Ticket to Ride: America’s Theme Park Trains Book Review
Ticket to Ride: America’s Theme Park Trains by Barry R. Hill is a new book for all theme park steam train lovers! This coffee table book shares the stories behind America’s theme park railroads—those still in operation and those long gone. Longtime fans of the site may remember Barry Hill (writer, publisher, and theme park historian) when he was a guest on the Coaster101 podcast back in 2022 to discuss his latest book, Kings Island: A Photographic Journey. When I heard Barry had published a new book about theme park trains, I knew I just had to get my hands on it.
Ticket to Ride Unboxing
Watch the video below to see me unboxing the book and first taste of what it looks like:
Ticket to Ride Review
After a foreword by Disney historian Michael Campbell, Ticket to Ride goes through active railroads and tells you a little about how they got started, where each locomotive came from and where it is now. Active railroads included in the book are:
Disneyland
Dollywood
Knott’s Berry Farm
Kings Island
Cedar Point
Six Flags Great America
Worlds of Fun
Six Flags Over Texas
Six Flags Over Georgia
Six Flags St. Louis
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Silver Dollar City
Stone Mountain Park
HersheyPark
Tweetsie Railroad
Walt Disney World
It’s nice to see lesser known railroads like Stone Mountain and Tweetsie featured. Surprisingly absent from the book are Silverwood steam engine train and the Whiskey River Railroad at Little Amerricka.
The next chapter of the book is about theme parks that used to have railroads but don’t anymore, and where all their locomotives have ended up. Defunct railroads included in the book are:
Disney’s Fort Wilderness Railroad
Carowinds
Kings Dominion
Opryland USA
AstroWorld
Busch Gardens Houston
Libertyland
Six Flags Great Adventure
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Magic Mountain, Colorado
Pleasure Island
Freedomland
California’s Great America (this is discussed in the Active Railroad chapter but not the defunct railroads chapter)
Neverland Valley Railroad (not featured but mentioned during Carowinds)
Ticket to Ride is stock full of fun facts. I knew Carowinds once had a railroad but I didn’t know that it actually had two! In addition to the Carowinds and Carolina Railroad, The Shortline Railroad opened with the park in 1973. Originally located in the back, it was moved to the front of the park in 1976 to make room for the Thunder Road roller coasters.
The last third of the book goes into the history of different manufacturers, like Baldwin Locomotive Works, Vulcan Iron Works, Harpur Locomotive Works, and more, followed by a gallery of photographs. Overall, the book is twelve by nine inches hardcover with 216 pages and tons of colorful photographs. There’s an afterword by Bret Iwan, the official voice of Disney’s Mickey Mouse. If you love theme parks and trains, this book is a must to add to your collection.
Ticket to Ride is NOT available on Amazon; it can be found exclusively at Rivershore Press. You may even get a signed copy and custom bookmark!
Will you be adding Ticket to Ride to your holiday wish list this year? Let us know in the comments below!
