport last year with my then 18 year old daughter. I had less time this year and no one to ride with, so I opted for the train. Nice ride, friendly conductors, clean cars. I got to see about half of the trail I rode before and had more time to snap pictures. My one complaint was that you could not hear the intercom once we left the station, so I missed some of the interesting narrative, but our conductor did his best to compensate.

I’ve roamed around for 45 min to find a parking slot ($ 10). Bought ticket for open air car ($ 18 each — 3 tickets). Not very scenic really. Just a couple of glimpses by the river.
Infact, the drive from Lake Harmony to Jim thorpe was much much better.
Its worth just $ 10, for which i spent $ 65.

This was such a fun trip. My tip would be to buy the Open Window ticket, make sure to get a spot facing the river and stand if you can. You will not be disappointed.

This train ride is advertised as a scenic trip through the Lehigh Gorge but you only get a couple glimpses of the river. The ride lasts about an hour and barely enters the Gorge, not worth the $ 12 Adult ticket. You’ mainly see the trees along both sides of the tracks except for a bridge over the river. The train staff were friendly and knowledgeable. I could not hear the narrated history of the Gorge becasue the sound system speakers were of low quality.
Would recommend purchasing the comfy cheap seats ($ 12/​Adult) and put the window down to view the scenic train ride.

This is a beautiful ride through the scenic surroundings of Jim Thorpe. The audio during the tour is informational and you learn some fun facts about the town and the families that made it their home.
I struggled for a long time deciding coach or open air. Until I saw the cars. The windows on the open air car open on the bottom and are quite long. The open air car has open slits between bars, so it’s not as open as I would have guessed. For $ 6 less, the view is the same and on a 95 degree day I was more than fine in the coach.
Boarding the train, and looking into the car, seats on the left get you scenes of the river, old train cars, and a few spots mentioned in the audio. The right gets you a breathtaking drop of the narrow parts of the railroad over the river, but then is mostly mountain. We were lucky enough to be able to switch sides as the car wasn’t too full, and we had our family to switch with.
The conductors are knowledgable, friendly, and make the ride great. The seats can be flipped to open to ride forward or back, or to seat a family of 4 facing one another. We heard that in the winter it’s gorgeous and we will definitely be back!

If you’ve got kids and you’re in Jim Thorpe, you’ve gotta take a Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway ride.
The 16-​mile route, out from Jim Thorpe on the former mainline of the Jersey Central and back, takes about an hour. With some corny narrative, you get a little history lesson and a breezy ride through the woods, past the river rafters.
The «coach» seats are $ 12 for adults and $ 9 for kids, and those under three-​years-​old go for free. They’ll give you the option of $ 17 tickets for the open-​air car, but you’re better off saving your $ 5 and staying in the normal car. We figured this out the hard way as we walked past all the people sitting in the comfy cheap seats with the windows down on our way to the stiff bench where all the suckers get to sit in what we thought was the better car.
Trains leave at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. No rides on weekdays.