Texas State Railroad Update - Wild Texas Forums: Parks, Travel & Recreation

Motorman355 · 10-22-2007, 08:52 PM

Word is that the railroad should be up and running normal excursions by the second weekend in November. The Texas State Railroad has not run between Rusk and Palestine since rain had washed part of the track away in July. I was at the Rusk depot for the Day Out With Thomas festival this past weekend (you still have next weekend to visit Thomas the Tank Engine). Even though this East Texas treasure is no longer a state park :mad:, it still has excellent facilities for camping and the train ride is one of the most scenic ones I’ve ridden in the US. If you plan to camp, you now need to contact the railroad itself for reservations. On a positive note, one no longer has to go online through the pathetic ReserveAmerica or wait an eternity on the telephone with the TX Parks & Wildlife for a campsite:thumbsup:.

www.texasstaterr.com

srds · 10-23-2007, 11:31 PM

Thanks for the headsup on the railroad, my 4 year old loves trains and I would love to see these parks survive.I have been there many times and glad to hear campgrounds are still open.I also agree with you on Reserve America.

srds :cool:
Have Fun

Shannon · 02-05-2008, 05:17 PM

Effective Today, February 5, 2008:
All Reserve America links have been pulled from Wild Texas.com and we officially recommend that no one use Reserve America to secure their camping reservations. After trying to work with them since November 28, 2007, and receiving nothing but excuses, scoldings about business hours (nevermind the web is 24/7), and promised responses and resolutions that never come, we GIVE UP.

We were a Reserve America affiliate, earning a (small) affiliate income from them for every brand new registration we generated them via links from WildTexas.com. So, this decision comes at a price -- some lost revenue for us. However, we no longer trust this company, either as an affiliate or as a customer, and we cannot in good conscience continue to send them business.

The good news is, you will save money if you avoid making your Texas State Park reservations online through Reserve America, anyway -- From TPWD's site "A $3 non refundable service charge applies to each reservation you make on the Internet. Why we have web fees: The only way the Internet Reservation Service can be offered is to charge users the direct costs. Without these fees, TPWD could not offer Internet reservation service."

All of our old RA links to TPWD-managed parks and facilities have been replaced with a direct link to TPWD's Park Reservations page, which includes info. on TPWD's Central Reservation System at (512)389-8900 as well as email reservations.

Sadly, Reserve America has long-term government contracts to provide online reservation services for the NPS (through Recreation.Gov) as well as most/all U.S. State Parks, so there is no alternative to them if you want to make reservations online.