Essex Steam Train & Riverboat operates a 2½-hour train and riverboat tour, and 1 hour train only journeys begining at the historic 1892 Essex Station. The trips are a 12-mile, narrated round-trip into the heart of the unspoiled Connecticut River Valley. The steam locomotive pulls vintage coaches through the quintessential New England towns of Deep River and Chester. A natural highlight is the undeveloped Selden Neck State Park, accessible only by boat. Essex Steam Train offers unique access to several coves and preserves, immersing passengers in an on-board eco-excursion. The train travels near the tidal wetlands of Pratt Cove and Chester Creek — bountiful, natural habitats for birds including Cormorants, Ducks, Swans, Greenland Geese, Blue Heron, Egrets, Bald Eagles and Red-Winged Blackbirds.
Valley Railroad's Essex Steam Train prepares to depart the station in Essex to take passengers to the riverboat, on which its passengers will ride on the Connecticut River. Powering this six-car train is VALE Mikado 3025, a 2-8-2 built in 1989 by China's Tangshan Locomotive and Rolling Stock Works for Pennsylvania's Knox & Kane Railroad. After the KKRR ceased operations, this locomotive (or, rather, what was left of it) was sold in 2008 to the Valley Railroad. The Valley rebuilt it with a new cab and greatly rebuilt tender to more closely replicate a New York, New Haven & Hartford steam locomotive, numbering it NH 3025. They did a great job rebuilding it! (Essex, Connecticut – October 16, 2023)
