An Overnight Stay on the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad
If you’ve ever held romantic notions about traveling during the golden age of train travel, then the Bed & Breakfast Train, operated nearly year-round by the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad might be just what you’re looking for.
Billed as America’s Only Overnight Dinner Train, the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad’s Bed & Breakfast Train offers three different seasonal experiences: the Sweetheart Bed & Breakfast in winter (January through March), the Spring BBQ Bed & Breakfast in Spring (March through May), and the standard Bed & Breakfast Train from May through December.
All Aboard the Bed & Breakfast Train
An evening aboard the Bed & Breakfast Train begins at 5:00 when the Ranch Car bar opens up for cocktail hour, but you can arrive as early as 4:30.
Your adventure starts at the station, a track-side building that is equal parts ticket office, museum, and gift shop. After checking in, you have a little time to peruse the gift shop which sells all manner of train-related memorabilia to help commemorate your experience.
Pro tip: If you’re spending a Saturday night on the train and you’d like a memento of your journey, visit the gift shop it before the train departs for dinner. The station and store will be closed by the time you get back to the station and both will remain closed on Sunday.
When you’re ready to board the train, a porter will escort you down the very narrow train car hallways to your room for the evening.
The small cabins (about what you’d expect from a room on a train) are dominated by a queen-sized mattress and just enough space around it to allow access to the bathroom.
Every cabin includes its own full (but small) bathroom with a sink, toilet, and standing shower. There isn’t much in the way of storage, but there is space under the bed to stow your luggage. It’s a pretty compact setup.
The cabins also include their own climate control system so you can dial in to your personal preference for comfortable sleeping temperature.
Also worth noting that, although you can lock the cabin doors from the inside, guests are not issued keys. So while you’re having dinner and exploring the train, your cabin door will be unlocked. But, as the staff is quick to reassure, there’s no need to be concerned as only overnight guests are allowed into the sleeper cars.
Cocktail Hour
After checking in and right before the train starts moving down the tracks, the Ranch Car bar opens to the guests.
This car is (as you may guess because of the name) decorated in a Western-style ranch theme and offers plenty of drink options, including their own take on the Wisconsin Old Fashioned, a loaded Bloody Mary, and a few other creations of their own.
As the cocktail half-hour winds down, guests are encouraged to make their way to the dining car. But the bar does stay open through the dinner service (and even longer).
Dinner is served
Dinner service begins at 5:30. The Bed & Breakfast guests are all served together in one open dining car, while the dinner guests eat in private dining compartments that each seat up to six guests.
The first of four courses, an appetizer, arrives while the train is slowly chugging down the line. By the time the second course (soup) is served at 6:15, the train reaches an earthen embankment over an old logger’s trestle on the Namekagon River.
The train remains stopped here for the remainder of the dinner service. This is as much to help the staff (who really hustle as they serve meals throughout the numerous dinner cars) move around easily as it is a scenic place to stop and enjoy dinner.
When you book your train you select your meal preference, and all diners — Bed & Breakfast guests and Dinner guests — are offered a choice from the same limited, seasonal menu. Every meal includes an appetizer, soup, an entree, and dessert.
Overall, the dinner offerings on the Bed & Breakfast Train are fine, although a touch on the generic side. Much of it seems like batch-cooked meals prepared in advance, and this has garnered some negativity about the food in some online reviews.
But consider that across the train’s five or so dinner cars there are usually more than 70 diners, and the staff prepares every one of those meals out of a very small kitchen.
Efficiency is key in this situation, and cooking 70-plus four-course meals and serving them hot in a short period of time doesn’t allow for a lot of scratch-made cooking. That said, the chefs will accommodate special dietary needs with advance arrangements.
So if you’re expecting a Michelin-star dinner, this may not be the trip for you. But if you’re here for the total experience of dining on a train, then you’re in the right place.
Riding the rails
After dinner, the train starts moving again and passengers are welcome to roam through the cars. Each one is decorated a little differently and they all offer a hit of nostalgia hearkening back to the 1950s.
After walking through all the dining cars and toward the engine, you’ll come to an old mail room car. It’s the only car on the train with open doors (there is a railing so no one falls off the train, however). This room is fun to hang out in, talk to your fellow passengers, and get in on some photo opportunities.
The Great Northern Railroad runs along a seven-mile section of leased track between Trego and Hayward. All of the Wisconsin Great Northern’s offered train rides travel out along this track, moving at around 10 miles per hour or so, until it reaches the end of the leased section. Then it backs up along the same length of track.
The ride has plenty of scenic spots, but it also has a few that are less than scenic. The most notable (and longest) of these is when the train cruises by the 90-acre wooded lot that is Kessler’s Auto Salvage.
The densely wooded salvage yard is filled with countless old and rusting cars, some dating back to the 1930s and possibly earlier. And while it’s not the most idyllic of scenes, it’s fascinating in its own right.
Once you’re done taking in the sights, you can slide into a booth in the Ranch Car to play some games (cribbage, shut the box) or cards.
The train gets back to the station by about 8:00 p.m. The Ranch Car bar remains open into the night, and all the guests are invited to stay and enjoy a nightcap.
Post-ride fire pit social hour
As it’s still relatively early in the evening after the ride ends, the Bed & Breakfast guests are welcome to congregate around an outdoor fireplace on the station’s patio.
This is a nice way to spend a little time after the ride and gives you a chance to get to know some of your fellow train travel enthusiasts and swap some stories. And, naturally, the bar remains open during this time (this is Wisconsin, after all).
And then — Breakfast
The next morning, breakfast service on the Bed & Breakfast Train starts at 6:00 a.m. with pastries, juice and coffee. Starting at 8:00 a.m., overnight guests are treated to a full breakfast served in the dining car.
Unlike dinner, because there are fewer guests to cook for, this meal is prepared from scratch in the kitchen from start to finish. We were served French toast, breakfast links, and breakfast egg muffins.
Not the only train ride in town
In addition to the Bed & Breakfast Train, Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad offers many other rail-bound experiences including Family Pizza Train, Santa Pizza Train, different seasonal Dinner Trains (that, as mentioned above, offer the same meal options as the Bed & Breakfast Trains), the Wisconsin Wine & Cheese Train, Holiday Wine Train and many more.
So if you’re a railroad enthusiast, the Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad has a ride you’ll enjoy.
The Bed & Breakfast Train costs $499 for couples and $399 for a single rider. The Wisconsin Explorers Guild paid full price for the experience.
Bed & Breakfast Train
- N6639 Dilly Lake Rd, Trego
- GPS Coordinates: 45.876638, -91.828172 [ Google Maps ]
- what3words: ///sesame.voice.apprentice
- Website: Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad
- Facebook: Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad
