Enjoy the Christmas season with us on the Santa Special experience (daytime), North Pole Express (evening). Be sure to visit inside River Valley Junction to discover an amazing, warm and inviting space station filled with a working model railroad, festive décor and even a sleigh for those photo ops.

Santa Special

• COACH: $25.00 per person age 1 and older
• FIRST CLASS: $40.00 per person age 1 and older

North Pole Express

• COACH: $35.50 per person age 1 and older
• FIRST CLASS: $66.50 per person age 1 and older
• Add $10.00 per ticket on Fridays & Saturdays (November 23-December 22)

Children under 1 year of age do not require a ticket; however, they must sit on an adult’s lap. No car seats or strollers are permitted on the trains. There are no additional or hidden service charges for ticket prices as we operate our own online store and process purchases ourselves.

Yes… First Class passengers enjoy individual chairs with cash beverage service. Coach Class offers padded bench seating.

For North Pole Express, we offer 20, 32 & 36 seat First Class Cars and 64 seat Coach Cars. We do not discount full-car orders; we make full cars available solely as a customer convenience. Not all first-class car options are available for all departure times.  Ticket agents will offer you available options at the time you call on September 4, 2018.

For Santa Special, we have the following “full car” options available:

*10:00 am, 11:30am, and 1pm  departures are not available on all Santa Special Operating Days

Will all of the weekend tickets be gone before individual ticket sales begin?

We sell a limited number of full cars (coach and first class) to passengers seeking to purchase tickets for employees, large families or groups. We do not completely sell out any specific departure or ticket class prior to individual tickets going on sale; in fact, we decline many full-car orders for popular departure weekends so that individual ticket sales are available.

NORTH POLE EXPRESS

Full-car purchases are available first, via telephone only, beginning on Tuesday, September 4; first class individual tickets are released and can be purchased online beginning Wednesday, September 5; coach class tickets are released and can be purchased online beginning Thursday, September 6.

SANTA SPECIAL

Full-car purchases are available first, via telephone only, beginning on TBD; first class individual tickets are released and can be purchased online beginning TBD; coach class tickets are released and can be purchased online beginning TBD.

Tips for purchasing tickets:

If you are purchasing tickets for multiple families or a small group, ensure the availability of the entire group prior. We encourage you to have multiple dates and times ready in case your first choice is not available. Please remember, to be assigned seats on the same train car, all tickets MUST be purchased on one order.

Pre-register your purchasing account on Shopify or recover your password from last year. Ensure that your address is that of your credit card billing address. Although you are not able to enter payment information in advance, you will have five minutes once you click “Checkout” to enter the credit card information.

Tickets placed into your Shopify “Shopping Cart” are not considered to be reserved. Only when Payment has been accepted and a confirmation emailed are your tickets secured. Please understand that due to heavy sales volume on the ticket-release days, the Shopify site may experience a slower “refresh” process which, in turn, may cause seats to temporarily appear available at the same time they are actually being purchased by another customer.

Tickets will not be available for purchase in person at Essex Station. We have a limited staff working from the same computer systems as those purchasing online, and we do not set aside tickets for in-person or walk-up sales. Online customers can purchase tickets from home far faster than we could ever process orders in person.

Boarding will begin approximately 10 minutes before your excursion time. We suggest arriving at least 30 minutes prior to departure to allow for parking (1 Railroad Avenue, Essex, CT). Trains depart on time and cannot be held for late arrivals. Unfortunately, there are no refunds or exchanges. The Essex Steam Train & Riverboat is not responsible for travel delays caused by accidents, road closures, road constructions, weather, etc.

Trains operate during all weather conditions, but we reserve the right to postpone or cancel any train ride in extreme situations. If we must cancel a departure due to weather conditions, a full refund will be issued. Otherwise, your ticket is considered valid for the date and time on the ticket. All postponements or cancellations will be posted on our Facebook page and website home page by 9:00 am on the day of the scheduled excursion.