Orland Newville & Pacific Railroad

We «rented» the railroad for our daughter’s birthday party, and it was fantastic. The guys who run it – on essentially a volunteer basis – were great with the kids. For $ 75 (a BARGAIN) they ran the train as our own private railroad for 4 hours.
There are also some historical buildings (and a few re-​creations) and old, retired, «real» trains (steam engine and a caboose) on the fairgrounds near the railroad – so there’s some other cool stuff to see. (Note that you can’t go in to any of these buildings outside of the annual Glenn County Fair in May.)
There are several grassy areas and some picnic tables that served as lunch spots for our guests. PLUS there are restrooms near the train «depot» area – near the old train depot and 1-​room school building. (The restrooms are old and small, but they were very clean and nicely maintained.)
it looks like the railroad has had a few web pages over the years, but there hasn’t been much updated lately and some are no longer up and running. However, as of the date of this review, you can find a little more information online at the following:
A few minor considerations:
The (short) tunnel was a little frightening for one or two of the very young (3 year old?) children. However, it’s short enough that you can simply hug them to you for the 15 – 20 seconds required for this.
Orland can be very hot in the middle of the summer, so a scheduled event could be canceled due to extreme heat conditions. (This would be a big disappointment, but nobody would have much fun if it’s that hot.)
You’ll need to do some paperwork to get approval from the Glenn County Fairgrounds and the Orland Police, plus you’ll need liability insurance (which you may have to purchase for the event), but it was all worth it.
There are no restrooms at the usual picnic area (near the intersection of Papst & Yolo streets); the restrooms are about 100 yards away (near the old school and depot). This really isn’t inconvenient, unless you have young children who need to go «right now!», and then that 2-​minute walk could be a little too long.