Railway of Horrors is Short But Shows Greatness in Their Theater Scenes and Acting (4.5 stars)
Railway of Horrors, between Worcester and Providence, is a unique Halloween ride through woods on a toy (15-inch gauge, 5-inch scale) train. There’s nothing else like it in New England. I’ve been on hay rides, where you sit facing other guests on the other side of the truck, and it’s difficult to see past them to what’s going on. I’ve also been on spooky train rides, where internal light reflecting on the train windows makes it hard to see what’s happening outside.
With Railway of Horrors, it’s “single file seating”. So there’s nobody to your left or right to block your view, and because it’s a toy train you are not enclosed in a space with windows. You are free to breathe the crisp fall air and see the forest around you, which is naturally spooky at night.
Raquel, the business manager, told me, “This is a very unique haunted attraction, one like you won’t see anywhere else, and it’s family friendly. It’s PG-13, so you can get younger kids who have not had their first haunted experience. We say it’s scary but not traumatizing. We’ve had kids from the ages of 7 and up. Some of our scenes require you to listen, to use all of your senses. You’ll really have a good time.”
Parking was easy and free. When you arrive, there’s a small midway where they show an outdoor movie, can get your “fortune” told (is in great danger and about to die tonight!), shoot darts at balloons, or take photos at the photo booth. There’s ambient lighting and actors in costume walked around entertaining people while they waited in line.
The train ride itself is 18 minutes, taking you through a forest with spooky music and lighting, and stopping at some different scenes. You’ll find a carnival, a spooky hospital, a haunted campground, and more.
It’s hard to expect much on a toy train ride. They can only get maybe 20 people on that train, 3 times an hour, so they can’t be making that much money. But wow! This attraction packs a punch. Although the production was basic in the scenes and costuming, Railway of Horrors played out long, theatrical scenes that showed genius. Of course many scenes involved actors rushing at the train while shouting. As I wrote, there are no walls on this train. You feel connected, part of the world, even more than on a hayride, and you can see to both sides.
It was so creative, almost uniquely so in New England. I’ve never seen before what happened to the attendee sitting in front of me. There’s no other Halloween attraction in New England that uses magic tricks to hide actors in ghoulish places. Each scene where the train stopped had a real story to play out. And the actors gave it their all. The fortune teller from the midway went out of her way to walk out and wave goodbye to the train as we left. The actors along the route weren’t assigned to stay in place at a single scene but followed the train to pop up in later locations! That takes dedication in the cold.
Kudos especially to the “ape man” for the high energy dancing, and to the ringmaster who tried to hypnotize you into joining the circus. There are a lot of kudos to give to the actors at Railway of Horror. I can’t recall seeing such dedicated actors with long scenes in many other Halloween locations — and I have reviewed 75 of them in New England.
You won’t find animatronics, and special effects are few, but you will find a surprising blast of air, projected moving dots, and a laser disco ball effect. There’s also a “laser lake” effect, my favorite, where a horizontal plane of laser light with fog looks like the surface of a lake that you can’t see through. Who knows what may be hiding underneath to pop out!
They really love Halloween. It’s a low budget attraction, but so cleverly run.
That being said, a few nitpicks require saying. The metal train seats and cold and uncomfortable, and could use seat cushions. The train passes through many overhead hanging cloth strips. These are disgusting as you share your germs with everyone else, they also get moldy in the rain, and they serve no spooky purpose in a production, so should be removed. Some guy was smoking in line, and nobody stopped him. Some guy tried to take a 3-year-old into the attraction, and the staffer didn’t say anything, and when I mentioned this she said that it wasn’t her job.
Well. I will say frankly that Railway of Horrors should stop telling people that they only have a lightly spooky attraction that is PG-13 so it’s “it’s family friendly”, safer for young children than other Halloween attractions. It’s not. Creatures come close to the train to shout at you, the hospital scene is gorey, and two chairsaw guys rush at you… It is the same level of scare as elsewhere, and nothing like the not-so-scary pumpkin trails that are aimed at little kids.
The attraction is set on the grounds of Harmony Railway and Gift Shop, which does daytime train rides. The gift shop is quirky, and you can find canning jars of apple butter, strawberries, garlic, beets, peaches, and everything else, Halloween-themed earrings, olive oil, organic maple syrup, vintage candy, hand warmers, and cold drinks including root beer and sasparilla. Many of their products are locally made, such as the bar soap and lotion which are made on the property.
Railway of Horrors is a short attraction compared to other Halloween haunts. But they are theatrical and innovative, with ideas I’ve never seen elsewhere. So I’ll put my reservations aside and give 4.5 stars. This is only their 2nd year and I’m sure that they will continue to improve. They deserve to be supported.
For more see Railway of Horrors on Haunt Pay or on Facebook.