To meet demand, New Hope Valley Railway adds more departure times

To meet demand, New Hope Valley Railway is adding more train departure times for ride days in April and May.

If you're not familiar with the railway, the destination in the small southwestern Wake County community of New Hill features vintage diesel and steam engines that pull open-air cars for hour-long rides through the rural area. It also has a small garden railway where kids love to watch miniature trains move along a track and in and out of little villages and other scenes.

New Hope Valley reopened last year, but continues to limit the number of people on its train cars at any one time to 30%. That means there are 20 people on a passenger car that normally seats 60, and departure times can fill up fast.

Tom Hutchinson, New Hope Valley Railway volunteer in charge of marketing, says families wanting to find fun, memory-making activities they can do together outdoors are filling up the cars. “The weekend rides with limited capacity are selling out, but our Friday rides have been pretty popular as well. With people working from home, they can get away for an hour or two for something like this,” he said.

The group added these additional times to try and keep up with customer demand and give more individuals and families the chance to ride, I'm told. This week, a noon train departure time has been added to Friday, April 30. Then, next month a 3:30 p.m. train has been added to Slow Down Sunday on May 9, and an 11:30 a.m. departure time has been added to Summer Saturday on May 29.

It's important to note that New Hope Valley Railway is following all safety protocols, including requiring face coverings while in the rail yard and on the train.