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Winter on the Conway Scenic Railroad
FEATURED: History, Holiday Magic, and a Season Full of Special Excursions
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Winter settles into the Mount Washington Valley in a way that feels almost theatrical. Snow drapes the rooftops of North Conway Village. The air turns sharp and clear. Lights glow from shop windows, and the mountains form a silent blue backdrop behind town. Standing right in the center, as it has since 1874, is the bright yellow Victorian station of the Conway Scenic Railroad. In winter, it becomes more than a place to board a train, it's a beacon of warmth and nostalgia, a reminder of an era when rail travel shaped daily life in this region.
For many years the railroad closed down after the holidays season, but now Visitors come for the new Winter Mountaineer, and winter on these rails stretches far beyond that one excursion. This season brings storytelling, mystery, celebration, heritage rides, and even a chance to welcome the new year aboard a moving train. Each journey is different, but they all share a common thread: the feeling that you’ve stepped into a timeless winter story.
The North Conway station first opened its doors when the golden age of railroading was in full swing. Trains carried travelers north from Boston, delivering them directly into the heart of the White Mountains. Hotels, boarding houses, logging camps, and entire communities depended on this line. The railroad wasn’t a novelty, it was life.
When passenger rail declined in the mid-20th century, many similar stations in New England went dark. But North Conway’s didn’t. Local passion and regional pride preserved it. In 1974, the newly formed Conway Scenic Railroad began running excursions on the same rails the Boston & Maine once used, reviving the station, restoring vintage equipment, and bringing railroading’s past into the present.
Riding in one of their coaches today, wooden interiors glowing softly, brass fixtures polished, the steady rhythm of wheels on steel, feels like stepping back into that era. And nowhere is that sense of history stronger than on the Conway Branch, the heart of the railroad’s winter offerings.
The Conway Branch runs from Conway north through North Conway to Mountain Junction, where it meets the Mountain Division. This is the exact stretch of track where the Conway Scenic began operations fifty years ago, and it continues to anchor the railroad today.
Conway marks the eastern end of the line, and it's here that one of railroading’s most enduring traditions still takes place. After arriving in Conway, the locomotive uncouples, moves along a siding, and reconnects to the other end of the train for the return trip to North Conway. Watching this run-around maneuver is like watching a ritual from another century - a practical piece of railroad choreography that once happened hundreds of times a day across New England.
For much of the year, this line carries the railroad’s well-loved Valley Train. And this is where expectations matter. The name can suggest sweeping mountain vistas, but the Valley Train is truly built around something different: heritage. It recreates the experience of mid-20th-century rail travel - what it felt like to board a train in a small New England town and ride from community to community. While you will certainly glimpse fields, forests, and the mountains beyond, the focus is on the coaches themselves, the station architecture, the conductors’ uniforms, and the sensation of traveling the way people once did every day. The Valley Train is a heritage ride that transcends the decades to bring you back to a simpler time.
After Christmas, the schedule shifts, and the Valley Train gives way to winter’s simpler offering: the Snow Train.
Winter has a quieter rhythm once the holidays pass, and the Snow Train fits perfectly into that atmosphere. Running a 55-minute round trip from North Conway to Conway and back, this excursion embraces the spirit of classic rail travel in its purest form. There are no dramatic climbs or sweeping notches, just a gentle journey along the valley floor aboard mid-century coaches that have been lovingly preserved.
Families especially appreciate the Snow Train. For young children, it’s often their first train ride, and the thrill of hearing the whistle echo across the fields or the conductor call out instructions is enough to etch the day into memory. Adults enjoy the simplicity of it - the warmth of the car, the subtle sway of the rails, and the pleasure of watching the locomotive run around the train in Conway before the return trip north.
It’s a modest excursion, and intentionally so. But that modesty is what makes it meaningful. It reminds you that train travel doesn’t need spectacle to be special. Sometimes, the quiet rides are the ones that stay with you longest.
While the Snow Train offers comfort and simplicity, the new Murder Mystery Train brings something entirely different to winter in the White Mountains: drama, humor, and an evening of immersive storytelling. When night falls and the valley begins to settle into winter stillness, the vintage coaches transform into a rolling theater. Actors move through the train, spinning a narrative that winds from car to car, pulling passengers into the story whether they intended to participate or not.
The atmosphere inside the train heightens everything. The gentle swaying of the coach. The warm glow from the fixtures overhead. The mid-century details surrounding you like the set of a classic mystery film. And outside the windows, only the darkness of the valley, broken occasionally by a porch light or a passing stand of pine.
There’s no other experience like it in the Mount Washington Valley. It’s playful, intimate, and just theatrical enough to turn a cold winter night into an unexpectedly memorable one.
Among all the winter excursions the Conway Scenic Railroad operates, none feels more singular than the New Year’s Eve Late Special - a one-night-only event running December 31, 2025. This is not just another night train. It’s a full celebration aboard a moving piece of New Hampshire history.
Passengers begin boarding at 7:45 p.m., gathering inside the station while snow crunches underfoot on the platform outside. By 8:00 p.m., the train eases away from North Conway on a short run toward Moat Brook, settling everyone into the rhythm of the evening. Then it returns to the station just in time for the 9:00 p.m. fireworks, viewed right from the comfort of the coaches. Seeing fireworks erupt over the Victorian station from inside a warm railcar is a rare and intimate perspective, festive without being overwhelming.
After the fireworks fade, the train heads west into the Mount Washington Valley for the remainder of the night. The world outside becomes a quiet silhouette of forests, fields, and darkened hillsides. Inside, passengers enjoy entertainment, conversation, and the gentle anticipation of midnight. There’s something poetic about counting down the final seconds of the year aboard a heritage train, surrounded by fellow travelers sharing the moment.
Just after midnight, the train rolls back into North Conway, carrying passengers into the new year in the most classic way imaginable. The Late Special is reserved for adults 21 and over, giving the evening a refined, celebratory spirit worthy of the holiday.
Though this article centers on the broader winter season, it’s impossible not to acknowledge the Winter Mountaineer. It remains the railroad’s most iconic winter trip - a climb from the valley floor up into the heart of Crawford Notch. Granite cliffs tower overhead. Frozen waterfalls cling to the rock walls. Snow settles deep into the forests surrounding the tracks. The locomotive works steadily through one of the most dramatic landscapes in New England.
Even a brief mention of it reminds you what makes winter railroading here so compelling.
North Conway Village: A Perfect Winter Home Base
Everything about winter railroading at the Conway Scenic is enhanced by its location. North Conway Village is one of New England’s most inviting winter towns. The shops, cafés, inns, and restaurants cluster around the station as if orbiting a centerpiece. Lights line the streets. Snow gathers along the sidewalks. And the mountains stand quietly beyond the rooftops, framing the village with their familiar silhouette.
The station itself is a showpiece - bright, historic, elegant, and perfectly suited for winter. Snow along the eaves. Warm light spilling out across the platform. The locomotive idling nearby, sending a plume of exhaust into the cold sky. The moment you step onto the platform, you feel the season fully.
The Conway Scenic Railroad offers winter the way it’s meant to be experienced: slowly, thoughtfully, and with a sense of wonder. Each excursion, whether dramatic, mysterious, celebratory, or simple, carries a piece of New England’s past forward into the present. And each journey gives passengers the rare chance to set aside modern rush and let the season unfold outside the window.
On these rails, winter doesn’t hurry.
It drifts.
It gathers.
It stays with you.
And for a few hours each winter day, you get to travel right along with it.
